With extra lap at Sonoma, Ty Gibbs earns first pole position on a road course in NASCAR Cup career

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SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — Ty Gibbs earned the first road-course pole position of his NASCAR Cup Series career, capitalizing on a decision to take another crack at Sonoma Raceway.

Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota shot to the top of the board late in the final qualifying session on Saturday after a disappointing initial lap. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver toured the 1.99-mile layout in one minute, 14.829 seconds and just topped Carson Hocevar (1:14.854). Kyle Larson qualified third, followed by Michael McDowell and Ross Chastain.

“I felt like I just had some more speed out there,” Gibbs said about convincing his team to take another run. “I just thought that I didn’t have a great first lap. It was pretty good, but I just think I could get better and then I just stuck to that.”

It’s the third career Cup pole and the first since July 2024 at Pocono Raceway for the 23-year-old grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls as Washington's head coach.

Ty Gibbs broke through in April for his first Cup win at Bristol Motor Speedway and is optimistic for Sunday’s 110-lap race.

“Our Camry is really fast,” he said. “I’m really happy with it. It did a really good job, and I did a good job as well.”

Defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen qualified sixth after winning the pole in his four previous NASCAR starts at Sonoma. He is coming off a 38th at the San Diego street race, where he started on pole but was caught in a crash that knocked him to 17th in the points standings and outside a provisional spot in the Chase championship playoff.

“We had a good opportunity for a points day,” van Gisbergen said of San Diego. “My car just came alive, so I was pretty gutted trying to think about what I could have done better there. I was pretty pissed off with that, but I can use it as motivation pretty well. I’m pretty fired up this weekend but also pretty calm and focused, too. We just have to go and execute, do my job and try and make up for it this week.”

Bubba Wallace qualified 26th despite spinning and smacking the wall. His No. 23 Toyota will need major front-end repairs to keep its starting spot without going to a backup car.

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