Ryan Blaney beats SVG by 0.033s for Watkins Glen pole position

Ryan Blaney was the only driver able to go faster than Shane van Gisbergen in NASCAR Cup qualifying at Watkins Glen, besting the road course ace for pole by just 0.033s. It was the 150th Cup pole for Team Penske.

“I’m happy I’m talking to you,” said Blaney to the broadcast team after qualifying. “Man, what a cool pole. I would say I’m a pretty average road racer, and I work really hard to try and get better at it, so I’m really proud of the whole #12 group. Fun day just get better. We gotta find a little bit of race pace for tomorrow, but it’s nice to have one-lap pace in it. It’s pretty cool.”

On beating SVG, Blaney added: “I mean, take the little wins when you can get them. Bubba [Wallace] came up to me and said, ‘Well that was a bad idea, because now he’s really going to wax you tomorrow.’ But hey, beat him once this weekend. You gotta start somewhere.”

Just one day after signing a multi-year contract extension with Trackhouse Racing team, van Gisbergen was hoping to earn his his fourth consecutive pole on road/street course this year. Instead, he’ll start from the outside of the front row.

The New Zealander was part of Group A qualifying, but he was the only driver in that group to dip below the 1:12s, with a fast lap of 1:11.993s. Kyle Busch was next closest with a surprise run in the closing moments of the session. Busch ran a 1:12.144s, but it wasn’t going to be enough to keep him on the front row.

Group B qualifying featured several pole contenders, including Blaney, who collected his 12th career pole and his first at Watkins Glen.

Chase Briscoe, who leads the series with six poles this year, got very close as well, just 0.004s back of SVG and 0.037 slower than the pole time.

Ross Chastain earned pole position for this race one year ago, and he managed to reach fourth on the grid. Busch managed to hang on for a top five start, slotting in fifth.

Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, and William Byron filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Looking deeper in the field, defending winner Chris Buescher will start 12th, Chase Elliott 20th, Tyler Reddick 21st, Denny Hamlin 22nd, and Kyle Larson back in 27th.