Ryan Blaney describes himself as “an average road racer.”
That made his pole-winning lap at Watkins Glen International on Aug. 9 all the more impressive, given it relegated a driver on one of the hottest road-course runs in NASCAR Cup Series history to the No. 2 spot.
Blaney, 31, supplanted Shane Van Gisbergen during the second half of Saturday’s qualifying with a lap of 1 minute, 11.960 seconds on the track’s 2.45-mile NASCAR configuration.
Van Gisbergen, 36, topped the first qualifying session in 1:11.993 and will join Blaney on the front row in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen.
“Ninety laps is going to be a little bit harder tomorrow to beat him, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right?” said Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion.
Chase Briscoe qualified third, with Ross Chastain fourth and two-time race winner Kyle Busch fifth.
Defending race winner Chris Buescher will start 12th in the 40-car field.
Watkins Glen redemption for Blaney
The pole was Blaney’s second this season, the 12th of his career, and the 150th for Team Penske.
Last year’s race weekend at WGI went sour from the start for Blaney, an Ohio native who made an early exit and finished last among the 38 drivers.
“It’s pretty cool,” Blaney said of Saturday’s qualifying effort. “It’s fun when you can sit on the pole at a place where you’re not very good and I try to work really hard to get better.
“It’s huge. Congrats to these guys (on his team). They stuck with me and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Van Gisbergen driver to beat
With victories at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on June 15, the Chicago Street Race on July 6, and Sonoma Raceway on July 13, Van Gisbergen became the eighth driver in series history to win at least three consecutive races on a road or street course.
He will seek to join Dan Gurney (1963-1966) and Chase Elliott (2019-2020) as winners of four in a row. Jeff Gordon (1997-2000) holds the record with six straight.
This is the first full-time Cup season for Van Gisbergen, a former Australian Supercars racer who won his Cup debut in 2023 at the Chicago Street Course. It was announced Friday he has agreed to a multiyear extension to continue to drive for Trackhouse Racing.
Van Gisbergen, a New Zealand native, has four Cup wins in 37 starts.
“I think it’s the first time he and I have raced together on a road course side-by-side,” Blaney said. “People ask me all the time, ‘What does Shane do when you’re out there running that he’s doing so much better?’ I’m like, ‘I haven’t really raced with him much. He’s so far ahead, I don’t ever see what he’s doing.'”
Just after qualifying, fellow Cup driver Bubba Wallace had a good-natured exchange with Blaney about matchup up with Van Gisbergen.
“(He) said, ‘Congrats, but now he’s going to make you look really bad,'” Blaney said.
“Hey, one day at a time. I beat him one day and tomorrow’s going to be a lot different and more difficult task for sure. It’s nice to qualify well and qualify next to Shane and his talents.”
Go Bowling at The Glen Qualifying Results
Saturday’s qualifying, with position, driver, car number, team, time and average speed:
Go Bowling at The Glen At A Glance
Start time: 2 p.m.
Distance: 220.5 miles/90 laps; first stage ends after 20 laps and second after 40.
TV: USA Network and streaming available through NBCSports.com and NBC Sports app. Pre-race coverage starts at 1:30.
Broadcast team: Leigh Diffey play-by-play; Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte analysts; Marty Snider, Dave Burns and Kim Coon pit reporters.
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Blaney, SVG secure front row in Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
