'That guy is unbelievable' - SVG rules NASCAR roads
The New Zealander once again showed he's in a completely different class on road and street courses than his rivals as he led 97 of 110 laps to win from pole at Sonoma Raceway in northern California on Sunday.
All three of his wins this year have been from pole — which tied him with Jeff Gordon for a NASCAR record of three consecutive road course victories from the top starting spot. Gordon did it between the 1998 and 1999 seasons.
Victory number four for van Gisbergen — who stunned NASCAR in 2023 when he popped into the debut Chicago street course race from Australian Supercars and won — seemed a given.
His rivals have lamented that "SVG" has a unique braking technique he mastered Down Under that none of them — all oval specialists — can ever learn.
That win in Chicago two years ago led van Gisbergen to move to the US for a career change driving stock cars for the Trackhouse Racing team.
Van Gisbergen is the fastest driver to win four Cup Series races — in his 34th start — since Parnelli Jones in 1969. He's also the winningest driver born outside the US.
"It means everything. That's why I race cars. I had an amazing time in Australia, and then to come here and the last couple weeks, or years, actually, has been a dream come true," said van Gisbergen.
Although he dominated again on Sunday, van Gisbergen pitted from the lead with 27 laps remaining and then had to drive his way back to the front. He got it with a pass of Michael McDowell with 19 laps remaining, but two late cautions made van Gisbergen win restarts to close out the victory in his Chevrolet.
Chase Briscoe was second in a Toyota.
"I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that's probably what it was like," said Briscoe after not being able to pass van Gisbergen on the two late restarts — the last with five laps remaining.
"That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He's just so good. He's really raised the bar on this entire series."
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