SONOMA, Calif. (AP) 鈥� Shane van Gisbergen continued his remarkable run on the twistiest tracks in , but this was no easy Sunday drive.
The Trackhouse Racing driver became the winningest active Cup Series driver on road and street courses with his second consecutive victory at Sonoma Raceway. Though he led 74 of the final 83 laps on the 1.99-mile road course north of San Francisco, van Gisbergen had to fend off a charge by runner-up Chase Briscoe with a No. 97 Chevrolet that hadn’t been entirely to his liking since practice a day earlier.
鈥淲e were really bad yesterday, and these guys did an amazing job turning this car into a winner,鈥� said van Gisbergen, who celebrated with a massive burnout for the grandstands. 鈥�(Briscoe) was coming. He was really, really good, and I ran out at the end. Yeah, a couple more laps, we would have had some problems.鈥�
Finishing second to van Gisbergen at Sonoma for the second consecutive year, Briscoe came up 0.357 seconds short and was left lamenting a mistake in getting his No. 19 Toyota into Turn 1 with four laps remaining.
鈥淣ot very many people get that close to him at the end of one of these road course races,鈥� Briscoe said. 鈥淛ust frustrated with myself. I felt like I definitely had the better car. I didn鈥檛 do as good of a job as he did driving. I was having to push so hard, and that was where I would make up my ground. It was just such a razor鈥檚 edge, and I about crashed. If I don鈥檛 make that mistake, I鈥檓 probably ahead of him at the end.
鈥淛ust bummed that it was my fault we didn鈥檛 win with the best car. Against that guy, you’ve got to be absolutely perfect.鈥�
Van Gisbergen notched the eighth victory of his career on the tracks that require left and right turns, breaking a tie with 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott.
With his second win this season, van Gisbergen improved three spots to 14th in the points standings, moving back into a provisional spot in the Chase.
But there are no road or street courses remaining over the final 18 races of the season, so the New Zealand native will need to diversify his skillset after entering NASCAR three years ago with no experience on ovals.
鈥淚 need to really step it up on the ovals,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is an oval championship, and I need to keep getting better at them.鈥�
Pole-sitter Ty Gibbs finished third, and Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell rounded out the top five.
In-Season Challenge upset
For the second year in a row, the top seed was knocked off in the opening race of the In-Season Challenge, the bracket-style tournament that pits 32 drivers head to head with the top finisher advancing.
Tyler Reddick finished four laps down in 36th because of a power steering problem. That turned his first-round matchup into a walkover for 10th-place finisher Alex Bowman, who nabbed the 32nd and final seed in the In-Season Challenge despite .
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a very odd issue,鈥� Reddick said. 鈥淓verything seemed fine when we left the pit stall, and then the steering just really got notchy with the power steering going in and out. It was just really really hard to make any kind of lap time with it.鈥�
The 23XI Racing driver salvaged a point by setting the race鈥檚 fastest lap after the team made repairs. After leading the Chase standings since , Reddick fell one point behind Denny Hamlin with eight races remaining in the regular season.
鈥淚鈥檇 say we got pretty fortunate,鈥� Reddick said. 鈥淎ll things considered, for the issues that we had, we were very fortunate to only lose nine points to Denny while finishing last.鈥�
Hamlin vs. Dillon
Second-seeded Hamlin advanced despite a 26th-place finish, .
In a rematch, Dillon was ahead of Hamlin for most of Sunday鈥檚 race until he lost power steering with 15 laps remaining and fell to 35th. Hamlin rebounded from being spun from seventh by Carson Hocevar on a restart with 46 laps remaining.
鈥淚 had a really fast car, a top-five car on speed,鈥� Hamlin said. 鈥淥nce we got spun, it just lost all the downforce, and we struggled.鈥�
Hocevar, who was also involved in a separate incident with Bell, apologized for the contact with Hamlin.
鈥淚 was watching my mirror the whole time, and I wasn鈥檛 even seeing that I was hitting Denny,鈥� said Hocevar, . 鈥淚 was happy to hear that I wasn鈥檛 the difference maker of Ty beating Denny because I would be looked at for sports fixing probably with the way I was singing Ty鈥檚 praises.鈥�
Up next
NASCAR will return to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time in seven years with a 400-mile race on July 5. In the most recent Cup race on the 1.5-mile oval in Joliet, Illinois, Alex Bowman earned his first victory in NASCAR鈥檚 premier series by beating future teammate Kyle Larson on June 30, 2019.
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