van Gisbergen dominates on another road course

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — Another road course win was so expected for Shane van Gisbergen that Trackhouse Racing had extra tires ready for his Sonoma Raceway victory celebration. Van Gisbergen won for the third time in five race and second straight on Sunday when he dominated on the California road course. The New Zealander once again showed he's in a completely different class on road and street courses than his rivals as he led 97 of 110 laps to win from pole at Sonoma Raceway. He celebrated with the traditional burnout, then his Trackhouse crew changed the tires on the No. 88 Chevrolet so he could do a second smoke-inducing spin on his way to victory lane. He also kept with his own tradition and kicked a rugby ball into the grandstands. "It means everything. That's why I race cars. 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 van Gisbergen. "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." All three of his wins this year have been from pole — which tied him with Jeff Gordon for a NASCAR record of three consecutive road course victories from the top starting spot. Gordon did it between the 1998 and 1999 seasons. He joins Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson as the only drivers with three wins this season and this one moved him into third for playoff seeding. Van Gisbergen was 33rd in the standings and not yet qualified for the playoffs just five weeks ago. Victory number four for van Gisbergen — who stunned NASCAR in 2023 when he popped into the debut Chicago street course race from Australian V8 Supercars and won — seemed a given before teams even arrived at the picturesque course in California wine country. His rivals have lamented that "SVG" has a unique braking technique he mastered Down Under that none of them — all oval specialists — can ever learn. That win in Chicago two years ago led van Gisbergen to move to the United States for a career change driving stock cars for Trackhouse Racing. He and Ross Chastain have pumped energy into the team over this summer stretch with Chastain kicking it off with a Memorial Day weekend victory at the Coca-Cola 600. Van Gisbergen is the fastest driver to win four Cup Series races — in his 34th start — since Parnelli Jones in 1969. He's also the winningest driver born outside the United States. "It's unreal. To do Chicago, an experience that I really enjoyed, and never thought it would lead to more let alone moving over here and doing things," he said. "Its been amazing, everything that I hoped it could ever be." The Sonoma win made it four victories for Trackhouse in eight weeks. Van Gisbergen was second from pole in Saturday's Xfinity Series race. Chase Briscoe was second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that's probably what it was like," said Briscoe after not being able to pass van Gisbergen on two late restarts — the last with five laps remaining. "That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He's just so good. He's really raised the bar on this entire series." Briscoe was followed by Chase Elliott in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. McDowell in a Chevy for Spire Motorsports was fourth and Christopher Bell in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was fifth. In-Season challenge The mid-season tournament that pays $1 million to the winner is down to four drivers. Alex Bowman finished 25th and eliminated Ty Dillon, who finished 26th. Tyler Reddick (11th) knocked out Ryan Preece (16th), John Hunter Nemechek knocked out teammate Erik Jones as they finished 21st and 22nd, and Ty Gibbs, with a seventh-place finish, eliminated Zane Smith. Bowman, at eighth, is the highest-seeded driver still in the challenge, which debuted this year. Crew fight NASCAR officials had to separate the crews for Brad Keselowski and Gibbs when members from the two teams scrapped on pit road during the race. Keselowski's crew confronted Gibbs' crew after Gibbs drove through their pit stall and narrowly missed hitting some of Keselowski's crew members already in place waiting for him. The confrontation appeared to be contained to pushing and shoving and NASCAR quickly stepped between them. Both crews were given an official warning for fighting but NASCAR said Gibbs did nothing wrong. Clean race — for awhile It took 61 of the 110 laps for the first caution for an on-track incident — when Ryan Blaney was knocked off the course and into the dirt early in the third stage. The contact from Chris Buescher left Blaney stranded, and right before NASCAR could throw the yellow, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin both spun. It was technically the third caution of the race, but the first two were for natural stage breaks. The race ended with six cautions — three in the final 13 laps. Up next The Cup Series races Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware, where Hamlin won last year. ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing