NASCAR
Shane van Gisbergen still king of the road in history-making Sonoma run
SONOMA, Calif. – Death, taxes, and Shane van Gisbergen domination on road courses are the three guarantees in life. Starting from pole for a second-straight week, the Trackhouse No. 88 Chevrolet hardly spent any time outside of the lead across 110 laps around Sonoma Raceway. 97 circuits paced is a new Cup Series record, capping off a third-consecutive road course triumph for the New Zealander.
SVG led all but six laps across the stages, only yielding the top spot to short pit each time. The No. 88 built up enough of an early gap to net out second to teammate Ross Chastain in Stage 1, and cycled back to the point for Stage 2.
Some tempers did flare in the first half on pit road. Ty Gibbs clipped a tire carrier from Brad Keselowski’s team, leading to a few choice words between both pit crews.
Van Gisbergen’s dominant run showed no signs of slowing down in Stage 3. Cautions kept the field close to the 88’s bumper though, and gave competitors every chance possible at passing SVG.
Alas, enough of a cushion to those on fresh tires allowed van Gisbergen to cruise with apparent ease to a fourth Cup triumph and third on the season.
“It was pretty tough stuff,” said van Gisbergen. “We had an amazing car. Chase Briscoe, what a great racer and gave me respect. Jumped the last one a little bit and it was pretty tense, but amazing. So stoked for Red Bull, Trackhouse, Chevy. I believe we had a really fun weekend here, some great races, and I hope everyone enjoyed that.”
“Hard to believe [three of the last five wins], isn’t it? I just have to thank these guys. We built up all year, got better and better, and now we need to keep getting better on the ovals and start proving some people wrong.”
“[This] 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. I’ve really enjoyed my time in NASCAR. Thanks, everyone, for making me feel so welcome. I hope I’m here for a long time to come.”
Chase Briscoe was best of the rest in second, just ahead of new tires on Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet. Past road course winners Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five. The rest of the top-10 were: Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch.
Drama was not quite over once SVG took the checkered flag. The In-Season Challenge saw Ty Dillon move Alex Bowman coming to the finish for an all-important spot in the Round of Four. The Kaulig Racing Cinderella 32nd-seed story lives on to fight another week, sending home another contender.
SVG is now tied as the winningest man in Cup, and vaults up to the third Playoff seed. On the other end of the postseason grid, Bubba Wallace retains a three-point gap over Ryan Preece.
After back-to-back road courses, NASCAR returns to a traditional oval next week. Dover Motor Speedway lies ahead on Sunday for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. The Delaware green flag flies at The Monster Mile at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
