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Shane van Gisbergen Delivers Historic Performance at Sonoma
Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

The NASCAR Cup Series has officially entered the Shane van Gisbergen era of road course racing.

Van Gisbergen put together a historic performance in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, a further demonstration of just how far ahead of the remainder of the pack that the Auckland, New Zealand-native is on this particular type of racetrack.

Piloting the No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, Van Gisbergen led a race-high 97 of 110 laps on the afternoon, setting a record for the most laps led in a single NASCAR Cup Series event on the 1.99-mile road course, beating Jeff Gordon (92 laps led) in 2004.

The Trackhouse Racing driver now has four NASCAR Cup Series victories in his 34-race career, and is tied with Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson for the most victories in NASCAR’s top-level this season, which leaves him as the third seed in the post-season reset leaving Sonoma.

Things went nearly perfect for van Gisbergen on Sunday, with the strategy working out in a way that allowed the 36-year-old driver to finish second and first-place in the race’s first two stages, before coming home with the victory – netting a 59-point day.

“It was pretty tough stuff,” said van Gisbergen. “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 stocked for Red Bull, Trackhouse, Chevy. I believe we had a really fun weekend here, some great races, and I hope everyone enjoyed that.”

Of course, there was a little bit of sweating for the race-winner, after a sequence of late-race restarts left van Gisbergen to defend against Chase Briscoe, who was unable to take advantage of his close proximity to the No. 88 and had to settle for second-place.

RACE RESULTS: 2025 NCS Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway

Chase Elliott made a pit stop with 14 laps remaining to bolt some fresh tires onto the No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and charged up to third-place, but after a small off-track excursion, had nothing for the race leaders.

Michael McDowell adopted the same strategy as Elliott and came home in fourth-place. Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five. Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10.

The race featured 12 lead changes, the most on this layout of Sonoma Raceway since 2017.

Ty Dillon, driving the No. 10 for Kaulig Racing, made an incredible lunge on the final lap of the race to put himself into the Final Four for the in-season tournament, defeating Alex Bowman. Dillon will advance to the next round to complete again John Hunter Nemechek (who defeated Erik Jones). Tyler Reddick defeated Ryan Preece, and Ty Gibbs defeated Zane Smith to lock their spots into the semi-final round of the tournament, which will take place next weekend at Dover Motor Speedway.

Leaving Sonoma, William Byron has stopped the bleeding of his points lead in the NASCAR Cup Series, now holding a 14-point advantage over Chase Elliott. Kyle Larson is third, with Tyler Reddick fourth and Denny Hamlin rounding out the top-five in points.

At the post-season cutline, Bubba Wallace continues to hold only a three-point advantage over Ryan Preece, with just six races until the 10-race post-season begins at Darlington Raceway.

The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway will take place next Sunday, July 20, at 2:00 pm ET on TNT Sports, Performance Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and HBO MAX.

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This article first appeared on Racing America on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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