SONOMA, Calif. — Shane van Gisbergen won his third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race on a road course Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.
The New Zealander’s third victory of the season in the Trackhouse Racing No. 88 came from the pole, and it was the second consecutive week that he triumphed from the No. 1 starting spot after he won last week’s Chicago Street Race.
It was his fourth victory in 34 starts, becoming the quickest to four wins since Parnelli Jones won at Riverside in 1967 in his 31st Cup start.
Van Gisbergen led 92 laps en route to victory.
“We had an amazing car,” van Gisbergen said. “Chase Briscoe, what a great racer and gave me respect. Jumped the last (restart) 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.”
Winning the second stage despite short-pitting to preserve track position, van Gisbergen advanced to third on the current Cup Playoff grid with 17 Playoff points. He arrived at the finish line 1.128 seconds ahead of consistent Chase Briscoe, but the win was far from guaranteed, given the chaos of the final 15 laps.
Briscoe, who started second, finished second in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19.
“The only opportunity I had was on the restarts,” Briscoe said. “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.”
Chase Elliott finished third in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“It was nice to be on offense and give ourselves a shot,” Elliott said. “I wish I could have made it happen there. I was trying, but I just couldn’t get going like we needed to there at the end.”
Michael McDowell was fourth in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, while Christopher Bell finished fifth in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
