NASCAR Cup Series qualifying from San Diego is in the books, and it's Shane van Gisbergen (who else?!) who has claimed the pole ahead of Sunday's Anduril 250.
The Trackhouse Racing star set the fastest time of Saturday afternoon's session with a 2:14.788 effort on his only hot lap of the day.
Van Gisbergen comes into the weekend as the overwhelming favorite to win around Coronado Naval Base on Sunday and extend his incredible run at road courses to seven victories in his last eight attempts.
Van Gisbergen's takeaway from his pole lap? 'P****d off', 'driver sucks', and an explanation of how he left a lot of time out on track. Look out everyone else.
Carson Hocevar took an unexpected second place, a surprising result for a driver who famously struggles for pace on road courses, with Ryan Blaney, Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland rounding out the top five.
Daniel Suarez, meanwhile, qualified in sixth, with Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell and Austin Hill rounding out the top 10 in that order.
Tyler Reddick is expected to use this weekend to recover some of his points advantage over Denny Hamlin at the top of the Cup Series standings, but could only qualify 17th in a session featuring multiple mistakes – including narrowly avoiding clouting the wall hard when spinning under braking.
That does still give him nine places over Hamlin at the start though, with the No. 11 starting down in 26th.
Elsewhere, NASCAR debutant Kevin Magnussen put his No. 91 car a very respectable 21st, while seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will start 36th after an early mistake spoiled his session.
READ MORE: 6 burning questions about this weekend's NASCAR races at Coronado Naval Base
NASCAR Cup Series San Diego qualifying results
Here are the full qualifying results from Coronado Naval Base.
| Pos | Driver (Car No.) | Team (OEM) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane van Gisbergen (#97) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | Leader |
| 2 | Carson Hocevar (#77) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.156 |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney (#12) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.260 |
| 4 | Zane Smith (#38) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.603 |
| 5 | Todd Gilliland (#34) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.607 |
| 6 | Daniel Suárez (#7) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.645 |
| 7 | Ryan Preece (#60) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.695 |
| 8 | Connor Zilisch (#88) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +1.095 |
| 9 | Michael McDowell (#71) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +1.140 |
| 10 | Austin Hill (i) (#33) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | +1.171 |
| 11 | Ty Gibbs (#54) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +1.362 |
| 12 | Bubba Wallace (#23) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +1.531 |
| 13 | Corey Heim (i) (#67) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +1.537 |
| 14 | Kyle Larson (#5) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +1.567 |
| 15 | AJ Allmendinger (#16) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +1.749 |
| 16 | Chris Buescher (#17) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +1.843 |
| 17 | Tyler Reddick (#45) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +1.877 |
| 18 | Austin Dillon (#3) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | +2.148 |
| 19 | Joey Logano (#22) | Team Penske (Ford) | +2.257 |
| 20 | Alex Bowman (#48) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +2.281 |
| 21 | Kevin Magnussen (#91) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +2.483 |
| 22 | Chase Briscoe (#19) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +2.497 |
| 23 | Ross Chastain (#1) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +2.586 |
| 24 | Riley Herbst (#35) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +3.019 |
| 25 | Cole Custer (#41) | Haas Factory Team (Chevrolet) | +3.049 |
| 26 | Denny Hamlin (#11) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +3.086 |
| 27 | William Byron (#24) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +3.185 |
| 28 | John Hunter Nemechek (#42) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +3.316 |
| 29 | Brad Keselowski (#6) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +3.328 |
| 30 | Chase Elliott (#9) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +3.336 |
| 31 | Austin Cindric (#2) | Team Penske (Ford) | +4.107 |
| 32 | Noah Gragson (#4) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +4.338 |
| 33 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (#47) | Hyak Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +4.465 |
| 34 | Ty Dillon (#10) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +4.929 |
| 35 | Josh Berry (#21) | Wood Brothers Racing (Ford) | +5.124 |
| 36 | Jimmie Johnson (#84) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +7.570 |
| 37 | Christopher Bell (#20) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +8.851 |
| 38 | Erik Jones (#43) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +36.541 |
| 39 | Cody Ware (#51) | Rick Ware Racing (Chevrolet) | +70.955 |
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