Shane van Gisbergen starts Watkins Glen defense with pole-winning run
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.—The Bus Stop chicane at Watkins Glen International is designed to slow drivers down.
In Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session, however, it was the section of the 2.45-mile road course where defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen gained light years over the competition, relatively speaking, in securing the pole for Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The New Zealander, celebrating his 37th birthday, navigated the seven-turn circuit in 71.165 seconds (123.937 mph) on the first of two qualifying laps to beat Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell (123.488 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.259 seconds.
“I did nail it on my first lap,” van Gisbergen said of the Bus Stop at the end of the long backstretch, where he gained more than two tenths of a second on the field. “The first half of the lap was pretty average, I thought.
“My second lap, I had less tire grip, but it was a better lap, so I think I was ahead until the Bus Stop, and then I mucked it up. My first lap was really good there—probably got it right, and maybe the others got it wrong. But generally, that is a really strong point for me.”
Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (123.452 mph) claimed the third starting spot, followed by van Gisbergen’s teammates at Trackhouse Racing, Ross Chastain (123.445 mph) and Connor Zilisch (123.386 mph).
Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, last year’s pole winner, were sixth and seventh, giving Team Penske three of the top seven starters. The Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs completed the top 10.
van Gisbergen expects tire wear to play a major role in Sunday’s race, which has been lengthened from 90 to 100 laps, featuring stage lengths of 20, 30 and 50 laps.
“The fall-off was insane,” van Gisbergen said. “I didn’t expect that. 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 so.
“Crazy. It’ll be a good race to watch but probably a hard one to manage.”
Series leader Tyler Reddick, a five-time winner this season and the most recent road course winner at Circuit of the Americas, qualified 15th. Chase Elliott, last Sunday’s winner at Texas Motor Speedway, will start 27th on Sunday.
Starting Line Up by Row
Watkins Glen International
Go Bowling at The Glen
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/9/2026 @ 02:55 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: William Byron 08/20/23 1:58:44 111.426
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Superfile Chevrolet 71.165 123.937
2 71 Michael McDowell Go Bowling Chevrolet 71.424 123.488
Row 2: 3 2 Austin Cindric Snap on Ford 71.445 123.452
4 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Apple Chevrolet 71.449 123.445
Row 3: 5 88 Connor Zilisch # Red Bull Chevrolet 71.483 123.386
6 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 71.522 123.319
Row 4: 7 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Libman Ford 71.523 123.317
8 20 Christopher Bell Coofandy Menswear Toyota 71.582 123.215
Row 5: 9 19 Chase Briscoe Mobil 1 Toyota 71.583 123.214
10 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 71.615 123.159
Row 6: 11 77 Carson Hocevar Spectrum Chevrolet 71.620 123.150
12 16 AJ Allmendinger Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 71.654 123.092
Row 7: 13 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 71.664 123.074
14 17 Chris Buescher BuildSubmarines.com Ford 71.668 123.067
Row 8: 15 45 Tyler Reddick Jordan Brand Toyota 71.699 123.014
16 7 Daniel Suarez Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Chevrolet 71.723 122.973
Row 9: 17 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 71.739 122.946
18 23 Bubba Wallace Hardee's/Coca-Cola Toyota 71.755 122.918
Row 10: 19 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Chevrolet 71.847 122.761
20 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Insurance Toyota 71.854 122.749
Row 11: 21 8 Kyle Busch zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet 71.890 122.687
22 34 Todd Gilliland Farm Rich Ford 71.941 122.600
Row 12: 23 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 71.961 122.566
24 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 71.972 122.548
Row 13: 25 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester AA White Flyer 71.999 122.502
26 6 Brad Keselowski Modelo Ford 72.060 122.398
Row 14: 27 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 72.067 122.386
28 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 72.095 122.339
Row 15: 29 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ram Self Storage Chevrolet 72.122 122.293
30 60 Ryan Preece Mohawk Northeast Inc. Ford 72.124 122.289
Row 16: 31 10 Ty Dillon Campers Inn RV Chevrolet 72.148 122.249
32 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 72.260 122.059
Row 17: 33 38 Zane Smith Aaron's Rent To Own Ford 72.264 122.052
34 21 Josh Berry DEX Ford 72.614 121.464
Row 18: 35 4 Noah Gragson Long John Silver's/Franks's Red Hot Ford 72.637 121.426
36 51 Cody Ware Jacob Construction Chevrolet 73.199 120.493
Row 19: 37 66 Josh Bilicki(i) Southern Tier Security Ford 74.090 119.044
38 78 Katherine Legge e.l.f. Chevrolet 76.497 115.299
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 18 0 Ford 11 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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