SONOMA — Despite dealing with an ill-handling car that was not to his liking throughout the weekend, New Zealand’s 37-year-old Shane “SVG” van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Red Bull Trackhouse Racing Chevy, showed why he is the gold standard of stock car road racing by holding off the hard-charging Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 19 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, to capture Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday.
“What a day,” said van Gisbergen, who amassed 81 victories and three championships in Australian Supercars before coming to the states. “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 it out in the end.”
It was van Gisbergen’s second consecutive win on Sonoma’s rolling 1.999-mile, 11-turn road circuit and his eighth overall since he made his Cup debut with a stunning win on the streets of Chicago in 2023. The victory tied him with Tony Stewart for the most road course wins in Cup history and only Jeff Gordon, with nine, has more wins while turning right.
Unlike in most of his previous seven road course wins, where van Gisbergen almost seemed to be toying with his competitors by pacing ahead of them just enough to let them wear their tires out before easily pulling away, the Kiwi had his hands (and mirrors) full on Sunday.
“I am definitely glad it wasn’t two laps longer,” admitted van Gisbergen. “I was feeling pretty good, and then with about ten laps to go I felt my tires slipping; I was really stressing at the end. If it had gone about two laps longer, I would have been in real trouble. My rear brakes were toast.”
Fast qualifier Ty Gibbs, driving the No. 54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, led the 36-car field throughout the opening 25 laps to earn Stage 1 honors. Starting sixth, after struggling in Saturday’s qualifying, van Gisbergen worked his way up to second place before pitting to gain track position with the race lead after the Stage 1 caution.
Inheriting the top position after Gibbs pitted before the start off Stage 2, van Gisbergen held the lead throughout the middle portion of the race. Once again his team elected to dive in for service near the end of the stage to gain position for the remainder of the race, giving Stage 2 honors to Gibbs.
"I definitely feel we had a good enough car to win, but we were running a different strategy,” said a dejected Gibbs after the race. “It could have been more.”
When Gibbs headed to the pits during the between-stage caution, van Gisbergen once again cycled to the front for the start of the final stage, where he spent the remainder of the 110-lap race fighting off Briscoe; Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevy for Hendrick’s Racing; and his No. 88 teammate, Conner Zilisch, for the lead.
While Larson and Zilisch would slowly fade into the sunset, Briscoe continued to close in on van Gisbergen. On the final lap, Briscoe braked late going into the Turn 11 hairpin, coming within inches of his bumper, but van Gisbergen was able to hold on to take the checkered flag by a mere .357 seconds.
"I am just frustrated with myself,” said Briscoe, who also ran second to SVG in last year’s race. “I felt like I definitely had the better car. I didn’t do as good of a job as he [van Gisbergen] did driving. I just made a mistake with, like, three or four to go getting into one, and then I was able to obviously run him back down at the end. If I don’t make that mistake, I’m just bummed that it is my fault we didn’t win. Against that guy, you've got to be absolutely perfect."
Rounding out the top five were Gibbs, Larson, and Christopher Bell.
After scoring his fourth consecutive top-five finish, Larson, a two-time Sonoma race winner and Cup champion, was pleased with the result.
“It was a good day. I am happy with the car, the crew, and our strategy today,” said the Elk Grove native. “This is the best we have been all year. It shows we are making gains. We are way closer than we were at the start of the year.”
With the final road race in the books for 2026 van Gisbergen will now be concentrating on the ovals where he has not fared merely as well and will need to make strides to contend for a championship.
“I need to step it up on the ovals. I still have a long way up the hill to go, but I think I am getting there. I see these glimpses, and I know it is coming, but I need to get a lot better, and I know I have a lot to learn.”
Despite finishing Sunday’s race in 26th place, Denny Hamlin takes over the lead in the 2026 Cup standings by a single point (719 to 718) ahead of Tyler Reddick, who experienced power steering issues and finished dead last in the 36-car field. It marks the first time this season Reddick has not held the top spot in the points standings.
The NASCAR Cup Series now heads to the Midwest for the eero 400 at Chicagoland Raceway on Sunday, July 5.
Sonoma Notes: Two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch was posthumously inducted into the Sonoma Raceway Wall of Fame before Sunday’s race. Busch, a three-time winner at Sonoma, tragically died earlier this year at the age of 41 following a brief illness. Busch becomes the 31st name to be etched on the wall.
While he struggled in Sunday’s Cup race, van Gisbergen had no such problems in Saturday’s 79-lap Boss/FoodMaxx 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. SVG, driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, started on the pole, led the most laps (66 of 79), and cruised to the victory well ahead of his 18-year-old teammate Connor Zilisch.
Sam Corry of Cornelius, NC, captured the win in Friday’s 47-lap ARCA Menards West General Tire 150 race. Tracy’s Ryan Philpott finished in 11th, and 2020 Stockton 99 Speedway track champion Eric Nascimento of Ripon ended up in 21st after dropping out on lap 8.
Next up at Sonoma Raceway will be the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series DENSO Sonoma Nationals from Friday, July 17, through Sunday, July 19. For more information, visit the track’s website at SonomaRaceway.com or by calling (800) 870-RACE [7223].
