Shane Van Gisbergen continued his road course excellence by winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series pole at Sonoma Raceway on Friday (July 11) afternoon with a lap of 95.191 mph.

It’s back-to-back Xfinity poles for SVG, who will start alongside JR Motorsports teammate and three-time Xfinity winner Connor Zilisch.

Sam Mayer took third, while Jesse Love qualified fourth. The top four all posted their times in the second round of qualifying. William Sawalich was the fastest driver in the first round of qualifying, and he will start fifth.

Carson Kvapil, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill completed the top 10.

Austin J. Hill of Joey Gase Motorsports was the only driver that failed to qualify for the race.

NASCAR Weekend TV Schedule: Sonoma, July 11 – 13

Pit Boss / Food Maxx 250 Qualifying Results

The Xfinity Series will race at Sonoma on Saturday (July 12), with coverage beginning at 4:30 ET on the CW.

Tristan Ell

Shane van Gisbergen, driving a car for JR Motorsports, claimed the pole for Saturday’s Xfinity race at Sonoma Raceway.

He toured the 1.99-mile road course at an average of 95.191 mph.

Connor Zilisch will join van Gisbergen on the front row after a lap of 94.884 mph. That gives JR Motorsports a sweep of the front row.

Sam Mayer (94.707 mph) qualified third, followed by Jesse Love (94.463) and William Sawalich (94.411).

The green flag for Saturday’s race is scheduled for 4:50 p.m. ET.

NEWTON, Iowa – INDY NXT by Firestone points leader Dennis Hauger will start from the No. 1 position for the INDY NXT by Firestone at Iowa Speedway race after the qualifying session was rained out. The field for the 75-lap race will take the green flag based on entrant points entering the event.

SEE: Starting Lineup

Hauger had the third-fastest lap in Friday’s abbreviated practice, turning a lap of 165.073 mph in Andretti Global’s No. 28 Nammo entry. His lap was part of the Andretti organization’s strong start to the weekend. Four of the team-related drivers turned laps among the session’s top five.

Hauger will start from the top spot for the seventh time in nine races this season. He started second in the other two.

Salvador de Alba posted the fastest lap of the 30-minute session at 165.518 mph in the No. 27 Grupo Indi car of Andretti Global. Myles Rowe was second driving the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy machine (165.421 mph).

“(A) shortened practice, but happy to be where we are,” de Alba said. “All the Andretti cars are pretty fast. We (turned) good laps at the very end with the used tires, so that gives us even more confidence.”

Ricardo Escotto was fourth in the No. 3 Frank’s Red Hot car of Andretti Cape Motorsports (164.623 mph). Rookie Lochie Hughes was fifth in Andretti Global’s No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship entry (164.291 mph).

Andretti Global’s James Roe, who won the pole for last year’s race at this .894-mile oval, had the eighth-fastest lap in the No. 29 Topcon entry (163.267 mph).

Jordan Missig had the session’s only spin, a lazy excursion off Turn 2. He did not make contact with the No. 48 Abel Motorsports car, enabling him to continue after pitting.

The field was expected to include Sebastian Murray in the No. 2 DREAM RACING DUBAI entry of Andrett Cape Motorsport, but he was not medically cleared to participate in the wake of last weekend’s accident with Escotto at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Saturday’s 75-lap race starts at 1:30 p.m. ET. FS1, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network will have the broadcasts.

In the aftermath of the NASCAR Cup Series race in Downtown Chicago on Sunday, Joey Logano said Ross Chastain admitted to wrecking him on purpose following their involvement in a multi-car fracas in the closing laps.

Logano even pled his case to league officials following the race.

Advertisement

NASCAR communications official Mike Forde addressed the issue on his Hauler Talk podcast as part of a detailing on why there wasn’t a penalty stemming from their run-in.

“I would be fairly surprised if we don’t have conversations with both those drivers, whether that’s going to be together or separately, in Sonoma, to let them know that our eyes will be peeled on both the 1 and the 22 to make sure that nothing unsavory happens to make sure nothing unsavory happens at Sonoma and beyond,” Forde said. “So, that’s where we kind of stand right now.”

Read more:23XI, Front Row to likely lose charters after latest legal outcome

Forde also praised Logano for choosing to take those concerns to NASCAR beyond going even further with his frustrations in public to the media.

Advertisement

“So, as we’ve said, as Amanda (Ellis, NASCAR Senior Director, Racing Communications) has hammered a bunch of times, we prefer that to happen,” Forde said. “You know, let’s, if you have a problem, if you have a critique, a criticism, whatever, our doors are open. And Logano probably more than most takes advantage of that opportunity.

