WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Shane van Gisbergen did it again Saturday at Watkins Glen Int’l.
The New Zealand native drove his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to a lap of 71.165 seconds at 123.937 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen NASCAR Cup Series race.
It was van Gisbergen’s first pole of the season and the fifth of his career in 62 Cup Series events.
“It was odd. I expected it to be faster in the cold conditions, which it was, but then the fall off was insane,” van Gisbergen said. “I didn’t expect that. The O’Reilly car felt pretty good. You could push hard and there wasn’t much fall off. The marbles and the fall off was extreme today. It’s kind of like Bristol when it’s cold, the tires would fall apart. It was very interesting. We fell off four seconds or something. It was crazy. It’ll be a good race to watch, but probably a hard one to manage.”
Van Gisbergen will share the front row with Spire Motorsports Chevrolet driver Michael McDowell.
Austin Cindic was third in a Team Penske Ford, while van Gisbergen’s teammates, Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch, rounded out the top five.
Team Penske wheelmen Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney will start sixth and seventh, respectively.
Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drivers Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs will start eighth through 10th.
