Shane van Gisbergen wins intense NASCAR Cup race at Sonoma

Shane van Gisbergen started Sunday’s Cup race from Sonoma Raceway on pole position, and he stayed there for most of the day. SVG has now won the last three road/street courses on the schedule, securing Red Bull’s first win as a primary sponsor in the Cup Series since the 2011 season.

“Yeah, it was pretty tough stuff,” said SVG, who led 97 of 110 laps. “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 stoked for Red Bull, Trackhouse, Chevy. I believe we had a really fun weekend here, some great races, and I hope everyone enjoyed that.”

Van Gisbergen was cruising out front when Cody Ware lost a wheel with 15 laps to go, setting up a dramatic sprint to the finish. SVG chose to stay out on older tires, and 13 other drivers did the same.

Chase Elliott led the way among the drivers who pitted for fresh rubber, but his forward progress was hindered by a series of cautions, burning up several laps.

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

A crash from Noah Gragson and a spin into the tire barriers by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both forced restarts, but in both situations, van Gisbergen remained in form control of the race.

Elliott got all the way up to third while Chase Briscoe finished exactly where he started — second. Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell rounded out the top five with Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch filling out the rest of the top ten.

Stage 1  and 2

Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

At the start of the race, things were mostly clean as SVG drove off with the lead. However, he and most of the field chose to flip the stage, short-pitting before the scheduled caution.

His teammate Ross Chastain took another path, staying out and earning his first stage win of the year. Despite pitting, van Gisbergen still managed to end the stage in second place.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

As the second stage got underway, there was some more contact throughout the pack, with A.J. Allmendinger and John Hunter Nemechek both going for a spin.

SVG again chose to pit from the lead while Kyle Larson stayed out to try and win the stage. However, that didn’t work out for him as van Gisbergen ran him down and passed him for the stage win.

Stage 3

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

The final stage was the wildest of all as Ryan Blaney got sent into the dirt by Chris Buescher, getting stuck on a hill off-track and causing the first caution for an incident. 

At the same time, both Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin spun. And while tensions were rising on the track, it was also getting heated in the pit lane as the RFK Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing pit crews got into a small scuffle.

The final round of green-flag pit stops began with about 30 laps to go, but van Gisbergen waited until 26 laps to go to make his final stop. 

He continued to lead for the remainder of the race, despite multiple restarts where he had to fend off Briscoe.

Photos from Sonoma – Race