Shane van Gisbergen has now won four consecutive poles in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, sweeping qualifying at both Chicago and now Sonoma. In Cup qualifying at Sonoma on Saturday, he looked untouchable, earning his fourth career pole and third of the 2025 season.

“I’m shaking,” said van Gisbergen after the pole run. “That was pretty full-on. I’m stoked to have Red Bull on the car. Thank you to Trackhouse and Chevy — amazing car. We weren’t very good in practice. New tires fixed it. So yeah, hopefully we can be good in the race. What a good day.”

As for what he needs in order to capture the checkered flag on Sunday, SVG said he needs “a bit more rear grip and a bit better balance … just tune it up a little bit, but obviously not a bad spot to start.”

He will be joined on the front row by Chase Briscoe, who ended the session 0.250s off the pole lap by the driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. William Byron was third, Ross Chastain fourth, and A.J. Allmendinger fifth.

Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, and Christopher Bell filled out the remainder of the top ten.

This is also the first pole position for a Cup car with Red Bull as the primary sponsor since Kasey Kahne’s pole position at Atlanta in September of 2011.

Watch: SVG ‘shaken’ to capture back-to-back Cup Series pole awards

The qualifying session went on without any major incidents, but there were a few off-track excursions and a spin by Blaney.

Byron set the pace in Group A with a 1:15.025s, and while it was an impressive lap, it wasn’t enough to hang on for pole as Byron looks to rebound after a difficult month.

SVG went to the top of the board early in Group B, lapping the road course in 1:14.833s. However, other drivers still had a chance as Briscoe was only 0.011s off the pole time.

However, the three-time Supercars champ crushed any hope remaining on his second run, picking it up to a 1:14.594s as most of the frontrunners failed to improve at all.

Katherine Legge was the only driver who did not set a qualifying time, so she will start 37th in Sunday’s race.

Roto-Rooter and JR Motorsports will continue their successful NASCAR Xfinity Series relationship into the 2026 season and beyond as the two parties announced a multi-year partnership extension on Saturday in a press conference at Sonoma Raceway.

As part of the extension, Roto-Rooter will continue as a primary sponsorship partner for JR Motorsports in seven NASCAR Xfinity Series races annually, and will split the races with Justin Allgaier and additional JR Motorsports drivers (to be announced later).

Additionally, Roto-Rooter will serve as a full-season associate sponsorship partner of the JR Motorsports Late Model program, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take on a personal service agreement with Roto-Rooter.

“We couldn’t be more excited to continue our relationship with Dale, Kelley, and everyone at JR Motorsports. Partnering with JR Motorsports means more than just sponsorship – it’s about being part of a true team,” said Roto-Rooter President, Thad Reinhard. “We share the same values; reliability, hard work, and a drive to succeed, both on and off the track. We’re especially thrilled to be working more closely with Dale on a personal level and to follow his journey in the Late Model series. I’m looking forward to watching our relationship continue to grow.”

Earnhardt says he and the JR Motorsports team are elated to continue building upon the successful relationship with Roto-Rooter.

“We are excited to continue growing our relationship with Roto-Rooter,” said Earnhardt Jr. “I feel like JR Motorsports offers an amazing marketing platform across the board, and it’s great when partners see the value that our companies provide. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can continue to deliver for Roto-Rooter on and off the track.”

Roto-Rooter is plastered on Connor Zilisch’s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Sonoma Raceway. On Friday, Zilisch, who has three career NASCAR Xfinity Series wins, secured the second starting spot for Saturday’s race.

It’s no secret that sponsors are crucial to NASCAR and that drivers often collaborate with them off-track as part of the job. But Carson Hocevar only seems to be doing it out of “fun” recently.

Even though his latest move might take restaurant giant Chili’s sales off the roof ahead of the Sonoma weekend.

How Did Carson Hocevar Become Chili’s Unofficial Marketing Genius?

If you recall, Chili’s made its NASCAR debut with Spire Motorsports in the 2024 season, sponsoring Corey LaJoie. But with Lajoie sacked and a revamped Spire Motorsports entering the 2025 season, the hospitality giants continued their partnership with the team, backing youngster Justin Haley and Hocevar.

Along with them, they developed a new marketing campaign titled “Ride the ‘Dente,” featuring a full-length country song of the same name and a reimagined version of the brand’s signature cocktail, the Presidente Margarita.

“Ride the ‘Dente” was also featured on Hocevar’s No. 77 car at Texas Motor Speedway this season as he flaunted his Chili’s paint scheme in the race.

The point is that the brand seems to have found its footing within NASCAR, along with Spire Motorsports. Hocevar appears to love the brand. To be fair, who doesn’t? Ahead of the Sonoma weekend, he even wanted to treat some of his fans at Chili’s, as he recently announced in an X post.

While Hocevar claimed this was not a promotional event, it could have been a perfect marketing stunt. Maybe it still is. The No. 77 driver wrote, “Hi. Anyone going to
@Chilis this weekend? I’ll buy. retweet this post, reply a picture of your receipt total at Chili’s, and that you’re riding the ‘dente. (not an ad. they don’t know I am doing this, figured it’d be fun) I will pick a few winners on http://twitch.tv/carsonhocevar.”

