Shane van Gisbergen triumphs at Sonoma for third NASCAR Cup win of 2025
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SONOMA, Calif.—Shane van Gisbergen proved on Sunday that it’s impossible to keep a road course superstar down for more than a brief interlude.
After finishing second to Connor Zilisch in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, van Gisbergen was back on top on a pleasant Sunday afternoon in wine country, winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
As has become his custom of late, the New Zealander reached a trio of milestones, winning his third straight road/street course race from the pole position to equal Jeff Gordon’s feat from 1998 and 1999.
The victory was van Gisbergen’s third of the season in his first trip around the 1.99-mile, 12-turn circuit in a NASCAR Cup Series car. SVG won for the fourth time in 34 starts, becoming the quickest to four wins since Parnelli Jones won at Riverside in 1967 in his 31st Cup start.
His 97 laps led are the most by a Sonoma winner, eclipsing Jeff Gordon’s high-water mark of 92 set in 2004.
“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.”
The winner of 81 Australian Supercars races on the way to three championships in the series, van Gisbergen already is being touted as perhaps the best road course racer in NASCAR history.
“I had an amazing time in Australia, and then to come here and the last couple weeks or years actually has been a dream come true,” said the 36-year-old driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. “I’ve really enjoyed my time in NASCAR. Thanks, everyone, for making me feel so welcome. I hope I’m here for a long time to come.”
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.
SVG had to survive three cautions and subsequent restarts in the late stages of the race to seal the win, as a large group of drivers on better tires chased those who had stayed on the track (including the race winner) after the No. 51 Ford of Cody Ware jettisoned a tire and caused a yellow on Lap 97.
Briscoe qualified second and finished where he felt he deserved.
“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. Yeah, proud of the effort. We were a second-place car all day and obviously ended up second with it.”
Chase Elliott pitted on Lap 97 for fresher tires and came home third after restarting 14th on Lap 100. Michael McDowell, on the same strategy as Elliott, climbed to fourth at the finish, while Christopher Bell held fifth on older tires.
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.”
The action on the final few laps was attributable in part to battles within the NASCAR Cup In-Season Challenge. In Sunday’s third round at Sonoma, 32nd seed Ty Dillon bumped the No. 48 Chevrolet of Alex Bowman out of the way on the final lap to finish 17th to Bowman’s 19th and keep his hopes for the $1-million prize alive.
Dillon will face John Hunter Nemechek in next Sunday semifinals at Dover Motor Speedway. Nemechek finished one spot ahead of LEGACY Motor Club teammate Erik Jones (28th to 29th) to advance to the fourth round.
“It was a rough couple of laps there,” Dillon acknowledged. “Alex and I race really clean. I told him, ‘Man, if it wasn’t for the million dollars, I probably wouldn’t have done that,’ but I had to. It’s been an incredible run for this No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team. We’ve worked so hard for this opportunity…
“We’re going to give it all we’ve got at Dover; put pressure on the guys. I think you’ve seen through this that our team doesn’t quit. I saw the No. 48 there at the end, and I knew it was our opportunity to race hard and go get him. Just proud of this team’s effort.”
Ty Gibbs moved into the tournament semifinals with a seventh-place finish to Zane Smith’s 27th, and Tyler Reddick ousted Ryan Preece with a sixth-place run to Preece’s 12th. Gibbs and Reddick will face off at the Monster Mile for a trip to the finals.
William Byron, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch completed the top 10 in a race that featured six cautions for 17 laps.
Race Results for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 - Sunday, July 13, 2025
Sonoma Raceway - Sonoma, CA - 1.99 - Mile Road
Total Race Length - 110 Laps - 218.9 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 7/13/2025 @ 06:59 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Red Bull Chevrolet 110 2 1 59 Running 6 97 6
2 2 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 110 7 6 44 Running 2 2
3 13 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 110 10 35 Running
4 15 71 Michael McDowell Project Zin/Gainbridge Chevrolet 110 33 Running 1 3
5 10 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 110 32 Running 1 1
6 8 45 Tyler Reddick Chumba Casino Toyota 110 31 Running
7 6 54 Ty Gibbs SAIA LTL Freight Toyota 110 9 32 Running
8 3 24 William Byron Valvoline Chevrolet 110 5 10 36 Running
