By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
SONOMA, Calif. — After turning his first lap in Saturday’s highly competitive NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Sonoma Raceway, Ty Gibbs felt he had more potential in his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
His instincts were spot-on. Late in the session, Gibbs made one more run and put his car on the pole for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the 1.99-mile, 11-turn road course (3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Navigating the circuit in 74.829 seconds (95.738 mph), Gibbs edged Carson Hocevar (95.706 mph) by 0.025 seconds (95.706 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday’s race, the opening round of the Cup Series’ five-event In-Season Challenge.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Gibbs’ first of the season, his first on a road course and the third of his career.
“The re-runs are just super-weird here,” Gibbs said. “Sometimes you can go a lot faster. Sometimes you don’t. I felt like I just had some more speed out there. The car is really fast this weekend, and we’re really excited to race tomorrow.”
To Gibbs, the defending winner of the $1-million In-Season Challenge, qualifying and racing 110 laps on Sunday are markedly different disciplines.
“Tomorrow is a whole different program,” he said. “You’re going to be a lot easier on the car instead of hammering it, like in qualifying. So, it’s just completely different.
“You could be on the pole today and suck tomorrow. You just have to be really focused on the race, and that’s the most important part. We’ll stick to that.”
For the second straight week, Hocevar will start in the second position. Last Sunday at Naval Base Coronado, he lined up on the front row next to pole winner Shane van Gisbergen before finishing 19th.
“I didn’t feel like my lap was very good, and I was getting ready to run another, and I got through (Turn) 10, and they said, ‘P1,’” Hocevar said. “And I was like, ‘Well, (shoot), I don’t have to do another. I’m already P1.’
“So, I was super happy about that, the lap time, but I didn’t think it was amazing.”
Two-time Sonoma winner and reigning series champion Kyle Larson qualified third at 95.686 mph. Michael McDowell (95.677 mph), Hocevar’s teammate at Spire Motorsports, was fourth, followed by Ross Chastain (74.913 mph).
McDowell has finished in the top five in three of the last four Sonoma races, including a second-place run in 2024.
Van Gisbergen, the defending race and pole winner, qualified sixth after complaining about the handling of his No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet in practice, where he posted the fifth fastest lap.
Chase Briscoe and AJ Allmendinger, head-to-head opponents in the first round of the In-Season Challenge, qualified seventh and eighth, respectively. Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano filled the final two positions in the top 10.
Series leader Tyler Reddick claimed the 11th starting spot. His 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace, crashed within the first three minutes of the Group 2 qualifying session and will start Sunday’s race in a backup car.
