Ty Gibbs seized upon a rerun qualifying run to edge Carson Hocevar and win the Busch Light Pole Award for the 2026 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 27.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a group qualifying session. The field of 36 competitors was split into two qualifying groups. Each group was allotted 20 minutes to post the fastest lap. The competitor who posted the fastest lap between the groups would be awarded the pole position.
Gibbs, who was the sixth-fastest competitor during Saturday’s practice session that occurred before qualifying, utilized a last-minute rerun qualifying run to post his fastest lap at 95.738 mph in 74.829 seconds. Gibbs’ latest lap was enough for him and his No. 54 Saia/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE team to claim the top-starting spot over Hocevar and his No. 77 Classic Collision/Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team.
With the pole, Gibbs notched his third NASCAR Cup Series career pole for his 141st series start, his first on a road course event in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since starting in first place at Pocono Raceway in July 2024. In three previous Cup starts at Sonoma, Gibbs achieved his highest-finishing result of seventh place at the track this past season. With Sunday’s Sonoma event also marking the first of five In-Season Challenge events of the 2026 season, Gibbs, who is the reigning In-Season Challenge champion, will bid to defend his title throughout the tournament.
“The [qualifying] reruns are just super weird here,” Gibbs said. “Sometimes, you can go a lot faster; sometimes you don’t. I feel like I just had some more speed out there. My Saia Toyota Camry is really fast this weekend, and we’re really excited to race it tomorrow.”
Carson Hocevar qualified in second place for a third time over the previous four Cup events, including for Sunday’s main event at Sonoma after he initially toppled Shane van Gisbergen off the top of the qualifying charts. Hocevar notched his best lap at 95.706 mph in 74.854 seconds.
Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell and Ross Chastain will start in the top five, respectively. Shane van Gisbergen, the reigning Cup Sonoma winner who was the fastest in practice and initially the fastest in qualifying despite spinning on his final run, qualified in sixth place with a lap at 95.630 mph in 74.914 seconds. Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively.
Notably, Bubba Wallace posted the 26th-fastest lap despite being involved in a single-car accident just past Turn 10. It remains to be determined if Wallace’s No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota team can repair the primary entry or drop to the tail end of the field in a backup entry. In addition, Erik Jones, who spun and wrecked in Turn 10 in practice, and Cody Ware, who spun through Turn 2 during qualifying, will start 32nd and 36th, respectively.
With 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots, all made the main event.
Sonoma – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Ty Gibbs, 95.738 mph, 74.829 seconds
- Carson Hocevar, 95.706 mph, 74.854 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 95.686 mph, 74.870 seconds
- Michael McDowell, 95.677 mph, 74.877 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 95.631 mph, 74.913 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 95.630 mph, 74.914 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 95.540 mph, 74.984 seconds
- AJ Allmendinger, 95.463 mph, 75.045 seconds
- Denny Hamlin, 95.454 mph, 75.052 seconds
- Joey Logano, 95.412 mph, 75.085 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 95.393 mph, 75.100 seconds
- Austin Hill, 95.276 mph, 75.192 seconds
- William Byron, 95.065 mph, 75.359 seconds
- Christopher Bell, 95.056 mph, 75.366 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 95.033 mph, 75.384 seconds
- Ryan Blaney, 95.025 mph, 75.391 seconds
- Connor Zilisch, 94.996 mph, 75.414 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 94.836 mph, 75.541 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 94.727 mph, 75.628 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 94.712 mph, 75.640 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 94.590 mph, 75.737 seconds
- Alex Bowman, 94.472 mph, 75.832 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 94.465 mph, 75.838 seconds
- Zane Smith, 94.452 mph, 75.848 seconds
- Riley Herbst, 94.415 mph, 75.878 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 94.404 mph, 75.887 seconds
- Cole Custer, 94.359 mph, 75.923 seconds
- Josh Berry, 94.315 mph, 75.958 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 94.164 mph, 76.080 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 94.103 mph, 76.129 seconds
- Ty Dillon, 93.902 mph, 76.292 seconds
- Erik Jones, 93.889 mph, 76.303 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 93.605 mph, 76.534 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 93,519 mph, 76.605 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 93.487 mph, 76.631 seconds
- Cody Ware, 92.512 mph, 77.439 seconds
The 2026 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, June 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT Sports, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
