Paul Menard Will Lead Field to Green at VIR After Scoring Second Pole of 2025

September 20, 2025

Billy Griffin Leads XGT, Joshua Carlson Tops SGT, Chris Coffey Fastest in GT, Jon DeGaynor Best in GT1 Challenge

ALTON, Va. (September 20, 2025) - Practice and qualifying have concluded for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli at VIRginia International Raceway. Paul Menard in the No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford Mustang will lead the field to green in tomorrow’s race after capturing the pole award with a fast time of 1:43.566, besting Chris Dyson (No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang) by only 0.085-seconds.

“It has been a really good weekend for our Pittsburgh Paints and Stains/Menards Ford Mustang,” said Menard. “We struggled here last year. We had a pretty rough session last year, but wound up winning that race, and this year we applied what we learned. All the sessions--qualifying, new tires--mean something. We stickered up this morning to see how the tires fall off during a 10-lap run, and we have a good idea of how that's going to go. In qualifying, just drove it in harder, used a little more throttle through the esses, normal qualifying stuff, just kind of suck it up. The car stuck; I’m really proud of my boys, it’s awesome to get another pole award. We only have one this year, so now this is number two, and we'll try to get a couple more before the year is out. But big picture, protect our championship lead.”

Billy Griffin (No. 14 Griffin Auto Care Mercedes AMG GT3) was quickest in XGT, while Joshua Carlson (No. 36 Enseva/Diercks Ltd./TC Fab Ford Mustang) topped SGT. Chris Coffey (No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4) was fastest in GT and Jon DeGaynor (No. 04 Speed Dream’n Racing Ford Mustang) was best in GT1 Challenge.

The VIR SpeedTour TA/GT race will be contested tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. ET. It will be streamed LIVE on Trans Am’s YouTube channel, @TheTransAmSeries and broadcast LIVE on SPEED SPORT 1, with coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET. An encore presentation will air on SPEED SPORT 1 tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. ET. For more information on where you can watch SPEED SPORT 1, click here.

TA Qualifying Top Five:
1. Paul Menard, No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford Mustang (1:43.566)
2. Chris Dyson, No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang (1:43.651)
3. Adam Andretti, No. 17 TOP LINER Chevrolet Camaro (1:44.622)
4. Brandon Jones, No. 31 Menards/Masterforce Tools Ford Mustang (1:46.305)
5. Tomy Drissi, No. 8 Trench Shoring Co./Motul Chevrolet Camaro (1:46.945)

XGT Qualifying:
1. Billy Griffin, No. 14 Griffin Auto Care Mercedes AMG GT3 (1:49.029)
2. Kaylee Bryson, No. 02 Logical Systems Inc. Chevrolet Corvette (1:50.755)
3. Danny Lowry, No. 42 Bennett/BridgeHaul/Pitboxes.com Mercedes AMG GT4 (1:51.312)

SGT Qualifying:
1. Joshua Carlson, No. 36 Enseva/Diercks Ltd./TC Fab Ford Mustang (1:50.810)
2. Patrick Paul, No. 34 Paul Racing Enterprises Ford Mustang (1:53.337)
3. Carey Grant, No. 6 Grant Racing 2 Porsche GT3 Cup (2:00.361)

GT Qualifying:
1. Chris Coffey, No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (1:54.801)
2. Colin Cohen, No. 38 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (2:03.149)

GT1 Challenge Qualifying:
1. Jon DeGaynor, No. 04 Speed Dream’n Racing Ford Mustang (1:52.702)

Full qualifying results can be found here.

TA Practice Top Five:
1. Chris Dyson, No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang (1:43.924)
2. Paul Menard, No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford Mustang (1:43.987)
3. Adam Andretti, No. 17 TOP LINER Chevrolet Camaro (1:46.922)
4. Tomy Drissi, No. 8 Trench Shoring Co./Motul Chevrolet Camaro (1:47.505)
5. Brandon Jones, No. 31 Menards/Masterforce Tools Ford Mustang (1:47.521)

XGT Practice:
1. Billy Griffin, No. 14 Griffin Auto Care Mercedes AMG GT3 (1:50.420)
2. Kaylee Bryson, No. 02 Logical Systems Inc. Chevrolet Corvette (1:51.364)
3. Danny Lowry, No. 42 Bennett/BridgeHaul/Pitboxes.com Mercedes AMG GT4 (1:52.476)

SGT Practice:
1. Joshua Carlson, No. 36 Enseva/Diercks Ltd./TC Fab Ford Mustang (1:51.664)
2. Patrick Paul, No. 34 Paul Racing Enterprises Ford Mustang (1:53.861)
3. Carey Grant, No. 6 Grant Racing 2 Porsche GT3 Cup (1:59.257)

GT Practice:
1. Chris Coffey, No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (1:55.508)
2. Colin Cohen, No. 38 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (2:03.105)

GT1 Challenge Practice:
1. Jon DeGaynor, No. 04 Speed Dream’n Racing Ford Mustang (1:53.338)

Full practice results can be found here.