SVG claims Busch Light Pole at Naval Base Coronado
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
CORONADO, Calif.—Although Shane van Gisbergen has strongly maintained that the NASCAR Cup Series’ first visit to Naval Base Coronado presents a challenge for him, the series’ reigning road course king once again proved himself up for the challenge.
The Trackhouse Racing driver won pole position for Sunday’s inaugural Anduril 250 (4 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a 90.809 mph lap around the 3.4-mile, 16-turn Qualcomm Circuit. It was the sixth career Cup Series pole position for the driver of the No. 97 Trackhouse Chevrolet.
The New Zealander has won the last four races from the lead starting position.
“Amazing to get the first pole here (at San Diego),” Van Gisbergen, 37, said. “Really cool. It’s tough, I’ve said it a couple of times. It’s your first lap of the day, and there’s three, four, five corners you’re probably going through for the first time of the day as your qualifying lap starts. And yeah, I made a meal of it, but I guess the rest of the lap was pretty decent and made the time back.
“My long runs weren’t that great yesterday. The Nos. 5 [Kyle Larson], 33 [Austin Hill] and 54 [Ty Gibbs] were faster than me yesterday, I believe. But my car is better today than yesterday, so who knows. We’re definitely in a good place to start and tomorrow will be a bit of a gamble and a lottery, I think, with the tires. It’s going to be hard for the crew chiefs and strategists to get it right tomorrow, for sure.”
Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar will start in his No. 77 Chevrolet alongside Van Gisbergen on the front row — the best road course qualifying effort in the 23-year-old’s young Cup Series career — and it gives Chevy its third front row grid sweep of the season.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and fellow Ford driver Zane Smith of Front Row Motorsports will start from the second row, with Todd Gilliland, Smith’s teammate, and Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suárez starting together from Row 3. Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Preece and Trackhouse Racing’s Connor Zilisch will start seventh and eighth.
The last seven road-course races have been won from the front row, and 22 of the 28 Next Gen-era road-course events have been won from the top eight positions on the grid.
It’s a promising start for the 2024 series champion Blaney, who has not claimed a top-five road-course finish in the Next Gen car.
“I’ve said it before, I’m an average road racer, I don’t think I excel at this stuff very often, but I work hard to get better, and I thought we had an OK day yesterday [in practice],” Blaney said. “Had a good lap. Didn’t know I had it until that final chicane, but good overall effort and felt really good after the 12 boys worked on it overnight. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s going to be a heck of a race. Tire degradation is going to be massive, so going to be who can manage rears [tires] better. Just a cool event, cool to be out here.
“You plan as much as you can, but sometimes you’re going to have to audible in the race and understand where you’re at and what you want to do and then see what the tire wear is like tomorrow. That’s the fun part about these new things. This whole weekend has been super cool to be here on the base. I appreciate them having us. The fans have been amazing the whole weekend, and it should be a great day tomorrow for sure. As far as racing goes, I don’t know. Manage rear tires and don’t hit any concrete. I hope I can do those two things, and we might have a shot.”
Cup Series points leader Tyler Reddick spun and brushed the wall on his second qualifying lap, but the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota was 17th fastest on his opening run around the course. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin — who comes to the weekend on a three-race winning streak and trails Reddick by only 19 points in the standings — will roll off 25th in the No. 11 JGR Toyota.
His teammate, Christopher Bell, who is nursing a broken wrist from an accident two weeks ago at Michigan International Speedway, qualified 37th. He said that this weekend will be a game-time decision on whether he starts the race and then hands the car over to Brent Crews to finish. Crews has been fast at San Diego, claiming the pole position for Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on a lap faster than Van Gisbergen’s pole-winning speed.
Hendrick Motorsports owns the best road-course record — leading the series in poles, wins, top-five and top-10 finishes in the last 15 road-course races. However, their best qualifying driver on Saturday was reigning series champion Kyle Larson, who will roll off 14th on the 39-car grid.
Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 driver, former Formula One racer Kevin Magnussen, qualified 21st in his NASCAR debut, driving the No. 91 Chevy. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who is competing in his hometown, will start 37th in the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
San Diego Street Course
Anduril 250
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/20/2026 @ 03:24 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: 01/01/01 0
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Red Bull Chevrolet 134.788 90.809
2 77 Carson Hocevar Spectrum Chevrolet 134.944 90.704
Row 2: 3 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 135.048 90.634
4 38 Zane Smith Hard Rock Casino Tejon/Hard Rock Caf???? 135.391 90.405
Row 3: 5 34 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 135.395 90.402
6 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 135.433 90.377
Row 4: 7 60 Ryan Preece Ralphs/Scott 1000 Ford 135.483 90.343
8 88 Connor Zilisch # Red Bull Chevrolet 135.883 90.077
Row 5: 9 71 Michael McDowell Defense Unicorns Chevrolet 135.928 90.048
10 33 Austin Hill(i) Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 135.959 90.027
Row 6: 11 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 136.150 89.901
12 23 Bubba Wallace Xfinity Toyota 136.319 89.789
Row 7: 13 67 Corey Heim(i) Mobil 1/O'Reilly Auto Parts Toyota 136.325 89.785
14 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 136.355 89.766
Row 8: 15 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 136.537 89.646
16 17 Chris Buescher Body Guard Ford 136.631 89.584
Row 9: 17 45 Tyler Reddick Pala Casino Toyota 136.665 89.562
18 3 Austin Dillon Boot Barn Chevrolet 136.936 89.385
Row 10: 19 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 137.045 89.314
20 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 137.069 89.298
Row 11: 21 91 Kevin Magnussen Qualcomm Chevrolet 137.271 89.167
22 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 137.285 89.158
Row 12: 23 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Veterans Honor Chevrolet 137.374 89.100
24 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Toyota 137.807 88.820
Row 13: 25 41 Cole Custer Texas A&M Chevrolet 137.837 88.801
26 11 Denny Hamlin Bob's Discount Furniture Toyota 137.874 88.777
Row 14: 27 24 William Byron Anduril Chevrolet 137.973 88.713
28 42 John Hunter Nemechek DriveValue.com Toyota 138.104 88.629
Row 15: 29 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 138.116 88.621
30 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet 138.124 88.616
Row 16: 31 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford 138.895 88.124
32 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford 139.126 87.978
Row 17: 33 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Sycuan Casino and Resort Chevrolet 139.253 87.898
34 10 Ty Dillon The Fallen Outdoors Chevrolet 139.717 87.606
Row 18: 35 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 139.912 87.484
36 84 Jimmie Johnson Carvana Toyota 142.358 85.980
Row 19: 37 20 Christopher Bell Craftsman Racing For A Miracle Toyota 143.639 85.214
38 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 171.329 71.441
Row 20: 39 51 Cody Ware Rocket Doctor Chevrolet 205.743 59.492
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 18 0 Toyota 11 0
Ford 10 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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