SONOMA, Calif. — Where one driver was concerned, Friday’s qualifying session for the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway followed form.
Road-course master Shane van Gisbergen put his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap at 95.483 mph (75.029 seconds), beating teenager Brent Crews (95.243 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.189 seconds.
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For defending race winner Connor Zilisch, the qualifying session was a struggle because of a tire that was losing air throughout his run. Zilisch earned the 30th starting position and will have to come through the field if he hopes to challenge van Gisbergen and other frontrunners for the win.
“Pretty awesome day,” said van Gisbergen, who won the O’Reilly Series race at Sonoma in 2024 and finished second to Zilisch last year. “It’s a tricky track here with the wind, the way the direction was today…
“It’s always fun driving for JR Motorsports. We get excited every time we get a chance to drive the No. 9 car. We know we’ve got a great shot to win the race… All practice we were quick, and my lap in qualifying was pretty decent as well, so stoked to start up front.”
Both van Gisbergen and Crews posted their laps in the first qualifying group. Third-place starter Taylor Gray of Joe Gibbs Racing (94.947 mph) had the fastest lap among drivers in Group 2. Anthony Alfredo (94.865 mph) claimed the fourth spot on the grid, followed by Viking Motorsports teammate Parker Retzlaff (94.662 mph) and Hendrick Motorsports’ Corey Day (94.630 mph).
Jesse Love, series leader Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer and last Saturday’s Naval Base Coronado winner Austin Hill claimed seventh through 10th, respectively.
Allgaier, who already has clinched a spot in the postseason Chase, holds a 224-point lead in the standings over second-place Love, the defending series champion.
Day fastest in practice
Hendrick Motorsports’ Corey Day topped the leaderboard in the closing minutes of practice at 93.802 mph, besting JR Motorsports’ Shane van Gisbergen (93.281 mph).
Jesse Love (93.086 mph), Connor Zilisch (93.078 mph) and Justin Allgaier (92.976 mph) rounded out the top five.
Will Rodgers (92.853 mph), Brent Crews (92.852 mph), Sheldon Creed (92.799 mph), Alex Labbe (92.601 mph) and Sammy Smith (92.583 mph) completed the top 10.
MORE: Practice results
The red flag came out for an incident in Turn 11 when Peterson Racing driver Austin Green appeared to suffer a brake failure in his No. 87 Chevrolet. Green carried significant speed into the tire barriers, and his car sustained heavy damage before he exited the vehicle under his own power.
Contributing: Staff reports.