NASCAR
Shane van Gisbergen Takes Eighth Cup Road Course Win at Sonoma
SONOMA, Calif. – There’s no stopping Shane van Gisbergen when team 97 has a clean day. Although he started sixth, SVG picked his way forward in no time and hardly ever let up. Batting .500 on road courses this season with two of four wins, van Gisbergen inched his way back into Chase contention. A Wine Country winner for the second time this weekend and in back-to-back years, SVG raised a glass high once again in victory lane.
From the pole, Ty Gibbs led the entirety of Stage 1. The No. 54 also cycled back to the point for a stage-sweeping afternoon, vaulting himself back up to fourth in points. Despite not getting any stage wins, Shane van Gisbergen was best in class after taking command on lap 28.
Stage 3 saw the No. 97 revert back to the top spot, a position he hardly relinquished the rest of the afternoon. SVG ducked down pit road for his final service on lap 83, and soon built up enough of a gap for the finish. Trackhouse Racing’s superstar took a second-straight Sonoma win and a weekend sweep by three tenths over Chase Briscoe. Despite a final-corner desperation move, Briscoe couldn’t close in on the 97.
Briscoe was there … but SVG holds on! pic.twitter.com/wgirpu2hD9
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 28, 2026
“What a day,” van Gisbergen said. “We were really bad yesterday, and these guys did an amazing job turning this car into a winner. The 19 was coming. He was really, really good, and I ran out at the end. But thank you to Red Bull, Trackhouse, Chevy. Pretty special to make up for last week, too.”
“I was back to normal by the weekend, but yeah, I was certainly pissed at the start of the week. This really makes up for it sharing it with these guys. They went through it at the start of the week. Pretty special to win.”
“We had these shitboxes come out in front and they were wobbling all over the track and putting dust up and I just kept struggling. Chase [Briscoe] was just really, really good. Yeah, a couple more laps we would have had some problems.”
“It certainly helps, but I need to really step it up on the ovals. We all do. Yeah, certainly helps us, but this is an oval championship, and I need to keep getting better at them.”
SVG has now tied Tony Stewart for second most all-time Cup road course wins with eight checkered flags. It will have to wait until 2027 for van Gisbergen to tie and possibly surpass Jeff Gordon’s record of nine triumphs on the road.
Behind SVG and Briscoe at the finish were: Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell. Ryan Blaney, Connor Zilisch, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell, and Alex Bowman rounded out Sonoma’s top-10.
Thanks to finishing 36th and last with power steering troubles, Tyler Reddick gave up the points lead for the first time all season. Denny Hamlin is the new championship leader, ahead of his 23XI Racing driver by one point. At The Chase cut line, Austin Cindric is 12 points ahead of Erik Jones.
The #NASCAR Cup Series regular season standings after Sonoma
Denny Hamlin takes over the points lead for the first time all season.
The cut line battle is 12 points between Austin Cindric and Erik Jones. pic.twitter.com/QaaHHbpl2R
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) June 28, 2026
With road course racing now fully in the rearview mirror, next week will go back to traditional NASCAR ovals. Chicagoland Speedway makes a triumphant return to the Cup Series calendar after seven years away. The eero 400 goes green Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on TNT, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. One point separates two past 2026 intermediate winners; Hamlin and Reddick will both be favorites to return to glory in Chi-Town.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo credits to James Gilbert/Getty Images
