SHANE van Gisbergen will start from the 31st position for tomorrow’s NASCAR Cup Series finale from Phoenix Raceway.
The Kiwi was the 26th driver to set a time, while yesterday, during the 50-minute practice session, SVG logged the 36th fastest time.
After a string of strong oval performances in recent weeks, van Gisbergen is up to 12th in the point standings, only one position behind Trackhouse Racing team leader Ross Chastain.
After a front-running drive at New Hampshire, he finished tenth at Kansas, won the Charlotte Roval, was in the lead mix at Las Vegas and had top-ten races going at Talladega and Martinsville before settling for results of 11th and 14th.
Earlier this season in the Cup Series at Phoenix, the three-time Bathurst 1000 champion finished 31st, which came after logging results of sixth and 12th last year in the Xfinity Series.
The equation for that quartet is simple – the highest-placed finisher from the 312-lap race will be crowned the champion, with this slated to be the final season for the winner-takes-all format.
From the Toyota-equipped Joe Gibbs Racing side are Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, who will start from the pole and position 12.
Led by Australian crew chief James Small, Briscoe, in his first season with the squad, leads the series for top-five finishes for the year to date.
Hamlin leads the year on wins with six, leading van Gisbergen on five.
He recently won his 60th Cup Series race to qualify for Phoenix, and has four previous final-four starts to his credit.
From the Chevrolet-aligned Hendrick Motorsports camp are William Byron and Kyle Larson, who will line up from second and third, respectively.
Byron was the regular season champion, and leads the season for the most laps led, and won last time out at Martinsville in a must-win race.
Larson, meanwhile, is second for the year in laps led, plus both top five and top ten finishes.
He is the only driver of the four to have previously won the title, which he secured in 2021 – the last time a non-Team Penske driver sealed the championship.
Yesterday, Corey Heim claimed NASCAR’s Craftsman Trucks Series championship with his 12th victory of the season.
To achieve the feat, he had to pull off a seven-wide move on a late restart.
Tomorrow’s race is scheduled to start at 6:30am AEDT.