“As far as, you know, driver skirmishes on the racetrack and them coming to us to say we should do something about it, I think that’s pretty rare. But as far as coming to talk to us about other things, that’s less rare. I think we wish it would happen more. Logano’s always very good. He’s one of the leaders in that driver group, and the driver advisory council, he’s on the board with Jeff Burton and a couple of other drivers. So, he takes that two-way conversation and communication pretty seriously.”

JR Motorsports has locked out the front row for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway. Once again, Shane van Gisbergen earned pole position, lapping the track in 1:15.259s, over two tenths clear of teammate Connor Zilisch.

These same two drivers finished 1-2 one week ago at the Chicago Street Course in a race where SVG also started from pole position.

Car is really, really good,” said van Gisbergen. “I was having fun out there … Looking forward to the race tomorrow.”

Van Gisbergen is also the defending winner of the Sonoma Xfinity race. On how the track has evolved since then, SVG said: “It’s hotter than last year, so it’s a bit slippery. The car is quite different from last year. Just trying to get used to that and how the car reacts. At Chicago, they weren’t too different but compared to what I had here last year, they are quite a bit different. Just trying to get it a bit centered but I feel good.”

As for Zilisch, he lamented some mistakes he made during his qualifying run, but added that there are no trophies for pole position as he shifted focus to the race on Saturday.

Behind SVG and Zilisch, Sam Mayer qualified third, Jesse Love fourth, and William Sawalich fifth. Sawalich was also the fastest driver in Group A, but that time was not quite good enough to get him onto the first two rows. 

Sammy Smith, Carson Kvapil, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed, and Justin Allgaier filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Austin J. Hill was the lone driver who failed to qualify, driving the No. 35 for Joey Gase Motorsports. 

In qualifying, there were no major incidents, but several off-track moments. Will Rodgers spun while both Josh Bilicki and Kvapil ended up in the dirt at some point. Nick Sanchez really struggled, going off-track twice during his qualifying runs.

Taylor Gray suffered an engine failure, which means he will start from the rear of the field.

SVG now has five career pole positions in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with all of them coming at road/street courses.

If you enjoy racing at NASCAR’s snaking road courses, you have come to the right place over the past five races.

For the third time in that quintet, drivers will mix in plenty of right-hand turns to go along with the usual left-handers when the Cup Series travels to its lone stop in California for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, the 110-lap race at Sonoma Raceway.

Kyle Larson is surely thrilled to be back in the Golden State’s wine country — and not just because he hails from Elk Grove, just 90 minutes away from the 12-turn track.

The race’s defending winner beat Martin Truex Jr. and Chris Buescher over the final 51 caution-free laps a year ago. However, the 2021 Cup champ has not had much go his way since his history-making efforts in running at Indianapolis and Charlotte on the same Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend.

The hometown hero at the 1.99-mile track has run poorly since doing the “Double,” wrecking in both the Indy 500 and Coke 600. In the seven races starting in Charlotte, his average finish is 17.6 with his best showing being fifth at Michigan.

But the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver is safely in the playoffs, of course. His three wins tie him with Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell for the most, and he is a two-time winner in Napa Valley’s vineyard region.

However, it was Shane van Gisbergen who sipped sweet success Sunday for the second time in the three Cup races held on the Chicago Street Course.

In the first one there in 2023, the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing driver recorded career win No. 1. He was victorious in last year’s Xfinity race but finished last in the Cup event following a crash.

Last weekend, the New Zealander earned the pole in both races and scored two victories. He became the first driver to win from the pole on both Saturday and Sunday since Kyle Busch did it in 2016 at Indianapolis.

“This joint, it changed my life,” said SVG, whose three wins in 33 races make for a fine start in Cup racing and puts him with the most wins by any foreign-born driver.

With Chicago’s future in real question — the three-race agreement is over — SVG is one of many drivers who would relish a fourth in the Second City, though San Diego may be the next stop on the streets.

In the playoff chase, SVG’s win slots him fourth in the postseason lineup with seven races remaining, but with 12 winners locked into the playoffs, three of the final four positions have tightened up.

The first winless driver, 13th-place Tyler Reddick, holds a vast 104-point lead over Alex Bowman in 14th.

And while a victory might be expected of Reddick in his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, none of his eight wins have come at any of the next seven venues.

Bowman leads Buescher by just four points, while Bubba Wallace, who finished 28th Sunday after being spun twice, holds the final playoff spot in 16th by only two points over Ryan Preece.

It is then a 41-point drop-off to 18th-place AJ Allmendinger with 400 points.

Larson (2024, 2021), Busch (2015, 2008) and lame duck Trackhouse driver Daniel Suarez (2022) will be the only active competitors in Sunday’s field who have taken home Sonoma’s checkered flag.

–Field Level Media