Van Gisbergen Cruises To Cup Pole On Chicago Streets

Shane van Gisbergen with the Busch Light Pole Award at the Chicago Street Course. (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

CHICAGO – Some things just don’t change, and that includes Shane van Gisbergen making the Chicago Street Course his personal playground for a third year, at least so far.

Van Gisbergen captured his third career NASCAR Cup Series pole and second this season for Trackhouse Racing during Busch Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

The Auckland, New Zealand native ran a lap of one minute, 29.656 seconds (88.338 mph), which was more than four tenths quicker than Michael McDowell, who will start on the outside pole in second place.

All of the 36-year-old’s Cup Series poles have come on road courses and this is his second pole in the last four weeks.

Both practice and qualifying rewarded patience, but also knowing when and where to be aggressive on track. With the streets of Chicago being narrow and tight quarters, there was no room for error coming out of turns and straightaways.

That comes largely from both sides of the course having concrete walls, giving drivers little space to maneuver. But with his road racing experience and running in the Xfinity Series qualifying session just before the Cup Series hit the track, ‘SVG’ was able to handle the challenge the best.

He kept his car clean and stayed out of the wall. He’ll look to do that Sunday as he goes for his second win of the year.

“That was epic,” said van Gisbergen of his pole-winning lap. “I think the guys did a great job. The WeatherTech Chevy’s really good. I’m a lucky boy; I’ve got some great cars this weekend with the Xfinity pole and the Cup pole. Any Cup pole is pretty special … so I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, but what a tune-up.

“Practice really wasn’t that great, but we went out in qualifying and the car felt really good and laid down two pretty good laps,” he added. “You can always do something better; you’re always learning and I learned a lot in the Xfinity car this morning that just gave me a great leg up for the Cup car. I think it’s great running two cars. … It certainly helps me.”

Joining van Gisbergen out front on Sunday are McDowell in second and his Spire Motorsports teammate Carson Hocevar in third. Following are Toyota drivers Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe in the top five.

Then, playoff hopefuls Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, and Austin Dillon fill out the first five rows of the starting grid.

Notably, nine drivers without a win through 18 weeks of the regular season start inside the top 10.

Van Gisbergen won the Chicago Cup Series race in 2023 – his Cup Series debut – and has led laps in each of the two visits there. He also won the Xfinity Series race last season and will start on pole for JR Motorsports in that race at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW.

In an unforgiving afternoon, multiple drivers experienced significant issues in either practice or qualifying.

Alex Bowman (bent toe link), William Byron (bent toe link), Noah Gragson (broken toe link), Denny Hamlin (blown engine), and Chase Elliott (bent toe link) will all start from the rear Sunday. All of those drivers, with the exception of Bowman and Gragson, did not make a qualifying lap and will make repairs to their primary cars.

Three drivers inside the top five of the regular season points will start from the rear, all from Hendrick Motorsports. In regard to the playoff bubble, Bubba Wallace was fastest in practice but spun and backed into the tire barrier during qualifying. He also joins the list of drivers going to the rear.

Bowman had damage from tapping the wall in practice, but was able to qualify. Due to repairs made during practice he will go to the rear, but qualified 11th quickest to improve his pit stall selection.

Out of the five open, non-chartered cars attempting to make the field, Corey Heim failed to qualify due to his own issues with toe link damage after wall contact. Katherine Legge ultimately bumped him with her group-two lap, securing the final spot to join Josh Bilicki, Will Brown, and Austin Hill in the race.

But all eyes are on Van Gisbergen as he leads the field to green in hopes of another road course master class.

Broadcast coverage of the Grant Park 165 from the streets of Chicago airs Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, live on TNT Sports, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.