'Shane van Gisbergen dominates in Charlotte Road Course qualifying'
CONCORD, N.C.--New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen dominated qualifying on Saturday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course -- to put it mildly.
After securing the top starting position for Saturday\'s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the three-time Australian Supercars champion engaged in a close battle with NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver Tyler Reddick for the pole position in Sunday\'s Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Van Gisbergen claimed the Busch Light pole award, his first in the NASCAR Cup Series, but it was not a sure thing until Reddick made a last-minute attempt to overtake the Kaulig Racing Chevrolet driver.
Van Gisbergen's lap at 99.246 mph (82.704 seconds) held up, with Reddick securing the second spot on the grid in his No. 45 23XI Toyota with a lap at 99.177 mph (82.761 seconds).
\"What an incredible day,\" Van Gisbergen exclaimed after earning his second pole of the day. \"I'm at a loss for words.\"
As the Bank of America Roval 400 is the elimination race for the Round of 12 in the series playoffs, Van Gisbergen, who is making his 10th Cup start of the season, wants to avoid any situations where he could impact the postseason results.
\"We need to race with respect,\" he acknowledged. \"There are a lot of playoff drivers, but my goal is to win the race.\"
In addition to Reddick, five other playoff drivers made it to the final round of time trials and will start from top-10 positions. Joey Logano claimed the fourth spot, with his Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric in fifth, making it the top two Fords on the grid.
Kyle Larson secured the sixth starting position, ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott (seventh), a two-time winner at the Roval, and William Byron (10th), who has already clinched a spot in the Round of 8.
Non-playoff drivers A.J. Allmendinger (third at 98.874 mph), Brad Keselowski (eighth) and Bubba Wallace (ninth) will also start from the top 10.
Allmendinger is the defending winner of this race. The driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet has also won in each of his four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the 2.28-mile, 17-turn hybrid road course, which has been reconfigured in Turns 6, 7 and 16.
Other playoff drivers will start as follows: Christopher Bell 12th, Daniel Suarez 13th, defending series champion Ryan Blaney 14th, Alex Bowman 17th, Denny Hamlin 18th and Chase Briscoe 25th.
Logano, Suarez, Cindric and Briscoe will begin the event below the current cut line for the Round of 8.
--By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media
