NASCAR Cup San Diego starting lineup: Shane van…

NASCAR Cup San Diego starting lineup: Shane van Gisbergen rockets to pole

Shane van Gisbergen earned his sixth career pole and second of the 2026 season on Saturday, rocketing to pole position around NASCAR's all-new 3.4-mile street course at Naval Base Coronado. He even touched the wall twice on his fast lap, pushing to the absolute limit.

"A little bit (surprised)," said Van Gisbergen, who went out with the first group of qualifiers. "I thought the track would be better, and I thought people would execute a bit better. As I said, it's just so difficult. There's three or four corners you're seeing for the first time of the day, and it's on your heater. Amazing. The Red Bull Chevy is really good. Thank you to Trackhouse for doing a great job from yesterday, and we just need to get the driver a bit better," he concluded with a smile."

Van Gisbergen bested Carson Hocevar by 0.0156s with a fast lap of 2:14.788s. Ryan Blaney will start third, Zane Smith fourth, and Todd Gilliland fifth. Blaney was a little bit quicker than SVG for most of his lap, but lost it through the final set of corners.

Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell, and Austin Hill will out the remainder of the top ten on the starting grid.

Project 91 driver Kevin Magnussen qualified 21st for his NASCAR Cup debut. Notably, championship leader Tyler Reddick spun out, but still reached 17th on the grid. Denny Hamlin is just 19 points behind him, and will start 26th.

Some other notable drivers very deep in the field include William Byron in 27th, Chase Elliott 30th, and an injured Christopher Bell 37th. He will have Brent Crews on standby, and may finish the race for Bell on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to set a time, and showed just how tricky things were as he had to use the runoff area in Turn 2 to avoid an incident. Erik Jones also smacked the wall at the exit of Turn 16, but there were no red flags during the session.

NASCAR Cup San Diego 'Anduril 250' Full Starting Lineup

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Time	Mph
1	S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing	97	Chevrolet	134.788	90.809
2	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	+0.156 134.944	90.704
3	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12	Ford	+0.260 135.048	90.634
4	Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports	38	Ford	+0.603 135.391	90.405
5	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	34	Ford	+0.607 135.395	90.402
6	D. SuarezSpire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	+0.645 135.433	90.377
7	R. PreeceRFK Racing	60	Ford	+0.695 135.483	90.343
8	C. ZilischTrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	+1.095 135.883	90.077
9	M. McDowellSpire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	+1.140 135.928	90.048
10	A. HillRichard Childress Racing	33	Chevrolet	+1.171 135.959	90.027
11	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	+1.362 136.150	89.901
12	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23	Toyota	+1.531 136.319	89.789
13	C. Heim23XI Racing	67	Toyota	+1.537 136.325	89.785
14	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	+1.567 136.355	89.766
15	A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	+1.749 136.537	89.646
16	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17	Ford	+1.843 136.631	89.584
17	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45	Toyota	+1.877 136.665	89.562
18	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	+2.148 136.936	89.385
19	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22	Ford	+2.257 137.045	89.314
20	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	+2.281 137.069	89.298
21	K. MagnussenTrackHouse Racing	91	Chevrolet	+2.483 137.271	89.167
22	C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	+2.497 137.285	89.158
23	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	+2.586 137.374	89.100
24	R. Herbst23XI Racing	35	Toyota	+3.019 137.807	88.820
25	C. CusterHaas Factory Team	41	Chevrolet	+3.049 137.837	88.801
26	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	+3.086 137.874	88.777
27	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	+3.185 137.973	88.713
28	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	+3.316 138.104	88.629
29	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6	Ford	+3.328 138.116	88.621
30	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	+3.336 138.124	88.616
31	A. CindricTeam Penske	2	Ford	+4.107 138.895	88.124
32	N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports	4	Ford	+4.338 139.126	87.978
33	R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	+4.465 139.253	87.898
34	T. DillonKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	+4.929 139.717	87.606
35	J. BerryWood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	+5.124 139.912	87.484
36	J. JohnsonLegacy Motor Club	84	Toyota	+7.570 142.358	85.980
37	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	+8.851 143.639	85.214
38	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	+36.541 171.329	71.441
39	C. WareRick Ware Racing	51	Chevrolet	+1'10.955 205.743	59.492