Shane Van Gisbergen survives late race restarts to capture Toyota/Save Mart 350 in dominant fashion

By Kyle Foster, the photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)

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SONOMA-It’s interesting how you can beat the field all day long and still have to battle at the end of the race. This is what late race cautions do. 

But you could throw many different things at Shane Van Gisbergen, and it wouldn’t have mattered as he was able to hold on late to win the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. 

This is Van Gisbergen’s third win in the last three road course races, having won Mexico City and last week’s Chicago Street Race before this race. 

“It’s an amazing day. We had a great time as a team last week,” Van Gisbergen said. “So yeah, to do it again, it’s hard to put into words at the moment. We’ll probably get home a bit too late tonight to celebrate, but you just have to appreciate the run we’ve had. For us, it was a tough start to the year. We’ve gotten better and better, and yeah, as a team, it’s such a cool atmosphere to be a part of and so special to share it with these guys and girls.” 

In his three wins this season, Van Gisbergen has won all from the pole. He has been great at qualifying on road courses. With his win, he ties Jeff Gordon, who won three straight road course races from the pole. 

This hot stretch also moves Van Gisbergen third into the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings. But before June, he hadn’t won a race. He’s done this without being all that great on ovals. With three wins in the bank, he has a chance to work on ovals throughout the final 6 races of the regular season. Five of those races are on ovals, with the exception being Watkins Glen.  

“Hard to believe that, isn’t it. I just have to thank these guys,” Van Gisbergen said. “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.”

Throughout the race, the 36-year-old New Zealander was the class of the field. He led a race-high 97 laps while flipping the stage in stage two, while also winning that stage. This and the win gave him 6 more playoff points to bank. He also finished second in the first stage of the race. Van Gisbergen also won the Xfinity race at Sonoma last year and finished second in yesterday’s race.   

“It was tough,” Van Gisbergen added. “There were certainly marbles. This soft tire leaves so many marbles around the track, and you’re trying to be respectful when you line up two wide, but you end up pushing each other into the marbles, even though you’re not trying to.Then we both take off, and you could hear the marbles flicking up on the guards and stuff. It was really slippery.”

Throughout the day, there were a few challengers. Finishing second in the race was Chase Briscoe, who got his best Sonoma finish in his first trip to the road course with Joe Gibbs Racing. He also qualified second, which gave him a chance to battle for the win on the late race restarts. It also helps that he took over the No. 19 machine for Martin Truex Jr, who is a 4-time Sonoma winner. 

“I think the car, honestly,” Briscoe said. “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.” 

The results showed that he is capable of running well on the Northern California road course, as he had never even run inside the top five coming into the weekend. 

With the caution on lap 95, Chase Elliott came into the pits for fresh tires. He was able to make his way up to third in the race. The caution on lap 105 helped him get up to third.  

“I mean, it didn’t work out, but we could have been worse, for sure,” Elliott said. “ So it was a great call to get us on offense. And, you know, came up a little short there, but you know, it was worth a chance.”

Those advancing to the final four in the inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge are Ty Gibbs, who will face Tyler Reddick, and then Ty Dillon against John Hunter Nemechek. This will take place next week at Dover Motor Speedway.