Road course maestro Shane van Gisbergen will start Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen from pole position, after a dominant lap in qualifying.
The New Zealander is running in all three national series this weekend and is yet to win a race (eighth in the O'Reilly Series, third in the Truck Series) – but his practice and qualifying pace will strike fear into his rivals for the big one on Sunday.
The front row for will be filled out by road course experts, with Van Gisbergen being followed on the timing boards by Michael McDowell.
Austin Cindric and Ross Chastain finished the session in third and fourth place respectively, and will line up on row two, while the third Trackhouse driver in Connor Zilisch rounded out the top five.
Meanwhile, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs all qualified inside the top 10 in that order.
While Trackhouse put all three of their cars in the top five, things didn't go as well for RFK Racing, whose best qualifier (Chris Buescher) could only manage 14th, while Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece didn't even make the top 25.
With that said, let's take a look at the full starting lineup below!
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NASCAR Cup Series Watkins Glen starting lineup
After Saturday's qualifying session, here is the full starting lineup for Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen, at...Watkins Glen.
| Pos | Driver (Car No.) | Team (OEM) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane Van Gisbergen (97) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 2 | Michael McDowell (71) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 3 | Austin Cindric (2) | Team Penske (Ford) |
| 4 | Ross Chastain (1) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 5 | Connor Zilisch (88) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 6 | Joey Logano (22) | Team Penske (Ford) |
| 7 | Ryan Blaney (12) | Team Penske (Ford) |
| 8 | Christopher Bell (20) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 9 | Chase Briscoe (19) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 10 | Ty Gibbs (54) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 11 | Carson Hocevar (77) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 12 | AJ Allmendinger (16) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 13 | William Byron (24) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 14 | Chris Buescher (17) | RFK Racing (Ford) |
| 15 | Tyler Reddick (45) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) |
| 16 | Daniel Suarez (7) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 17 | John Hunter Nemechek (42) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) |
| 18 | Bubba Wallace (23) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) |
| 19 | Cole Custer (41) | Haas Factory Team (Chevrolet) |
| 20 | Denny Hamlin (11) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 21 | Kyle Busch (8) | R. Childress Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 22 | Todd Gilliland (34) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) |
| 23 | Kyle Larson (5) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 24 | Erik Jones (43) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) |
| 25 | Austin Dillon (3) | R. Childress Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 26 | Brad Keselowski (6) | RFK Racing (Ford) |
| 27 | Chase Elliott (9) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 28 | Alex Bowman (48) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 29 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (47) | HYAK Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 30 | Ryan Preece (60) | RFK Racing (Ford) |
| 31 | Ty Dillon (10) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 32 | Riley Herbst (35) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) |
| 33 | Zane Smith (38) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) |
| 34 | Josh Berry (21) | Wood Brothers Racing (Ford) |
| 35 | Noah Gragson (4) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) |
| 36 | Cody Ware (51) | Rick Ware Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 37 | Josh Bilicki (66) | Garage 66 (Ford) |
| 38 | Katherine Legge | Live Fast Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
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