Shane van Gisbergen beat Michael McDowell to pole position for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International.
Van Gisbergen, piloting the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, was the undisputed star in Saturday’s qualifying as he clocked a blistering lap of 1:11.165 that ultimately claimed his fifth career pole.
“The guys did a good job tuning what I needed for the one lap, and the Super File Chevy was really good,” SVG said. “But all Trackhouse cars in the top five as well. So, we’ve got some good cars here this weekend, and hopefully we can capitalize on that tomorrow.”
Michael McDowell in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet snagged the second spot on the grid, just 0.259 seconds off the benchmark, while Austin Cindric qualified third in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.
Van Gisbergen’s teammates Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch followed in fourth and fifth, respectively. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top ten.
2026 NASCAR Cup Watkins Glen starting lineup
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Superfile Chevrolet | 71.165 | 123.937 |
| 2 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Go Bowling Chevrolet | 71.424 | 123.488 |
| 3 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Snap on Ford | 71.445 | 123.452 |
| 4 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Busch Light Apple Chevrolet | 71.449 | 123.445 |
| 5 | 88 | Connor Zilisch | Red Bull Chevrolet | 71.483 | 123.386 |
| 6 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 71.522 | 123.319 |
| 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Libman Ford | 71.523 | 123.317 |
| 8 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Coofandy Menswear Toyota | 71.582 | 123.215 |
| 9 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Mobil 1 Toyota | 71.583 | 123.214 |
| 10 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 71.615 | 123.159 |
| 11 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spectrum Chevrolet | 71.620 | 123.150 |
| 12 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet | 71.654 | 123.092 |
| 13 | 24 | William Byron | Liberty University Chevrolet | 71.664 | 123.074 |
| 14 | 17 | Chris Buescher | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 71.668 | 123.067 |
| 15 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Jordan Brand Toyota | 71.699 | 123.014 |
| 16 | 7 | Daniel Suarez | Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Chevrolet | 71.723 | 122.973 |
| 17 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota | 71.739 | 122.946 |
| 18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Hardee’s/Coca-Cola Toyota | 71.755 | 122.918 |
| 19 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Chevrolet | 71.847 | 122.761 |
| 20 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Progressive Insurance Toyota | 71.854 | 122.749 |
| 21 | 8 | Kyle Busch | zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet | 71.890 | 122.687 |
| 22 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Farm Rich Ford | 71.941 | 122.600 |
| 23 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 71.961 | 122.566 |
| 24 | 43 | Erik Jones | Dollar Tree Toyota | 71.972 | 122.548 |
| 25 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops/Winchester AA White Flyer Chevrolet | 71.999 | 122.502 |
| 26 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Modelo Ford | 72.060 | 122.398 |
| 27 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 72.067 | 122.386 |
| 28 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 72.095 | 122.339 |
| 29 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ram Self Storage Chevrolet | 72.122 | 122.293 |
| 30 | 60 | Ryan Preece | Mohawk Northeast Inc. Ford | 72.124 | 122.289 |
| 31 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Campers Inn RV Chevrolet | 72.148 | 122.249 |
| 32 | 35 | Riley Herbst | Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota | 72.260 | 122.059 |
| 33 | 38 | Zane Smith | Aaron’s Rent To Own Ford | 72.264 | 122.052 |
| 34 | 21 | Josh Berry | DEX Ford | 72.614 | 121.464 |
| 35 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Long John Silver’s/Franks’s Red Hot Ford | 72.637 | 121.426 |
| 36 | 51 | Cody Ware | Jacob Construction Chevrolet | 73.199 | 120.493 |
| 37 | 66 | Josh Bilicki(i) | Southern Tier Security Ford | 74.090 | 119.044 |
| 38 | 78 | Katherine Legge | e.l.f. Chevrolet | 76.497 | 115.299 |
