By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
SVG looks to extend road course domination to Sonoma Raceway
SONOMA, Calif. — Two questions are front and center as the NASCAR Cup Series heads for Sonoma Raceway for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
First, can any other driver in the series halt Shane van Gisbergen’s streak of perfection on road and street courses?
And second, which four drivers will advance to the semifinals of the five-race In-Season Challenge, which pays $1 million to win?
Van Gisbergen swept last weekend’s Cup and Xfinity races, both from the pole position. In mid-June, he won the inaugural Cup race at Mexico City, also from the pole.
Though Sunday’s race will mark his Sonoma debut in a Cup car, SVG won last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the technical 1.99-mile road course—again from the pole.
“I’m excited to get there,” van Gisbergen said. “I’ve never raced that track in a Cup car, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it races and what it’s like. I did the Xfinity race there last year and had a great time. It will be interesting with it being my second time in the Xfinity car and trying to understand how to make that car better.
“Then in the Cup car, it’s obviously a track everyone is going to be strong at because they’ve had so many reps there. It’s going to be interesting to see if we still have a speed advantage. But (I’m) looking forward to running double duty again.”
Should Van Gisbergen win from the pole at Sonoma, he would tie Jeff Gordon’s record of three straight such victories set in 1998-1999.
Arguably, the driver most likely to match Van Gisbergen’s speed is defending race winner Kyle Larson, who has scored four pole positions at Sonoma and held the track qualifying record for nine years before Joey Logano broke it last season with a lap at 97.771 mph on a repaved racing surface.
Larson, Kyle Busch (two victories each) and Daniel Suarez (one victory) are the only drivers in Sunday’s field who have Cup wins at the track.
“It’s always special to go back home,” said Larson, from Elk Grove in Northern California. “I love having friends and family at the track, especially the friends that don’t typically get to go to the track.
“We have dominated there in the past—hopefully, we’ll be just as good… It will feel hotter in Sonoma with the race being in July. The pavement will be a little bit slicker.”
Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, will face unsinkable Ty Dillon, the 32nd seed, in the quarterfinals of the In-Season Challenge. Among the eight drivers remaining in the tournament. Bowman has the best average finish at Sonoma in the Gen 7 era (15.3).
Dillon finished 23rd in both 2022 and 2023 but didn’t compete in last year’s Cup race.
“I’m looking forward to getting to Sonoma this weekend, a track where I have a lot of confidence going to,” said Dillon, who upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin in the first round at EchoPark Speedway and advanced past hard-luck Brad Keselowski last week on the Chicago Street Course.
“I’ve been in the sim (simulator) this week and working with my teammate, AJ (Allmendinger), one of the best in the business, to try to learn as much as I can to be prepared this weekend. I didn’t race on the track last year, so this will be the first year for me on the new pavement, which will bring its own challenges, but I’m looking forward to taking advantage of this weekend and having a strong run.”
Other In-Season Challenge matchups feature LEGACY Motor Club teammates Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek against each other, guaranteeing the organization will have one driver in next Sunday’s semifinals at Dover Motor Speedway; Ryan Preece vs. Tyler Reddick; and Ty Gibbs vs. Zane Smith.
Chris Buescher, who was eliminated from the tournament in Chicago, has the best average finish at Sonoma over the past three years (3.0). Surprisingly, Hamlin has the worst average in the Next Gen era (35.0), after an early engine failure relegated him to 38th last year.
NASCAR Xfinity race features rematch between JRM teammates
After an eye-opening experience on the streets of Chicago, Connor Zilisch knows what to expect from JR Motorsports teammate Shane van Gisbergen in Saturday’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway (4:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Zilisch led the field to green with two laps left in Chicago, only to have van Gisbergen dive to his inside entering Turn 1, run him wide in the corner to take the lead and pull away to win the race.
“I was clear there, just barely, on the front straight, and I just let him get to my inside, and he took advantage of it,” Zilisch said after the race. “I should have been a little more aggressive there. I just thought he was going to race me a little cleaner.
“I’ve just got to be better and not let that stuff happen. I’ll learn from it and move on.”
As they were in Chicago, SVG and Zilisch are the top two choices to win on Saturday, by a wide margin. Van Gisbergen won last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race in his only start at the 1.99-mile circuit.
The 36-year-old New Zealander is coming off a weekend sweep at Chicago, where he won both races from the pole.
“Last weekend was epic,” van Gisbergen said. “JRM built me a rocket, and I’m glad our strategy ended up working out and we were able to get the win. I’m a lucky guy to be able to drive some fast Chevrolets.
“Looking forward to Sonoma this weekend. It’s an awesome track and I had a blast racing there last season and even brought home the win. Hoping to do it again this weekend for my No. 9 JRM team.”
SVG won last year’s Chicago and Sonoma races in the No. 97 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. This year he’s driving for JRM, which has won all three road course races this season with three different drivers and the last five (dating to last year) with four different drivers.
Though SVG and Zilisch are the most likely winners, their battle won’t be the only one of significance at Sonoma. There are eight races left in the Xfinity regular season and five Playoff spots still open.
Taylor Gray and Harrison Burton are just eight points apart on either side of the current elimination line, with Gray holding the final Playoff berth as of the Chicago Street Race.
In that event, Burton finished 13th to Gray’s 34th and trimmed 20 points off Gray’s advantage entering the race.
