Shane van Gisbergen is always expected to compete for the top of the charts in any session of any race that takes place at a road course. The New Zealand native took his third career NASCAR Xfinity Series pole in Saturday’s qualifying session at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL ahead of the Drive for the Cure 250.
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SVG’s best lap in the final round of qualifying was an 84.523 seconds (97.110 mph) lap. Van Gisbergen defeated Sam Mayer by more than two-tenths of a second for the pole position.
Van Gisbergen is looking for his fourth win of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and a win in the race would advance the driver of the No. 97 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro to the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.
For JR Motorsports’ Mayer, the runner-up starting spot comes on the heels of the driver being DQed from a 16th-place finish a weekend ago at Talladega Superspeedway. Mayer will need a big day on Saturday at the Charlotte ROVAL if he hopes to advance to the next round of the Playoffs.
AJ Allmendinger, Josh Bilicki, and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top-five qualifiers on Saturday morning, and they were followed by Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love, and Connor Mosack inside the top-10.
Parker Kligerman will be the Playoff driver with the worst starting spot in the Drive for the Cure 250 as Kligerman secured the 22nd starting spot for Saturday’s race.
