DANVILLE, Va. (Aug. 24, 2024) – Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) earned his third Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin pole of the season on Saturday at VIRginia International Raceway. McCumbee McAleer Racing drivers swept the top three spots on the grid with Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) second and Nate Cicero (No. 83 McCumbee McAleer Racing) third.

Wagner was the only driver to beat the Mazda MX-5 Cup qualifying lap record at VIR, turning a 2:06.463 on his fourth lap. This came after a short red flag to retrieve a car stopped on track.

“I didn't get to make any setup changes yesterday, but I knew what we needed to do to go a bit faster today,” Wagner said. “The red flag at the beginning of the session definitely, you know, threw a bit of a curveball for people that were setting up for their quick laps and had packs formed. I think that reset actually helped me. I repositioned a bit more where I would have wanted and didn't get the cleanest lap, but the draft is king for the full lap, so just strung it together. I tried to improve later in the session, but just couldn't replicate what I did early on.”

Fletcher will start outside the front row. He beat his teammate Cicero for the spot by a slim 0.001-second. Fletcher is still in search of his first MX-5 Cup win, while Cicero is coming off of his third. VIR is where Cicero got his very first race win, last year, in a 0.057-second photo finish.

Round 11 of the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin goes green at 6:05pm ET with live streaming available on the RACER and IMSA YouTube Channels.