NASCAR Cup qualifying results at Sonoma: SVG continues domination
SONOMA, Calif. — It remains to be seen at Sonoma Raceway if anyone can beat Shane van Gisbergen this summer on the road courses in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The results for NASCAR Cup Series qualifying showed Shane van Gisbergen paced Sonoma Raceway in 74.594 seconds as the only driver to average 96 mph.
Chase Briscoe will start second for his eighth top five start of the 2025 Cup Series season. William Byron, Ross Chastain, A.J. Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell rounded out the top 10 starters.
Notables outside of the top-10:
- Kyle Larson: 11th
- Chase Elliott: 13th
- Chris Buescher: 14th
- Michael McDowell: 15th
- Kyle Busch: 17th
In the battle for the playoffs, Ryan Preece will start the race eight points above the playoff cutline. Preece will start 20th, 10 spots ahead of Bubba Wallace, who left Chicago with a two-point advantage on Preece.
In practice, Allmendinger ran the fastest lap — 75.95 seconds, averaging 94.325 mph. Gibbs, SVG, Chastain, Kyle Larson, Bell, Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top 10 in practice.
William Byron ran 11th fastest, Chase Elliott ran 15th and Kyle Busch ran 18th.
SVG had the fastest 10-lap consecutive average, averaging 93.303 mph to Chastain’s 93.054 mph average, Bell’s 93.037 mph, Larson’s 92.921 mph and Gibbs’ 92.817 mph.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com