Shane van Gisbergen wins NASCAR race at Sonoma

One week after being eliminated at Naval Base Coronado, Shane van Gisbergen reasserted his dominance as NASCAR’s leading road course competitor.

The 37-year-old New Zealander successfully fended off two Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas—driven by Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs—to secure victory at Sonoma Raceway for the second consecutive year, claiming the checkered flag on Sunday in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

This triumph marked the eighth win of van Gisbergen’s Cup Series career, placing him in a tie for second place in all-time road course victories alongside Tony Stewart. He now trails record-holder Jeff Gordon by a single road course win, but will need to wait until the next season to potentially equal the NASCAR Hall of Famer, as Sonoma was the last road course event of this season.

Van Gisbergen dominated the weekend at Sonoma, also clinching victory in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday. He is now tied with AJ Allmendinger for the most combined road course victories across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, with a total of 14.

This marks the second consecutive year van Gisbergen has triumphed at Sonoma, making him one of only nine drivers in NASCAR's Cup Series history to win multiple races at this road course located in California's wine country.

“What a day. It's pretty special to redeem myself after last week. I was certainly frustrated earlier in the week, but this victory compensates for it,” van Gisbergen told TNT Sports following the win. “Chase was exceptionally strong. A few more laps, and we might have faced challenges.”

With 27 laps remaining, van Gisbergen made his final pit stop, opting for four fresh tires and fuel, while Gibbs was instructed by his team to "hustle, no mistakes.” Despite winning the first two stages of the race, the 23-year-old Gibbs had fallen behind the leaders. Two laps later, he advanced to second place, trailing Kyle Larson. After taking the lead, Gibbs pitted with 23 laps remaining, allowing van Gisbergen to regain the front position.

Gibbs fought back to secure third place but was unable to close the gap as Briscoe and van Gisbergen engaged in a fierce battle for victory in the closing laps. Both drivers contended with worn tires and lapped traffic, with Briscoe applying pressure on van Gisbergen, occasionally going nose-to-bumper in the hairpin turn 11. Briscoe came within three-tenths of a second of van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet but was unable to overtake the Trackhouse Racing driver.

The race at Sonoma proved challenging for 23XI Racing. Tyler Reddick finished 36th after his No. 45 Toyota experienced power steering issues, falling six laps behind in Stage 2 following an extended pit stop with the hood raised. Bubba Wallace finished 22nd, and Riley Herbst placed 30th, despite both drivers being in the top 10 the previous week. Instead of heading to the garage, Reddick—eliminated in the in-season challenge by Alex Bowman—remained on track and recorded the fastest lap of the day.

With Reddick’s difficulties, Denny Hamlin appeared poised to surpass him for the points lead and establish a comfortable margin. However, Hamlin spun out on lap 67 after contact with Carson Hocevar following a restart. The collision damaged the splitter of Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota after the nose of his car struck Hocevar’s driver side.

Nevertheless, Hamlin managed to secure a 26th-place finish, defeating Ty Dillon in the in-season challenge and moving ahead of Reddick by one point in the Chase standings.