Van Gisbergen pipped for pole
Shane van Gisbergen has missed NASCAR Cup Series pole at Watkins Glen, with Ryan Blaney surprisingly finding more speed, but only just.
Many expected van Gisbergen would continue his road course momentum with another pole and many thought he had achieved that when he posted a 1:11.993 on his third lap.
However, Blaney gave it everything in his Team Penske Mustang with a 122.568 mph around the historic 2.45-mile road course in scenic upstate New York and snuck ahead by 0.033s to give Team Penske a 150th Cup Series pole.
It gives the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion a great chance to bounce back from a disappointing trip to Watkins Glen last year, where he started deep in the field and was an opening-lap retirement.
Looking ahead to the Go Bowling at The Glen, Blaney admits it will be tough to keep SVG behind.
“Ninety laps is going to be a little harder to beat him tomorrow, but gotta start somewhere’’ the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion said with a smile.
“It’s more neat for me because we had an absolutely abysmal weekend here last year. …
“We’ve worked really hard on where we need to get better here, where I need to do a better job. How can we improve our race cars. So it was like a big dual effort.
“Just proud of their dedication to get better at this place and improving the car from last year and I tried to work on a lot of things.
“I consider myself a pretty average road course racer and I’ve worked really hard on trying to get better, where can I improve my driving skills and styles and compete a little bit more at these places and it’s neat when that all comes together.
“I try to take these things one day at a time. Tomorrow is a whole different task but it’s nice to have done our job really well today and now about focusing on trying to make 90 good laps tomorrow.’’
The front row is followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, Van Gisbergen’s Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch.
The Go Bowling at The Glen starts at 4.00 AEST Monday morning, but before than van Gisbergen is chasing Xfinity Series glory from the front row alongside rival Conor Zilisch with the race starting now.
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