Shane van Gisbergen rocketed to his fourth career NASCAR Xfinity Series pole position on Saturday morning at the Chicago Street Course. The driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet cranked out a 90.085-second (87.917 mph) lap time around the difficult 12-turn 2.2-mile road course that runs through Grant Park in downtown Chicago.
The pole-winning run for van Gisbergen came by a margin of 0.262 seconds over Austin Hill, the driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. While it was a monster lap turned by SVG, who won the pole, the driver says that he wasn’t even pushing it for the pole position. The driver was concerned with not overstepping the limits as his No. 9 JR Motorsports team was not locked into the show by way of owner points.
“Anything can happen in these races, but yeah, thank you to Red Bull and WeatherTech. [The] Car was amazing,” van Gisbergen said. “Pretty conservative still, we just had to lay down a banker to make sure we were in the race. Surprised to be on pole. But yeah, it just goes to show you how fast the JR Motorsports. Looking forward to the race.”
Hill, the runner-up starter, will look to rebound from two disappointing outings in his last two races, as he finished 35th at Pocono Raceway and 26th in Atlanta.
Sam Mayer notched the third starting spot for Saturday afternoon’s race, and he was followed by his Haas Factory Team teammate Sheldon Creed in fourth, and Australia Supercars regular Jack Perkins, who is behind the wheel of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra this weekend.
The Loop 110 Starting Lineup
| Pos | Car | Driver | Lap time | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen (i) | 90.085 | -- |
| 2 | 21 | Austin Hill | 90.347 | 0.262 |
| 3 | 41 | Sam Mayer | 90.869 | 0.784 |
| 4 | 00 | Sheldon Creed | 90.909 | 0.824 |
| 5 | 19 | Jack Perkins | 90.925 | 0.840 |
| 6 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | 90.965 | 0.880 |
| 7 | 18 | William Sawalich # | 90.997 | 0.912 |
| 8 | 48 | Nick Sanchez # | 91.037 | 0.952 |
| 9 | 2 | Jesse Love | 91.070 | 0.985 |
| 10 | 8 | Sammy Smith | 91.264 | 1.179 |
Click here for the complete starting lineup for The Loop 110 at Chicago
With 40 cars on the entry list, two cars failed to make the 38-car field for Saturday’s event at the Chicago Street Course. The two drivers going home included Kris Wright, the driver of the No. 5 Our Motorsports Chevrolet, and Sage Karam, who was unable to make a qualifying attempt in the No. 53 Joey Gase Motorsports Toyota after suffering mechanical issues in Saturday morning’s practice session.
Saturday morning’s practice session at the Chicago Street Course was treacherous, and it set the tone for how the remainder of the preliminary on-track activity would play out prior to Saturday’s The Loop 110 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers and teams.
In all, five drivers were unable to make timed laps in qualifying following issues in practice.
In addition to Karam, who suffered the mechanical issues, Connor Zilisch, Taylor Gray, Ryan Sieg, and Christian Eckes were also unable to complete a lap in the session due to problems in practice.
Zilisch, Gray, and Eckes all crashed heavily during their practice runs, while Sieg was never able to make a lap in practice due to a mechanical issue with his No. 39 RSS Racing Ford.
Anthony Alfredo also suffered a fluid leak in his No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet in the opening minutes of practice, but was able to shut the car off before the engine blew up. Alfredo would go on to record the 28th starting spot for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race.
Wright, who ultimately DNQed, also spun out in practice, but barely nudged the tire barrier with the rear of his car in Turn 2, and was able to keep on going.
