The New Zealander is making a third of eight Cup Series appearances this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving the #16 Chevrolet.

He was 18th-quickest in Group A of qualifying with a time of 30.473s around the 1.5mi quad oval and hence did not advance to Round 2.

Van Gisbergen had just finished 15th in the Xfinity Series Race before he hopped out of that car and into a Cup machine, again with little practice time before the starting line-up was determined, but did at least improve on his Practice effort by 0.657s.

Kaulig team-mate Daniel Hemric qualified the #31 Chevrolet in 24th position for Sunday night’s (local time) 400-lap race.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs would take pole position in the #54 Toyota Camry, after doing likewise a day earlier in an Xfinity cameo in the #20 Toyota Supra.

He is set to share the front row with William Byron (#24 Chevrolet), whose Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Kyle Larson (#5 Chevrolet) earned 10th on the grid for what will be the second leg of his Indianapolis 500-Charlotte 600 ‘double’, all going well.

Tyler Reddick qualified the #45 JGR Toyota eighth-fastest but will be sent to the back and have to serve an early drive-through penalty due to unapproved adjustments to the underwing which were found in inspection.

NASCAR Cup Race start is scheduled for Sunday evening at 18:00 ET/Monday morning at 08:00 AEST.

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