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Van Gisbergen battles in Charlotte qualifying

By Thomas Miles

Shane van Gisbergen will have his work cut out to make the top 10 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte.

Van Gisbergen will start the BetMGM 300 from 29th after a qualifying session dominated by Cup Series drivers.

The #97 Kaulig Racing driver’s time of 31.782s was 1.307s slower than the pole time of Ty Gibbs.

However, the Kiwi was not the only big name to not maximise the one-lap qualifying, having snuck ahead of Chase Elliott.

Unlike most circuits, van Gisbergen has enjoyed past experience at Charlotte as it was the oval he did a brief test at with Trackhouse in preparation for his stunning Chicago Street Race victory.

But speed didn’t also come in practice where the “stealth bomber” #97 got 26 laps on the board, but set the 36th fastest time, 1.6s off the pace.

Van Gisbergen can draw confidence from his drives at Texas and Dover when he qualified outside the top 30 but made it to 18th and 15th respectively.

The Xfinity Series race begins at 3.00 AEST, while van Gisbergen will also qualify in the Cup Series.

Image: LAT Images

NASCAR Xfinity Series Charlotte results

1. (20) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 177.194 mph.

2. (33) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 176.482.

3. (81) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 176.246.

4. (2) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 175.873.

5. (27) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 175.496.

6. (00) Cole Custer, Ford, 175.433.

7. (18) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 175.433.

8. (21) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 175.365.

9. (7) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 175.160.

10. (9) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 175.103.

11. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 174.109.

12. (31) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 174.104.

13. (1) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 174.031.

14. (38) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 173.661.

15. (19) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 173.589.

16. (8) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 173.527.

17. (5) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 173.171.

18. (30) Noah Gragson, Ford, 173.144.

19. (98) Riley Herbst, Ford, 172.645.

20. (6) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 172.574.

21. (39) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 172.381.

22. (43) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 172.320.

23. (44) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 172.133.

24. (51) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 171.445.

25. (42) Leland Honeyman, Chevrolet, 170.740.

26. (26) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 170.616.

27. (91) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 170.369.

28. (48) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 170.004.

29. (97) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 169.907.

30. (17) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 169.843.

31. (29) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 169.833.

32. (15) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 169.545.

33. (4) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 169.401.

34. (28) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 168.988.

35. (07) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 168.476.

36. (11) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 168.109.

37. (92) Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, 166.062.

38. (14) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, .000.

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