The post’s comments section is already flooded with screenshots of bills from Chili’s.

Why Is Hocevar So Confident Heading into Sonoma?

Also, Hocevar is feeling so generous ahead of Sonoma because of how well he’s been on road courses this season, and he is probably hoping for the same at the upcoming 1.99-mile, 12-turn track.

If you recall, he finished 13th in COTA and also managed to earn a P3 start at the Chicago Street Race circuit so far in the season – his best qualifying effort on a road course until now. Unfortunately, he got a DNF in the race. However, his recent race craft on road courses would have him confident heading into Sonoma.

But still, Hocevar remains cautious about the challenges that the track poses. Ahead of the race, he said, “It is different than what it used to be, but I thought it was fun last year with how much grip there was. I do miss how worn out it was before.

“I think it has its own challenges,” Hocevar said. “You are going faster and have to be more aggressive to be on the limit with that speed, but have to avoid overdriving the corner.”

Hocevar has been eyeing his maiden Cup victory for a long time now. Who knows, Sonoma could be where he finally gets it.

NASCAR starting positions for Sonoma Raceway

NASCAR Cup Series drivers are unloaded in Sonoma, California. Sonoma Raceway is set for a round of practice and qualifying ahead of tomorrow’s race.

View Sonoma starting lineup for the NASCAR Cup Series below.

Sonoma Menu
ARCA: Prac/Qual | Race
Xfinity: Prac/Qual | Race
Cup: Prac/Qual | Race

Sonoma TV Schedule

Shane van Gisbergen will start from the pole position. He turned a laptime of 1:14.594 seconds with an average speed of 96.040mph.

Sonoma Raceway
Starting Lineup
July 13, 2025
NASCAR Cup Series

Pos | Driver | Best Time

1. Shane van Gisbergen
1:14.594

2. Chase Briscoe
1:14.844

3. William Byron
1:15.025

4. Ross Chastain
1:15.087

5. AJ Allmendinger
1:15.120

6. Ty Gibbs
1:15.128

7. Ryan Blaney
1:15.134

8. Tyler Reddick
1:15.176

9. Alex Bowman
1:15.233

10. Christopher Bell
1:15.243

11. Kyle Larson
1:15.254

12. Zane Smith
1:15.278

13. Chase Elliott
1:15.283

14. Chris Buescher
1:15.373

15. Michael McDowell
1:15.408

16. Denny Hamlin
1:15.437

17. Kyle Busch
1:15.475

18. John Hunter Nemechek
1:15.517

19. Daniel Suarez
1:15.563

20. Ryan Preece
1:15.589

21. Brad Keselowski
1:15.624

22. Joey Logano
1:15.629

23. Carson Hocevar
1:15.666

24. Austin Cindric
1:15.734

25. Josh Berry
1:15.836

26. Ty Dillon
1:16.033

27. Cole Custer
1:16.122

28. Riley Herbst
1:16.254

29. Justin Haley
1:16.270

30. Bubba Wallace
1:16.275

31. Erik Jones
1:16.297

32. Noah Gragson
1:16.299

33. Austin Dillon
1:16.461

34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
1:16.623

35. Todd Gilliland
1:16.732

36. Cody Ware
1:17.478

37. Katherine Legge
No Time

Sonoma Raceway
Practice Results
July 12, 2025
NASCAR Cup Series

Pos | Driver | Best Time

1. AJ Allmendinger
1:15.950

2. Ty Gibbs
1:16.193

3. Shane van Gisbergen
1:16.241

4. Ross Chastain
1:16.390

5. Kyle Larson
1:16.448

6. Christopher Bell
1:16.449

7. Ryan Blaney
1:16.473

8. Daniel Suarez
1:16.515

9. Tyler Reddick
1:16.554

10. John Hunter Nemechek
1:16.582

11. William Byron
1:16.673

12. Zane Smith
1:16.730

13. Joey Logano
1:16.860

14. Chase Briscoe
1:16.864

15. Chase Elliott
1:16.972

16. Chris Buescher
1:17.000

17. Ryan Preece
1:17.047

18. Kyle Busch
1:17.157

19. Noah Gragson
1:17.229

20. Austin Cindric
1:17.239

21. Alex Bowman
1:17.255

22. Michael McDowell
1:17.338

23. Ty Dillon
1:17.587

24. Denny Hamlin
1:17.601

25. Brad Keselowski
1:17.691

26. Erik Jones
1:17.737

27. Bubba Wallace
1:17.869

28. Carson Hocevar
1:17.889

29. Josh Berry
1:17.892

30. Cole Custer
1:17.953

31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
1:17.993

32. Todd Gilliland
1:18.145

33. Austin Dillon
1:18.299

34. Riley Herbst
1:18.362

35. Justin Haley
1:18.428

36. Cody Ware
1:18.911

37. Katherine Legge
1:21.749

Links

Sonoma Raceway | NASCAR