Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, was first to the checkered at Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) race at Sonoma Raceway (SR) completing the weekend sweep in wine country.
“What a day,” said van Gisbergen. “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 out in the end.”
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, managed to shrink the gap to less than half of a second after van Gisbergen encountered lapped traffic with two laps to go, but ultimately failed to completely close it before the checkered flag.
“It was odd,” said Briscoe. “Not very many people get that close to him at the end of one of these road course races.”
Briscoe was frustrated following his second consecutive second-place finish to van Gisbergen at SR, feeling like he had the win if he didn’t make a mistake in the final laps.
“Just frustrated with myself,” said Briscoe. “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. I was having to push so hard, and that was where I would make up my ground. It was just such a razor’s edge, and I about crashed. Gave up a call to second, and then I was able to obviously run him back down at the end. If I don’t make that mistake, I’m probably ahead of him, I feel like, at the end.”
Sunday’s win marked van Gisbergen’s second win of the weekend following his dominant NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS) win on Saturday in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, where he started on the pole, led the most laps (66 of 79) and captured the checkered flag.
California natives Kyle Larson (Elk Grove), AJ Allmendinger (Los Gatos), Zane Smith (Huntington Beach), Cole Custer (Ladera Ranch) and Tyler Reddick (Corning) finished fourth, 16th, 18th, 20th and 36th respectively.
Reddick, the points leader coming in to today’s race, suffered power steering issues, which caused him to DNF, allowing his 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, to take over the points lead by one point after Reddick claimed the extra point for having the Xfinity Fastest Lap.
Following today’s race, round two of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge includes the following matchups for next week’s race at Chicagoland:
- Alex Bowman vs. Austin Cindric
- Todd Gilliland vs. Carson Hocevar
- Chase Briscoe vs. Ty Gibbs
- Michael McDowell vs. Chase Elliott
- Denny Hamlin vs. Erik Jones
- Chris Buescher vs. Christopher Bell
- William Byron vs. Kyle Larson
- Shane van Gisbergen vs. Ryan Blaney
Fans who renew their NASCAR weekend tickets and camping for SR’s 2027 NASCAR weekend will get a free renewal gift (while supplies last) along with the best available pricing.
Follow Us:
Keep track of all of Sonoma Raceway’s events by following on Facebook, X and Instagram (@RACESONOMA). Keep up with all the latest information on the speedway website (SonomaRaceway.com) and mobile app.
