Shane Van Gisbergen, of the Red Bull Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Photo / Getty Images
Shane Van Gisbergen, of the Red Bull Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Photo / Getty Images
Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen has continued his dominance on the Nascar road tracks with victory at Sonoma Raceway today.
Backing up after winning at Chicago Street Race last week, van Gisbergen led for 97 of the 110 laps from pole but had to fight off several restarts inthe closing laps.
Chase Briscoe put pressure on van Gisbergen but the 36-year-old kept his cool during three restarts in the final 13 laps. Chase Elliott, second on the season standings, finished third.
His only failure today was not reaching the crowd with his post-victory signed rugby ball kick into the stands.
“It was pretty tough stuff. We had an amazing car ... unbelievable. Had a really fun weekend here, some great races. Hope everyone enjoyed that,” van Gisbergen said after the win.
In 2023, van Gisbergen stunned Nascar when he won the event in his maiden drive, becoming just the seventh driver to win on their Nascar debut and the first to do so since 1963. He continues to break records.
The 36-year-old, in just his second season, is the fastest driver to reach four Nascar wins since Parnelli Jones in 1967.
Briscoe compared van Gisbergen’s dominance on the road to NBA legend Michael Jordan.
“I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s probably what it was like,” said Briscoe after failing to pass van Gisbergen at the end of the race.
“That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He’s just so good. He’s really raised the bar on this entire series.”
Van Gisbergen joins Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell as the only three-time winners this season and moves to third in the playoff leaderboard behind Larson and Hamlin.
The series now heads to Dover Motor Speedway for the first of three straight oval tracks before the Watkins Glen International, where van Gisbergen finished second last year.
