NASCAR News: Van Gisbergen takes the Cup drivers to school in Sonoma

Shane van Gisbergen from Auckland, New Zealand, took the NASCAR Cup drivers to school for the 2nd week in a row, leading 97 of 110 laps to win the Cup race at Sonoma Raceway.

In a performance that echoed his road course mastery from seasons past, Shane van Gisbergen delivered yet another commanding victory, claiming his third NASCAR Cup Series win on the 2025 season. The Kiwi sensation survived multiple late-race cautions to showcase his unparalleled skill on the twisting 1.99-mile layout during Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.

It was van Gisbergen’s third Cup win of 2025 beating Chase Briscoe by 0.754s after a late caution.

“Unreal guys, thank you,” van Gisbergen radioed his team after taking the checkered flag.

No one had anything for him and he only lost the lead during pit stop stops. Van Gisbergen is now tied with three other drivers for the most Cup Series wins in 2025.

After starting on pole, van Gisbergen was absolutely dominant.

Van Gisbergen was so good that he even won the second stage of the race despite a late pit stop. After pitting with just over two laps to go in the stage, van Gisbergen was second to Kyle Larson on the last lap and easily passed the Cup Series champion for the stage win. Larson hadn’t pitted during the stage. That’s how much faster van Gisbergen was.

With wins in Mexico City and at the Chicago street course last week, van Gisbergen is tied with Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell as NASCAR’s win leaders this season. Those three drivers are legitimate title contenders.

The win at Sonoma made him the first driver since Jeff Gordon in 1998 and 1999 to win three consecutive road course races from the pole.

Chase Elliott rallied to third after a late pit stop. Michael McDowell placed fourth. Christopher Bell completed the top five.

Shane van Gisbergen

How was the heart rate there on all those final cautions and restarts?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, it was pretty tough stuff. 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.

Five weeks ago this race team didn’t have a win. As it sits now you’re the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Hard to believe that, 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.

You’ve won championships, 81 Supercar wins over your career. You’ve done everything you could down there. How do you put into words what the last two years have meant to you?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: It 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

Take us through that last one, Chase, because that was the one that I think was the closest for you to make that move.

CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, for sure. The only opportunity I had was on the restarts. I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s probably what it was like. That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He’s just so good. He’s really raised the bar on this entire series.

Proud of the effort. I thought there was one restart I was maybe going to get clear of him, but truthfully even if I cleared him, he was probably going to pass me back by the end of the lap. Yeah, proud of the effort. We were a second-place car all day and obviously ended up second with it.

Yeah, I honestly don’t know what more I need. I feel like my car is extremely good, and I feel like every time I would run down Shane he would just pick up the pace himself and start driving back away. It was frustrating at times, but I was honestly happy with the effort. This is by far my worst racetrack. Kind of surprised myself truthfully.

We thought you might be able to get by him on one of the restarts. One of the stories of the day was just kind of managing tires. We saw some guys go well at the beginning of a run and then fade a lot. What was your plan today? Were you aggressive at the beginning or did you try to take it easy so you had something at the end?

CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, definitely were just trying to maintain — the first initial start of the race, I didn’t do a good job of maintaining. I fell back to fourth and cost myself too much time trying to save tires.

But yeah, I thought other than that I did a really good job of just trying to stay disciplined and manage my stuff, and I felt like it paid off. I was typically the second best car. I just never had anything for Shane. I felt like he still had more left in the tank as well. But yeah, it was fun. We were slipping and sliding around all over the place. It’s fun when you can do that in these types of race cars. It was a really fun day behind the wheel.

Yesterday after you qualified second you were right behind SVG and you said, I had more in the tank there. You felt like you could have been closer to him in qualifying. One of the things I’ve noticed, I know you’ve won on road courses in Xfinity, but in the Cup Series it seems like you’ve stepped in this 19 car you’ve had a ton of pace at these road courses. Have you been working on something behind the scenes for the road courses?

CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, I think the car, honestly. I don’t really feel like I’m doing a whole lot different. Certainly going into this week I was saying how this is my worst racetrack.

I felt like the 19 team did a really good job of just trying to show me little things that Martin did that made him excel here, and I just tried to replicate that. But for the most part, honestly, it’s just been doing my typical deal. The car has so much more pace and balance. So it makes it really enjoyable.

Just so honored and thankful that I get to drive this 19 car with Bass Pro Shops on the hood. I cannot thank Johnny Morris, J.P. Morris, the entire Toyota family, Bass Pro Shops family, and obviously Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me this opportunity because I am certainly having the time of my life right now. It’s fun running week in and week out in the Cup Series and feeling like you have a shot to go win.

Sonoma Cup Race Results