To his dismay, when the NASCAR Cup Series heads to a road course, many fans and competitors alike assume that it is the foregone conclusion that Shane van Gisbergen is going to dominate the day and go to victory lane. Though he has been beaten previously on road courses, he is consistently in contention and the overwhelming favorite to win. Just look at the Draft King betting odds ahead of any particular road course event. All that came to fruition yesterday when, predictably, SVG went to victory lane driving the No. 9 for JR Motorsports in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
However, there was a sliver of hope heading into today’s Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma raceway. Unlike most races where the greatest drivers in the world turn left and right, SVG did not claim the pole. In fact, there were five other drivers who out qualified NASCAR’s King of the Road, opening the door to the possibility that he could be vulnerable in Northern California following last week’s missed opportunity in San Diego that dropped him out of the top 16 on the Chase grid.
When the green flag dropped, SVG, though he made progress forward from the 6th position after a long battle with two-time Sonoma winner, Kyle Larson, was unhappy with how his car was driving. Meanwhile, polesitter, Ty Gibbs led every lap in his way to win not only the first stage but both stages, sweeping them. And though Gibbs won the second stage, that was when this race really started to shift toward SVG’s favor. In the second stage, SVG assumed the race lead and asserted himself as the dominant car. Though he wasn’t lights out faster than the rest of the field, no one really had what it took to overpower him either, keeping him at a safe distance but seemingly unable to make a move on driver No. 97.
That was except for polesitter Ty Gibbs who, following the conclusion of each stage he won, was trapped back in traffic due to not flipping the stage. Meanwhile, at the field took 6 laps to go, SVG told his crew that he’s just barely trying to hang on as Chase Briscoe, who finished 2nd to SVG at Sonoma one year ago, was eating away at SVG’s lead.
They took the white flag. Chase Briscoe was there, right on SVG’s bumper. It was a cat-and-mouse duel for the race win as lap traffic loomed ahead. SVG pulled away a little in the esses but in Turn 10, the No. 19 gained. In turn 11, Chase Briscoe drove in, trying to get there but couldn’t. Shane van Gisbergen went on to sweep the weekend in Sonoma after a hard-fought victory against the JGR Toyotas.
This marked SVG’s 8th career Cup Series win, all of which came on road and street courses. This win ties him with all-time great and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Tony Stewart on 2nd all-time winner on road courses. He has won 7 of the last 9 NASCAR Cup Series road course races.
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN GOES BACK-TO-BACK AT SONOMA 🏁🏆
Qualifying on the pole for today’s race was JGR driver and co-owner Ty Gibbs. Starting alongside him is the young aggressive driver, Carson Hocevar, who has drawn a lot of criticism in recent weeks for hi on-track conduct. At the drop of the green flag, Hocevar made a play for the race lead, taking it away from Gibbs in the first couple of turns. However, by the time they were leading the field through the esses on the first lap, Gibbs had regained control of the race as the No. 77 of Carson Hocevar faded to the lower half of the top 10.
As the pack got into a steady pace, Gibbs maintained the lead and Michael McDowell slipped into second with Kyle Larson third and SVG fourth. The 5 and the No. 97 batted for several laps before SVG got the better of Larson in Turn 7, sliding into the third position. SVG then set his eyes on second-place runner McDowell, who he eventually caught and passed. Then, he got to work eating into the lead for Ty Gibbs, chewing it down to just over a second. Meanwhile, SVG came over the radio displeased with how his Red Bull Chevy was driving. According to SVG, he was too tight in tight corners and too free on entry.
Daniel Suarez was the first to make a pit stop on Lap 15. This was an unscheduled stop as he reported that he had a tire going down.
By Lap 21, SVG had caught Ty Gibbs. There was a question heading into this race as to whether or not SVG would go for the race win and flip the stage or go for stage points after last week’s missed opportunity in San Diego.
Green flag pit stops to flip the stage began on Lap 22 with Connor Zilisch, who pitted from 18th. On Lap 23, the leaders stayed on the racetrack while drivers in the bottom half of the top 20 headed down pit road. They included Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Chase Elliott, A. J. Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick, among others. Coming to Lap 24, SVG pitted along with Kyle Larson before leader Ty Gibbs could cross the start/finish line to close pit road.
Ty Gibbs went on to win the opening stage over Christopher Bell and the Spire duo of Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar. SVG merged back onto the track in the 7th position.
These drivers earned points in Stage 1: Ty Gibbs (10), Christopher Bell (9), Michael McDowell (8), Carson Hocevar (7), Ryan Preece (6), Alex Bowman (5), Shane van Gisbergen (4), Erik Jones (3), Kyle Larson (2), and Riley Herbst (1).
The green flag dropped to begin Stage 2 with SVG and Larson leading the field to the green flag. As with Ty Gibbs in Stage 1, the second stage was dominated by SVG over Blaney and Zilisch until SVG pitted to flip the stages on Lap 53, going into Lap 54. This handed the race lead again over to Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell. Gibbs went on to sweep the stages.
The following drivers earned stage points in Stage 2: Ty Gibbs (10), Christopher Bell (9), A. J. Allmendinger (8), Austin Cindric (7), Ross Chastain (6), Zane Smith (5), Shane van Gisbergen (4), Connor Zilisch (3), Chase Briscoe (2), and Ryan Blaney (1).
Following the conclusion of the first stage, Tyler Reddick came down pit road and teams went under the hood ad he reported having an internal mechanical issue. This ultimately cost him several laps, resulting in him losing the points lead to Denny Hamlin and being eliminated in the In-Season Challenge from the number 1 seed.
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