It’s now the third year of NASCAR’s Chicago Street Course project, and Shane Van Gisbergen, the three-time Australian Supercars champion, is still the driver to beat.
Now competing on a full-time basis in the highest level of American stock car racing, Van Gisbergen stormed to his third career pole on Saturday, posting an incredible lap around the 2.2-mile street course.
The 36-year-old driver needed to make a second qualifying run to secure the pole, but his time of 89.656 seconds (88.338mph) ended up being good enough to stay atop the speed charts, despite some valiant efforts in the second group.
“That was epic. I think the guys did a great job; the WeatherTech Chevrolet is really good,” said Van Gisbergen. “I’m a lucky boy, as I’ve got some great cars today – an Xfinity pole and a Cup pole. It’s pretty special. Looking forward to the race tomorrow, but what a tune-up. Practice wasn’t that great, went out in qualifying car felt really good and laid down two good laps.”
Van Gisbergen, who went to Victory Lane for the second time in his NASCAR Cup Series career at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in June, is set to start from the front of the pack in both events this weekend, after smashing Austin Hill’s fast lap to win the pole for Saturday’s Xfinity Series event.
STARTING LINEUP: Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course
Spire Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell (No. 71) and Carson Hocevar (No. 77) will start Sunday’s event from second and third place. Tyler Reddick will roll from fourth, with Pocono winner Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five.
Kyle Busch, one of three drivers to finish inside the top-10 in both races at the Chicago Street Course, will roll from sixth place, with Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, and Austin Dillon completing the top-10.
Other notables include Alex Bowman (11th), Joey Logano (12th), Christopher Bell (13th), Kyle Larson (14th), Ryan Blaney (17th), Ross Chastain (22nd), and Austin Cindric (27th).
Bubba Wallace, who was the quickest driver in practice for the NASCAR Cup Series, ran into several issues during qualifying, spinning on two occasions. That never allowed the No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE to get an at-speed lap in, and will leave him to start 38th.
William Byron and Chase Elliott, teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, will be starting from the rear of the pack on Sunday after incidents in practice. Both drivers were near the top of the charts when they smacked the outside barrier and caused significant damage to their vehicles.
Denny Hamlin will be rolling from the rear of the field on Sunday, also, after the engine on his No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE detonated before the Chesterfield, Virginia-native even had the opportunity to complete his warmup lap.
With 41 drivers entered for Sunday’s event, there was a qualifying showdown between the five drivers whose entries did not hold NASCAR Cup Series charters. Those drivers were: Will Brown, Austin Hill, Josh Bilicki, Corey Heim, and Katherine Legge.
Making his second NASCAR Cup Series start, Will Brown was the highest-qualifying of those five drivers in 19th, with Austin Hill second of those in 30th. However, the battle to make the show came down to Bilicki, Heim, and Legge.
Corey Heim had top-10 speed in practice, but made a mistake during qualifying that bent the toelink on his No. 67 Robinhood Toyota Camry XSE. That hindered the lap time dramatically, and allowed Katherine Legge and Josh Bilicki to put together strong laps and get themselves into the field.
Heim, a 15-time winner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, will now have to wait until a later date to race in the NASCAR Cup Series again, as he focuses on his championship run with TRICON Garage.
