Ty Gibbs Knocks Hocevar From Sonoma Pole Late In Cup Qualifying

It looked for quite a while that Carson Hocevar would nab his second NASCAR Cup Series pole position of the season. In the end, Ty Gibbs, who decided to give his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota one last chance to attack the track, would go on to secure the pole, as he bumped Hocevar from the top slot in the closing moments of Saturday's qualifying session at Sonoma Raceway.

Gibbs, who cranked off a lap time of 1 minute, 14.829 seconds (95.738 mph) was able to out-pace Hocevar by a thin margin of 0.025 seconds. But Gibbs, who felt he had more speed in his car than he showed in his first qualifying attempt in the session, was just hoping he'd be proven correct on his second attempt.

“The reruns are kind of just super weird here. Sometimes you can go a lot faster, and sometimes you don’t,” Gibbs explained. “I felt like I just had some more speed out there. Our Saia Toyota Camry is really fast this weekend, and we’re really excited to race it tomorrow.”

The pole equals the third of Gibbs' NASCAR Cup Series career, and it comes in his 141st career start.

For Hocevar, one of the most aggressive drivers in the series, he was surprised by how good his lap time was early in the session.

“I mean, I didn’t feel like my lap was very good, and I was getting ready to run another, and I got through [Turn] 10, and they said, ‘P1,’ and I was like, ‘Well, shit, I don’t have to do another, I’m gonna pull it right in.’ I was super happy about that, like the lap time, but I didn’t think it was amazing,” Hocevar admitted.

Hocevar wasn't quite fast enough to take the pole on Saturday, but he'll attempt to get by Gibbs when the green flag flies on Sunday as they will both be attempting to secure their second career NASCAR Cup Series wins in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Kyle Larson, the defending series champion who is still seeking his first win of the season, will lineup behind the young front row of Gibbs and Hocevar in the third position. Larson, who has two career wins at Sonoma Raceway, is the leading active driver in victories at the 1.99-mile road course in California.

Michael McDowell will start alongside Larson in Row 2.

Shane van Gisbergen, who has been chiseled in as the favorite to win this weekend's race, was only able to muster the sixth-fastest lap time on his qualifying run, and at the end of his qualifying session, van Gisbergen went for a spin, but was able to avoid crashing his No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.

Bubba Wallace wasn't as fortunate.

After turning a lap time that would be good enough for 26th-fastest, Wallace would dip his left side tires into the dirt, and would lose control of his No. 23 Toyota. The end result was a massive amount of damage to the front end of the car, which will result in Wallace having to drop to the rear of the field prior to the green flag of the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Toyota/Save Mart 350 Starting Lineup

1. 54 - Ty Gibbs
2. 77 - Carson Hocevar
3. 5 - Kyle Larson
4. 71 - Michael McDowell
5. 1 - Ross Chastain
6. 97 - Shane van Gisbergen
7. 19 - Chase Briscoe
8. 16 - A.J. Allmendinger
9. 11 - Denny Hamlin
10. 22 - Joey Logano
11. 45 - Tyler Reddick
12. 33 - Austin Hill
13. 24 - William Byron
14. 20 - Christopher Bell
15. 17 - Chris Buescher
16. 12 - Ryan Blaney
17. 88 - Connor Zilisch
18. 9 - Chase Elliott
19. 60 - Ryan Preece
20. 42 - John Hunter Nemechek
21. 7 - Daniel Suarez
22. 48 - Alex Bowman
23. 2 - Austin Cindric
24. 38 - Zane Smith
25. 35 - Riley Herbst
26. 23 - Bubba Wallace
27. 41 - Cole Custer
28. 21 - Josh Berry
29. 34 - Todd Gilliland
30. 3 - Austin Dillon
31. 10 - Ty Dillon
32. 43 - Erik Jones
33. 47 - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
34. 4 - Noah Gragson
35. 6 - Brad Keselowski
36. 51 - Cody Ware

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