SHANE van Gisbergen is set to start from the 13th position for tomorrow morning’s South Point Casino 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8.

By virtue of his win last week at the Charlotte Roval, and by being placed 12th in the point standings, van Gisbergen had a favourable metric, which saw him line up 30th for qualifying.

Earlier in the event’s standard 25-minute-long practice session, van Gisbergen registered the 31st fastest time.

Pole position for the race has gone to Denny Hamlin, with the lowest Playoff driver being Ryan Blaney in 14th.

To date in his NASCAR career, Las Vegas has not been a particularly happy hunting ground for SVG.

Earlier this year, in his Cup Series debut at the venue, he registered a 34th-place finish, while last year in the Xfinity Series, he finished 37th and 38th in the two races held at the facilities.

However, the Kiwi has solid form on the board on 1.5-mile-long intermediate-specification ovals.

The style of circuit, which was once prevalent on the NASCAR schedule, has made limited appearances on the roster to date in 2025, with Atlanta switching to a high-banked drafting format, and the second Charlotte date moving to a hybrid road course with the Roval.

At Kansas back in May, he finished 20th, which was followed one week later by Charlotte for the Coke 600, where the #88 Chevrolet claimed 14th.

Two weeks ago at Kansas, van Gisbergen finished tenth, his best Cup Series oval result to date.

The race is set for a green flag on Monday at 8:30am AEDT.

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