Shane van Gisbergen wins pole for Go Bowling at The Glen

Shane van Gisbergen waxed the NASCAR Cup Series field in qualifying at Watkins Glen on Saturday to take the fifth pole of his Cup Series career on his 37th birthday.

Van Gisbergen, who won five road course races in 2025, laid down a lap of 71.165 seconds around the New York road course.

"The guys did a good job tuning it for what I needed for one lap," van Gisbergen told Prime Video. 

Van Gisbergen won at Watkins Glen in 2025. 

Michael McDowell will join van Gisbergen in the front row, with Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain and rookie Connor Zilisch rounding out the top five. All three Trackhouse Racing Chevrolets will start inside the top five. 

Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs completed the top 10. All three Team Penske drivers will start inside the top seven, with Bell being the fastest Toyota driver. Three of the four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers will also start top 10 on Sunday. 

Notable qualifying results

Other notable qualifying efforts include Carson Hocevar in 11th, AJ Allmendinger in 12th, points leader Tyler Reddick in 15th, Denny Hamlin in 20th and defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson in 23rd. Two-time Watkins Glen winner Chase Elliott qualified 26th. 

The Go Bowling at The Glen will go green shortly after 3 p.m. ET Sunday, with coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Pre-race coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and 2 p.m. ET on MRN.