Kyle Larson has won the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series street race in downtown Chicago, beating Ty Gibbs by one-hundredth of a second.

Larson posted a fast lap of 87.836 seconds in the second round of qualifying on the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course on Saturday, recording a top speed of 90.168 mph. Gibbs was next at 87.846 seconds and 90.158 mph.

Larson is going for his fourth win of the season in his 350th career Cup Series start. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has five poles this year and 21 for his career.

“This year qualifying, I mean racing, too, has been a strong suit, but qualifying, we’ve been able to execute and get five poles to this point,” said Larson, who leads the Cup Series driver standings going into today’s Grant Park 165. “That’s special. So yeah, hopefully, we can keep that up and keep our speed up in the races as well.”

Michael McDowell (90.141 mph) qualified third, followed by Tyler Reddick (89.923) in fourth. Shane van Gisbergen (89.813) rounded out the top five after he won the race last year.

“We’re in for a battle tomorrow,” McDowell said, “and we’ve got a fast car and a good opportunity to try to execute and put ourselves in position to win.”

Larson also had the fastest car in practice. He finished fourth in the inaugural race a year ago.

He also raced in the Xfinity Series on Saturday in an effort to learn more about a tricky, unfamiliar course.

“I feel more in rhythm in the Cup car, for sure,” he said. “It’s just got a more equal balance I think throughout most of the corners. The Xfinity car, just smaller tires and stuff, it’s just less grip.

“So a little more edge on that.”

Xfinity Series

Shane van Gisbergen raced to his third Xfinity Series victory of the season Saturday, making a successful return to the NASCAR street course in downtown Chicago.

Van Gisbergen started on the pole before dropping back after a pit stop. He then made his way through the field before pulling away for the victory.

“What a great race,” he said. “It was pretty wild there at the end.”

The 35-year-old New Zealand native got his first two Xfinity wins for Kaulig Racing on road courses at Portland and Sonoma on consecutive weekends last month. Just like he did after those victories, he celebrated by autographing a rugby ball and kicking it into the stands in Chicago.

Ty Gibbs was second, followed by Larson, Parker Kligerman and Jesse Love. Larson is on the pole for the Cup Series race Sunday.

A three-time champion in Australia’s Supercars, van Gisbergen was a largely unknown commodity in the U.S. before he won last summer in NASCAR’s rainy inaugural weekend on the downtown Chicago course. He became the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.

IndyCar

Alex Palou demonstrated his quick command of IndyCar’s new hybrid engine to nudge Pato O’Ward by 0.0024 seconds for his second consecutive pole at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Palou now seeks his third victory today in the 200-mile race and second in a row on the sloping road course in northeast Ohio.

Safely among the top three in the final qualifying session, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver from Spain mounted a furious charge in his Honda as the final qualifying session wound down to clock a fast lap of 1 minute, 5.3511 seconds (124.387 mph) and edge O’Ward.

Formula 1

Mercedes driver George Russell narrowly beat teammate Lewis Hamilton to take pole position for the British Grand Prix.

British drivers took the top three places at Silverstone, with McLaren’s Lando Norris placing third ahead of Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen for Red Bull.

Russell is perfectly poised to aim for a second straight F1 win following his victory at the Austrian GP last weekend.