Blaney Shocks in Watkins Glen Qualifying, Securing Pole Position
In an exciting qualifying session at Watkins Glen International, Ryan Blaney edged out Shane van Gisbergen by a minimal difference of three hundredths of a second, securing the pole position for the Cup Series race. Blaney, aboard the number 12 Ford, recorded a lap of 1 minute and 11.960 seconds, narrowly beating van Gisbergen, who clocked 1 minute and 11.993 seconds in his number 88 Chevrolet. Securing the first position on the starting grid for Sunday’s race, which will consist of 110 laps, represents a surprise for Blaney, who has historically had a modest performance on this 2.45-mile circuit, accumulating only three top 10 finishes.For his part, van Gisbergen, seeking his fourth consecutive victory on road and street circuits, will start from second position. The New Zealander driver has demonstrated his previous dominance, winning from pole in Mexico City, Chicago and Sonoma.What a cool pole! I’m a pretty average road course racer, and I work really hard to improve and try to find ways to get better. We have to find some race pace, but it’s good to have speed on one lap. It’s fun when you can sit on the pole at a place where I’m not very good.
Ryan Blaney
Chase Briscoe, who had achieved the pole in the previous two weeks at Iowa Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, qualified third with the number 19 Toyota. Ross Chastain with the number 1 Chevrolet and Kyle Busch with the number 8 Chevrolet completed the top five.It’s incredible how close everything is on a road circuit. My laps were good and there were probably some things I could have fixed. A good start for tomorrow.
Shane van Gisbergen
