Yet another NASCAR road course race, and yet another victory by Shane van Gisbergen. The Trackhouse Racing driver, who is known for his road course prowess, came out on top yet again at Sonoma, and the runner-up, Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe, had no answer.

Following the conclusion of the race, Briscoe admitted defeat and labeled SVG as Michael Jordan of NASCAR racing on road courses.

"I think that Shane is one of the greatest road course drivers in the world," Briscoe said (via Frontstretch on X). "The F1 crowd probably doesn't want to hear that, but I mean, he's an unbelievable road racer. He's an unbelievable race car driver, even on the ovals."

"Even when it comes to tire management, I mean, I feel like he is the best in the world. It is unbelievable just how he can make speed but also save tires. So yeah, just frustrated with myself. I felt like I was playing one-on-one against Michael Jordan," Briscoe added.

Sunday was the second time in a row at Sonoma that Briscoe finished second to SVG. In 2025, SVG dominated the 1.99-mile road course and led 97 of 110 laps to win the race.

This time around, Chase Briscoe started the race in seventh, one place behind Gisbergen, and eventually finished 0.357 seconds behind the Trackhouse driver, who led 74 laps.

With the victory, SVG took his tally of Cup Series wins to eight, and all of them, interestingly, have come at road course races.

SVG thanks his Trackhouse squad for an "amazing" turnaround

When it comes to road courses in NASCAR, there is no greater force than Shane van Gisbergen, as he is expected to win almost every one of them. However, he met with a disastrous fate in San Diego a week ago during the Anduril 250 after getting collected in a Lap 32 wreck.

However, in Sonoma, he bounced back brilliantly to seal the win.

"What a day," van Gisbergen told TNT Sports after the victory (via @NASCAR on X). "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."

SVG started the race from sixth place, but fell back by a place at the end of Stage 1, and finished Stage 2 in seventh place as well.

Thanks to the win, which was his second of the season, SVG climbed to 14th place in the standings and now has 425 points after 18 races.

Denny Hamlin became the new championship leader at Sonoma with 719 points after Tyler Reddick finished dead last and four laps down.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yash Kotak