NASCAR Cup Series qualifying from Sonoma is in the books, and the headline story is that Shane van Gisbergen will start from the third row on Sunday.
The Trackhouse Racing star was the fastest driver in the first group who qualified on track, but his time was surpassed by five Group 2 drivers – including polesitter Ty Gibbs and his front row companion Carson Hocevar, starting second for the second weekend in a row.
Van Gisbergen went for a second push lap near the end of the Group 1 running and was comfortably in the green, but overcooked a corner exit around halfway through the lap and spun through 360 degrees – importantly, avoiding the wall.
Kyle Larson and Michael McDowell will fill out the second row, with Ross Chastain the lead Trackhouse driver in fifth place.
Van Gisbergen qualified sixth to round out an all-Trackhouse third row, with Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounding out the top 10 in that order.
Connor Zilisch followed up a tricky qualifying session for the O'Reilly Series race with 17th place for Sunday's Cup race, at a track where he's expected to be one of his team-mate Van Gisbergen's primary challengers.
READ MORE: Five matchups to watch in the first round of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge at Sonoma
NASCAR Cup Series Sonoma qualifying results
Here are the full qualifying results from Sonoma Raceway.
| Pos | Driver (Car No.) | Team (OEM) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ty Gibbs (#54) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | Leader |
| 2 | Carson Hocevar (#77) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.025 |
| 3 | Kyle Larson (#5) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.041 |
| 4 | Michael McDowell (#71) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.048 |
| 5 | Ross Chastain (#1) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.084 |
| 6 | Shane van Gisbergen (#97) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.085 |
| 7 | Chase Briscoe (#19) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.155 |
| 8 | AJ Allmendinger (#16) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.216 |
| 9 | Denny Hamlin (#11) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.223 |
| 10 | Joey Logano (#22) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.256 |
| 11 | Tyler Reddick (#45) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.271 |
| 12 | Austin Hill (i) (#33) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.363 |
| 13 | William Byron (#24) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.530 |
| 14 | Christopher Bell (#20) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.537 |
| 15 | Chris Buescher (#17) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.555 |
| 16 | Ryan Blaney (#12) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.562 |
| 17 | Connor Zilisch (#88) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.585 |
| 18 | Chase Elliott (#9) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.712 |
| 19 | Ryan Preece (#60) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.799 |
| 20 | John Hunter Nemechek (#42) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +0.811 |
| 21 | Daniel Suárez (#7) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.908 |
| 22 | Alex Bowman (#48) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +1.003 |
| 23 | Austin Cindric (#2) | Team Penske (Ford) | +1.009 |
| 24 | Zane Smith (#38) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +1.019 |
| 25 | Riley Herbst (#35) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +1.049 |
| 26 | Bubba Wallace (#23) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +1.058 |
| 27 | Cole Custer (#41) | Haas Factory Team (Chevrolet) | +1.094 |
| 28 | Josh Berry (#21) | Wood Brothers Racing (Ford) | +1.129 |
| 29 | Todd Gilliland (#34) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +1.251 |
| 30 | Austin Dillon (#3) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | +1.300 |
| 31 | Ty Dillon (#10) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +1.463 |
| 32 | Erik Jones (#43) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +1.474 |
| 33 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (#47) | HYAK Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +1.705 |
| 34 | Noah Gragson (#4) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +1.776 |
| 35 | Brad Keselowski (#6) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +1.802 |
| 36 | Cody Ware (#51) | Rick Ware Racing (Chevrolet) | +2.610 |
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