Ross Chastain Earns Surprise Pole at Watkins Glen International

For just the second time in his 214-race NASCAR Cup Series career, Ross Chastain will lead the field to green, capturing the pole for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International.

Chastain captured the appropriately named Busch Light Pole Award with a blistering lap in the final round of qualifying, posting a time of 72.130 seconds (122.279mph) to triumph over former Watkins Glen winner Martin Truex, Jr.

The driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet had a previous best starting spot of sixth on a road course in the NASCAR Cup Series, and a previous track best of 12th.

Truex enters the second event of the ‘Round of 16’ sitting 19 points below the cutline, riding a streak of six consecutive races where the driver of the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE has finished 24th or worse.

Shane Van Gisbergen matched a career-high starting spot in the NASCAR Cup Series and will roll from third place in his No. 16 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Alex Bowman and Austin Cindric completed the top five in qualifying.

The third-place starting spot also matched an all-time best for Kaulig Racing, a team that has now collected four third-place starts with four different drivers.

AJ Allmendinger, driving a third entry for Kaulig Racing, will start from sixth place, with Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson, and Michael McDowell completing the top-10.

Only four of the 16 drivers eligible for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs advanced into the second and final round of qualifying, with the other 12 now relegated to starting positions outside the top-10 for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen.

Defending Watkins Glen winner William Byron will start Sunday’s event from 11th-place, with Chase Briscoe (12th), Chase Elliott (14th), Ty Gibbs (15th), Tyler Reddick (16th), Christopher Bell (17th), and Kyle Larson (20th) all recording spots inside the top-10.

The remaining four post-season drivers will have a substantial hole to dig out of when the green flag drops on Sunday, qualifying outside the top-20, and in the case of one driver, worse than 30th-place: Denny Hamlin (22nd), Brad Keselowski (28th), Ryan Blaney (30th), and Harrison Burton (33rd).

Juan Pablo Montoya, making his first NASCAR Cup Series start since the 2014 Brickyard 400, will roll from 34th in the No. 50 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing. In a media availability on Saturday, Montoya said he told his crew that they probably wouldn’t qualify well.

“I told the guys that I would be surprised if we qualified really well. When I won here, I didn’t even put it on the pole here. I finished in the top five, I don’t know how many times in the Cup races here, and I used to qualify 12th to 15th, I don’t know. We will see.”

Kaz Grala, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing, will start Sunday’s 90-lap contest from 38th place, after posting the slowest lap in the opening round of qualifying.

Photo: Brian Smith, TobyChristie.com