9 22 22 Joey Logano Autotrader Ford 110 28 Running
10 17 8 Kyle Busch zone Chevrolet 110 3 35 Running
11 21 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 110 26 Running
12 20 60 Ryan Preece Body Guard Ford 110 25 Running
13 25 21 Josh Berry Eero Ford 110 24 Running
14 19 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 110 23 Running
15 29 7 Justin Haley NationsGuard Chevrolet 110 23 Running
16 14 17 Chris Buescher BuildSubmarines.com Ford 110 8 24 Running
17 26 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 110 6 7 29 Running
18 5 16 AJ Allmendinger Big Sipz Chevrolet 110 19 Running
19 9 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 110 18 Running
20 16 11 Denny Hamlin ampm Toyota 110 17 Running
21 33 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet 110 16 Running
22 35 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 110 15 Running
23 27 41 Cole Custer Autodesk/Haas Tooling Ford 110 14 Running
24 4 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Chevrolet 110 1 23 Running 1 4 1
25 28 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Toyota 110 12 Running
26 30 23 Bubba Wallace Xfinity Mobile Toyota 110 3 4 26 Running
27 12 38 Zane Smith Michael Roberts Construction Ford 110 10 Running
28 18 42 John Hunter Nemechek Mobil 1 Toyota 110 9 Running
29 31 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 110 8 Running
30 24 2 Austin Cindric America's Tire Ford 110 7 Running
31 37 78 * Katherine Legge e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet 110 6 Running
32 23 77 Carson Hocevar Delaware Life Chevrolet 110 5 Running
33 34 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Real American Beer Chevrolet 110 4 5 17 Running
34 36 51 Cody Ware Mighty Fire Breaker Ford 108 3 Running
35 11 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 108 2 11 Running 2 3
36 7 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Delta Ford 106 8 9 6 Accident
37 32 4 Noah Gragson Long John Silver's Ford 99 1 Accident
Fastest Lap Bonus: # lap 95 / 75.988
7
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 54 Mins, 55 Secs. Average Speed: 75.087 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.128 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 1, 88, 23, 47, 24, 10, 19, 12, 54, 9
Stage 2 Top 10: 88, 5, 8, 23, 47, 19, 10, 17, 12, 24
Race Comments: Shane van Gisbergen has won the Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, his fourth victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. Prior to the start of the race, no vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty.
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 6 for 17 laps; Laps: 27-29 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]); 57-59 (Stage 2 Conclusion [77]); 63-65 (#12 Stopped On Track [None]); 97-99 (Debris Turn 4 [None]); 101-103 (#4 Stopped Turn 7 [12]); 105-106 (#47 Incident Turn 8 [51]).
Lead Changes: 12 among 6 drivers; S. Gisbergen # 1-22; R. Chastain 23-26; S. Gisbergen # 27-53; K. Larson 54; S. Gisbergen # 55-58; C. Briscoe 59; S. Gisbergen # 60-83; C. Bell 84; K. Larson 85-86; M. McDowell 87-89; S. Gisbergen # 90-105; C. Briscoe 106; S. Gisbergen # 107-110.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: July 20, 2025 - Dover Motor Speedway
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PLAYOFF PICTURE
1 Kyle Larson 23 3 WINS
2 Denny Hamlin 19 3 WINS
3 Shane van Gisbergen 17 3 WINS
4 Christopher Bell 16 3 WINS
5 William Byron 12 1 WIN
6 Ryan Blaney 9 1 WIN
7 Austin Cindric 8 1 WIN
8 Joey Logano 7 1 WIN
9 Chase Briscoe 6 1 WIN
10 Ross Chasain 6 1 WIN
11 Josh Berry 6 1 WIN
12 Chasr Elliott 5 1 WIN
13 Tyler Reddick 0 +149
14 Chris Buescher 0 +34
15 Alex Bowman 0 +32
16 Bubba Wallace 0 +3
17 Ryan Preece 0 -3
18 Kyle Busch 0 -37
19 AJ Allmendinger 0 -50
20 Ty Gibbs 0 -60
NASCAR Cup Series
Regular Season Points Report
Sonoma Raceway
Toyota/Save Mart 350
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 7/13/2025 @ 07:33 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. William Byron 24 20 0 668 0 0 1 7 12
2. Chase Elliott 9 20 0 654 -14 14 1 0 5
3. Kyle Larson 5 20 0 624 -44 30 3 8 23
4. Tyler Reddick 45 20 -1 615 -53 9 0 1 1
5. Denny Hamlin 11 19 1 606 -62 9 3 4 19
6. Christopher Bell 20 20 0 597 -71 9 3 1 16
7. Ryan Blaney 12 20 0 545 -123 52 1 4 9
8. Chase Briscoe 19 20 -1 526 -142 19 1 1 6
9. Ross Chastain 1 20 1 513 -155 13 1 1 6
10. Chris Buescher 17 20 -1 500 -168 13 0 1 -4
11. Joey Logano 22 20 -1 499 -169 1 1 2 7
12. Alex Bowman 48 20 2 498 -170 1 0 0 0
13. Bubba Wallace 23 20 0 469 -199 29 0 2 2
14. Ryan Preece 60 20 0 466 -202 3 0 2 2
15. Kyle Busch 8 20 -1 432 -236 34 0 0 0
16. AJ Allmendinger 16 20 1 419 -249 13 0 0 0
17. Ty Gibbs 54 20 -2 409 -259 10 0 0 0
18. Erik Jones 43 20 1 401 -267 8 0 0 0
19. Michael McDowell 71 20 -4 399 -269 2 0 1 1
20. Austin Cindric 2 20 2 396 -272 3 1 3 8
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