Shane van Gisbergen wins first NASCAR oval pole at Richmond Truck race

Shane van Gisbergen achieved a historic milestone by securing the first NASCAR oval pole at the Richmond Truck race, marking his 13th career NASCAR pole and his first at an oval track. This victory comes as his fifth career start in the Truck Series, where he drove the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen held off Kaden Honeycutt by 0.014 seconds in qualifying, setting a lap time of 23.168 seconds. Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger, and Nick Leitz rounded out the top five.

Van Gisbergen expressed his excitement about the achievement, crediting his Spire Motorsports teammates for their assistance in preparing him for the race. He stated, "It's pretty awesome. We had a pretty good week and these guys helped me get comfortable. Pretty amazing to do that. I'm stoked and yeah, we'll see how it goes in the race."

The driver also discussed his progression within NASCAR, noting that the transition from trucks to Cup cars is smoother than initially anticipated, given their similarities. Van Gisbergen emphasizes the value of participating in Truck Series races to enhance his skills and adaptability for higher-level competition.

Notably, van Gisbergen is only the second foreign-born driver, after Daniel Suarez and Marcos Ambrose, to secure a pole in all three of NASCAR's top divisions. The Richmond Truck race, originally scheduled for Friday night, has been postponed to Saturday due to adverse weather conditions.