Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #9 Quad Lock Chevrolet, drives during qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 11, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Shane van Gisbergen brings impressive winning streak to Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif.—Road course superstar Shane van Gisbergen has a standard answer when asked about his expectations for any upcoming race.

Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #9 Quad Lock Chevrolet, prepares to practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 11, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

“I don’t have any expectations,” the new Zealander always says.

Oddsmakers have other ideas. Coming to Sonoma Raceway, van Gisbergen was the heavy favorite to win both Saturday’s Pit Boss/Food Maxx 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race and Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series event (3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

After all, SVG had just completed a weekend sweep of the Xfinity and Cup races on the Chicago Street Course.

Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #9 Quad Lock Chevrolet, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 11, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The three-time Australian Supercars champion has been on an amazing roll of late. In mid-June, he won the inaugural Mexico City race by 16.567 seconds over runner-up Christopher Bell.

Then came the dominating performance in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend. SVG arrives in California wine country with 11 Playoff points, good for fifth on the current Playoff grid, with two road courses left before the end of the 26-race regular season.

“It’s been a nice couple of weeks,” van Gisbergen said with classic understatement. “As I said multiple times last week, it’s like a holiday, these races, for me—just relax go have fun, and that’s when I drive at my best as well.”

Van Gisbergen started the Sonoma weekend with Friday’s pole-winning run for the Xfinity race, with qualifying for the Cup event set for Saturday.

Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #9 Quad Lock Chevrolet, drives during qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 11, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

And even if van Gisbergen avoids setting expectations for himself, other drivers in NASCAR’s top division have sized him up as formidable competition.

“He’s so good, and it’s rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is,” said Kyle Larson, the defending Sonoma race winner. “You know, he’s way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff.

“And he’s got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own, because the rest of the world does it—you know, right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks… like there’s zero chance I can learn how to do that.

“And even if I did, like there’s zero chance that I can have it be better than what I’m probably doing with left-foot braking. So yeah, he’s just so good. He’s still new to the oval stuff, so he’s going to continue to get better at that. And, yeah, I mean, if he can figure out the ovals, he’s going to be dominant.”

In-Season Challenge pits LEGACY teammates against each other 

LEGACY Motor Club driver Erik Jones is trying to take a business-as-usual approach to Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, but there’s a twist that may prevent him from doing so.

Jones is one of eight drivers still alive in the NASCAR Cup In-Season Challenge, with a $1-million prize awaiting the winner.

Here’s the catch. To advance past the third round, Jones will have to finish higher than John Hunter Nemechek in the only third-round matchup that features one teammate against another.

Jones said Saturday he won’t expect spotter Will Rodgers to apprise him of Nemechek’s position as the race develops.

“No, probably not,” Jones said. “I didn’t think or know where Ricky (Stenhouse, Jr., second-round opponent)) was all day (at Chicago), and then I drove it into the wall, and I kind of thought we gave that up, and then we crossed the finish line and it wasn’t a very good day, and the first thing Ben (Beshore, crew chief) says is ‘Well, we beat the 47 (Stenhouse).’

“And I was like, OK, that is cool.  I don’t know how. I will want to know right after for sure, if I’m not aware of where he is at. But he doesn’t need to let me know.”

Rodgers, entered in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race with Jones as his primary spotter, had a slightly different take.

“If we are two or three back from him, coming down to it, I may say something” Rodgers said.

Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace settle differences at dinner

As fierce as the Chicago Street Course battle between Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace appeared at the time, it won’t have a lasting impact on the drivers’ relationship.

Bowman and Wallace, opponents in the second round of the In-Season Challenge, were fighting for position late in last Sunday’s race. After repeated contact between their cars, Wallace’s Toyota spun off the front bumper of Bowman’s Chevrolet.

Bowman advanced to the tournament quarterfinals with an eighth-place finish to Wallace’s 28th. But if there was any animosity after the race, there’s none now.

“He bought me dinner on Thursday, which was super nice of him, “Bowman said. “So, I’m appreciative of that. I think we probably raced a little bit unnecessarily hard in that situation, but we talked, and I think we’re all good.

“The TV feed made it look worse than it really was off of (Turn) 2 there. I certainly didn’t intentionally crash him, and unfortunately, the coverage was pretty rough. We talked about it, and I think we’re good going forward.”

Bowman and Wallace happened to be staying at the same place in California, and they were seated next to each other at the hotel restaurant.

“That’s always how it works, right?” said Bowman. “Whenever you run into somebody, you’re always magnetic for the next couple of weeks.”

On Saturday at Sonoma Raceway, Wallace echoed Bowman’s sentiments.

“My dinner was paid for, so I just pay it forward,” Wallace said. “I felt like I made us look like fools last week, and I took the responsibility, so the least I could do was buy him dinner. Bowman and I, I can say truthfully, we’re fine moving forward.”

Difference between Next Gen and Xfinity cars has fueled JR Motorsports’ success

When NASCAR introduced the Next Gen car into the Cup Series in 2022, the sanctioning body did so with the knowledge that the gap between the Cup and Xfinity Series platforms would widen considerably.

From 18-inch aluminum wheels with a single lug to a 5-speed sequential transmission versus a 4-speed manual “H” pattern transmission on Xfinity cars, the Cup race cars are more advanced technologically than their counterparts in NASCAR’s lower series.

The difference between the two race cars, however, has been beneficial to stand-alone Xfinity teams, with JR Motorsports being the prime example.

“I think we’re seeing kind of a unique scenario play out for us,” said reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, who drives the No. 7 Chevrolet for JRM. “With the Cup Series running the Next Gen car for the last couple of years, one of the things I think we’ve done really well at JR Motorsports—while we do have a great relationship with Hendrick Motorsports—we do the majority of what we do in-house.

“On the engineering side of it, the suspension side of it, we do have Hendrick engines, but we do so much in-house—all the aerodynamics. We’re at the wind tunnel doing all that internally… I don’t think people realize how really independent our small team is.”

“I think that’s a great point that Justin makes,” added team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. during an announcement of an expanded partnership with sponsor Roto-Rooter “I hadn’t even thought of it like that, how all the work we’ve done over the years have put us in this position, as the Cup teams have moved away from the technology we use toward the Next Gen technology.

“Those big Cup teams can’t be quite as big of a resource to their Xfinity teams, and it’s actually elevated our ability to compete.”

That’s an understatement. Six different JRM drivers have combined to win nine of the 18 Xfinity races so far this season.