Shane Van Gisbergen is back this weekend, piloting the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet for Race 4 of the 2025 Nascar Cup Series at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona for the Shriners Children’s 500.
Van Gisbergen scored his first top-10 finish of the 2025 season last weekend at COTA. He secured a sixth-place finish after leading 23 laps at the 2.4-mile road course in Austin, Texas.
Although Van Gisbergen has had two race starts at Phoenix Raceway in the Xfinity Series last season, this is his first Cup Series appearance at the 1-mile oval. Van Gisbergen’s best finish at Phoenix Raceway came in March last year when he qualified 23rd and finished an impressive 6th.
This morning’s 45-minute practice session concluded with Shane finishing 31st with a lap time of 27.555. Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar was the fastest man in the desert, with a lap time 27.163.
After a 30-minute break to prepare the cars, drivers headed straight into the qualifying session. Trackhouse driver and Van Gisbergen’s teammate Daniel Suarez was first up for the team and completed a 27.555s lap, placing him 31st in tomorrow’s race.
Van Gisbergen had a solid qualifying run, but some minor errors hindered his lap time. He struggled slightly with a particular part of the dogleg oval, where a quick transition was needed from bringing the car up on the wall to the bottom of the race track. Van Gisbergen completed a 27.480s lap, placing him 29th in tomorrow’s race.
Van Gisbergen’s teammate Ross Chastain was the best qualifier among the Trackhouse Racing drivers at Phoenix Raceway, completing a lap time of 27.350s, which placed him 24th in tomorrow’s race.
Other drivers, usually in the Top 10, also struggled in qualifying. Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson will be starting tomorrow’s race 17th. Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch starts tomorrow’s race in 15th. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell, who has won the last two Cup races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and COTA, will start tomorrow’s race 11th.
Last year’s Championship winner, Joey Logano, who won the 2024 Championship decider race at Phoenix Raceway last year, was the top pick for qualifying today, holding the fastest lap time until the very last car before Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron set a flying lap time of 26.930, taking pole position in tomorrow’s 312-lap race.
The Shriners Children’s 500 race starts at 8:30 a.m. NZT tomorrow morning. You can watch it live and free on ThreeNow.
Header Image: Shane Van Gisbergen Facebook/Trackhouse Racing.
