Shane van Gisbergen tames Sonoma course for triumph
For the third time in five races, Shane van Gisbergen leveled the field at a NASCAR Cup Series road course, zigging and zagging to victory at Sonoma Raceway in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, Calif.
The Trackhouse Racing road ace outran Chase Briscoe in a four-lap sprint on their third late restart to top the No. 19 Toyota driver by 1.13 seconds for his second straight win.
It was his third victory of 2025, tying him with Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson for the series lead.
He won for the fourth time in 34 career starts, the fewest to get to four since Parnelli Jones needed 31 in 1967.
van Gisbergen, known as SVG, said it was hard to believe his team, winless as it headed to Mexico City last month, would start third by way of wins there, Chicago and Sonoma if the playoffs started with the current standings.
Shane Van Gisbergen celebrates in victory lane. AFP
"Hard to believe that, isn't it?" said SVG, who led 97 of 110 laps. "We've built up all year and got better and better. Now we need to keep getting better on the ovals and start proving some people wrong."
Runner-up Briscoe compared van Gisbergen to the five-time NBA Most Valuable Player who won six championships and now owns a NASCAR team. "The only opportunity (to pass SVG) was on the restarts," said the Joe Gibbs Racing pilot. "Obviously, I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I felt like that was probably what it was like.
"That guy's just unbelievable on road courses. He's raised the bar on this entire series."
Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Bell were top-five finishers in the six- caution event.
Chevrolet scored its third straight win and fourth in the past five races.
After van Gisbergen scored his third consecutive road course pole and fourth overall of his career, all on road courses, last week's Chicago winner led the field to green on a track that had been slick all weekend due to a sealer placed on the 12-turn, 1.99-mile layout.
Shane van Gisbergen (right) celebrates with a crew member. AP
The Auckland, New Zealand, native led the first 22 laps of Stage 1 but decided to pit with a nearly seven-second lead over points leader William Byron. That turned the lead over to Ross Chastain, who led after the 25th lap and grabbed 10 bonus points.
van Gisbergen and Bubba Wallace trailed the No. 1 Chevrolet at the break, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Byron completing the top five.
With 10 circuits left in Stage 2, Trackhouse teammates Chastain and Daniel Suarez, the 2022 Sonoma winner, made hard contact after Suarez's No. 99 blocked Chastain and was turned backwards on the track.
van Gisbergen's run in the second stage resembled the first, though he did it with a much smaller advantage. He topped Briscoe by over three seconds as pitting began on Lap 52.
After bringing his No. 88 in for service, van Gisbergen passed Larson, who led his first lap since Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend, for the stage win. Kyle Busch, Wallace and Stenhouse followed behind the pair.
Two incidents on Lap 62 brought out the first caution for cause as Chris Buescher forced Ryan Blaney off into a grassy patch and Wallace and Hamlin spun near each other.
Reuters
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