There aren’t that many situations where Ryan Blaney capturing the pole for a NASCAR Cup Series event would be considered a surprise. However, when it comes to the road courses, the Team Penske driver doesn’t often find himself starting up front.
The 31-year-old driver changed that notion on Saturday at Watkins Glen International, laying down an incredible lap in group qualifying to secure his 12th career pole at NASCAR’s top level, and just his second on a road course (the first being at COTA in 2022).
How can a former NASCAR Cup Series champion winning a pole be considered a surprise, you ask?
In Blaney’s eight previous starts at Watkins Glen International, the driver of the No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse had only qualified inside the top-10 once, and in the NextGen car, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion had a best starting spot of 23rd.
“Man, what a cool pole. I’m a pretty average road racer, honestly,” Blaney said in an interview with TruTV after he secured the pole position. “I work really hard to try to get better at it and try to figure out ways to be better. So, really proud of the whole [No.] 12 group, like you said, the dirty dozen. Fun day, just getting better and hopefully we’ve got — gotta find a little bit of race pace tomorrow, I thought. But it’s nice to have one-lap speed in it.”
STARTING LINEUP: Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen
With a lap time of 71.960 seconds (122.568mph), Blaney bested one of the best road course racers in all of NASCAR by 0.033 seconds, claiming the top spot and getting himself some prime real estate on pit road for Sunday’s event.
Van Gisbergen, who has started on the pole in three of the four road course events this season, will roll from alongside Blaney as he looks to secure his fourth win of 2025. In third-place was Chase Briscoe, the qualifying machine, who again put together an impressive qualifying effort.
Ross Chastain, a teammate to Shane van Gisbergen at Trackhouse Racing, will roll from fourth place on Sunday, with Kyle Busch completing the top five. Both of the top-five finishes for Busch this season at Richard Childress Racing have come on the road courses.
Michael McDowell showed considerable pace in practice and backed it up in qualifying, allowing him to roll off from sixth in his No. 71 GoBowling.com Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. Alex Bowman will start seventh, with Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, and William Byron completing the top-10.
Chris Buescher, last year’s winner at Watkins Glen International, showed solid pace throughout practice and qualifying on Saturday and will start the race from 12th. Meanwhile, Justin Haley, the quickest driver in the practice session, had a bobble in qualifying and will start 23rd.
Connor Zilisch, the NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie phenom making his fourth career start at NASCAR’s top level, will start from 25th.
Other notable drivers starting outside the top-10 include Joey Logano (P11), Austin Cindric (P13), Bubba Wallace (P15), Chase Elliott (P20), Tyler Reddick (P21), Denny Hamlin (P22), Josh Berry (P24), and Kyle Larson (P27).
Josh Bilicki, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang for Garage 66, will roll from 40th after posting a qualifying lap of 75.092, just 3.132 seconds off of polesitter Ryan Blaney.
The Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International will take place on Sunday, August 10 at 2:00 pm ET on USA Network, Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
