Shane van Gisbergen wins Sonoma NASCAR Cup race, Denny Hamlin takes points lead

It was likely far closer than Shane van Gisbergen likely wanted it to be, narrowly fending off Chase Briscoe to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.

The victory pushes SVG back above the Chase cut-line and now 14th in the overall standings. Van Gisbergen is now tied with Tony Stewart on the all-time road course wins list, collecting the eighth of his Cup career while sweeping the weekend.

Watch: King of Wine Country! SVG holds off Briscoe to win Sonoma

“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 [Briscoe] was coming. He was really, really good, and I ran out at the end.”

It was also exactly what SVG needed after getting wrecked out of the San Diego street course race last weekend, a result he lamented deep into the week before moving in.

“I was back to normal by the weekend, but yeah, I was certainly pissed at the start of the week,” added Van Gisbergen. “This really makes up for it sharing it with these guys. They went through it at the start of the week. Pretty special to win.”

On the battle for the win, Van Gisbergen remarked: “We had these shitboxes come out in front and they were wobbling all over the track and putting dust and I just kept struggling. Chase was just really, really good. Yeah, a couple more laps we would have had some problems.”

Behind Van Gisbergen and Briscoe, Ty Gibbs (who swept the stages) finished third, Kyle Larson fourth, Christopher Bell fifth, and Ryan Blaney sixth.

Connor Zilisch earned the first top ten of his Cup career, placing seventh. Ryan Preece was eighthMichael McDowell ninth, and Alex Bowman tenth.

Hamlin vs. Reddick

Stage 1

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing

Gibbs led the race from pole position, while outside pole-sitter Hocevar dropped through the field early. He even got into Bell, nearly spinning the No. 20 car.

Allmendinger also slid into Larson’s door in the early running while attempting to pass him into the hairpin. He gave the position back soon after.

Suarez had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire under green, sending him to the rear.

As expected most of the field elected to flip the stage, short-pitting. Van Gisbergen reached as high as second before pitting. A. Dillon was caught speeding and was handed a penalty.

Gibbs went on to win Stage 1, followed by Bell, McDowell, Hocevar, Preece, and Bowman. Van Gisbergen was seventh, even after pitting, followed by Jones, Larson (pitted), and Herbst.

Stage 2

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing, Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports

Big developments in the championship battle as Reddick reported a power steering issue. The team spent several minutes under the hood, and Reddick went six laps down in the process.

Van Gisbergen cycled into the lead for the restart with Larson alongside.

During the run, Wallace got loose and went off onto an access road. He had worked his way up into the top ten before the error, and lost a dozen spots as a result.

Things only got worse for Wallace after that, sliding into Gilliland, which caused the FRM driver to deliver payback in the next corner, pushing Wallace into the dirt. He then pushed Wallace’s 23XI teammate Herbst into the dirt soon after.

While Van Gisbergen checked out, the battle for second was intense. Broscoe passed Larson, only for Blaney to pass them both. Zilisch was in the middle of this fight as well.

Once again, Van Gisbergen flipped the stage, while Gibbs again stayed out to sweep the stages.

Gibbs won Stage 2 over Bell, Allmendinger, Cindric, Chastain, Smith, Van Gisbergen (pitted), Zilisch (pitted), Briscoe (pitted), and Blaney (pitted).

Stage 3

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing, Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports

Van Gisbergen and Zilisch now shared the front row for restart, and while things remained clean out front, contact became far more commonplace in the pack. Josh Berry went for a spin off the nose of Cindric, triggering the first natural yellow.

The ensuing restart was even wilder. While Briscoe split the Trackhouse teammates, Hamlin got spun off the nose of Hocevar, falling to the very back of the pack. Hamlin also suffered splitter damage in the spin, and struggled to make up any ground.

Gilliland, Elliott, and Nemechek all spin in separate incidents that followed.

With just over 30 laps to go, the final green-flag cycle of stops got underway. Zilisch had a brief stall, but quickly got back rolling.

Van Gisbergen made his stop on Lap 83, and cycled into the lead a few laps alter after teammate Chastain dove into the pits.

Briscoe stayed close to Van Gisbergen, within a second with just ten laps to go. Van Gisbergen ended up in lapped traffic, and Briscoe began to close. Sliding all over the track, Briscoe drove it in deep into the hairpin on the final lap. He nearly reached Van Gisbergen’s rear bumper, but just missed making contact.

Watch: SVG thrilled with Sonoma win: ‘Pretty special to make up for last week’