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.
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.
Photos from Sonoma - Practice & Qualifying
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