What Happened?
Shane van Gisbergen put on a historically dominant performance to win over Chase Briscoe on Sunday, July 13 at Sonoma Raceway. Finishing behind them were Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell to round out the top five.
With his third victory this year, van Gisbergen has tied both Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart for most NASCAR Cup Series wins as a rookie.
What Really Happened?
This has become unprecedented.
Never before have any of us seen a road course talent enter NASCAR and so quickly school the rest of the field in the way V8 Supercars champion van Gisbergen has.
And maybe you’re tired of it. Maybe you think he has made road course racing boring and his wins don’t matter because he’s only good at one type of track and he won’t go far in the playoffs.
Maybe those are solid points, but in the end, this is a historic performance never seen before in 77 years of NASCAR racing. So, please, just for now, shut up and enjoy it.
With three wins already in 2025, SVG already has matched the record of wins from a Cup Series rookie set by both Tony Stewart in 1999 and Jimmie Johnson in 2002.
“Hark, Dalton!” I hear you exclaim. “He’s only won on road courses. Those don’t count!”
Why not?
Yes, NASCAR’s bread and butter is and always will be the oval track. However, nobody can deny that road racing has become a bigger part of the season schedule. With six circuits out of the calendar’s 36 races having both left and right turns, it makes up exactly a sixth of the season. So, if one driver can dominate a sixth of the schedule, doesn’t that make him a NASCAR superstar regardless of how well he runs anywhere else?
Not to mention, like ovals, road racing has always been a part of NASCAR’s culture. After all, NASCAR’s second ever race held in its history was one of them on the sands of Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1949.
So, should we discount a driver’s success simply because it’s on a track type that isn’t as prominent as others in the past?
No, and when it’s on a level of dominance like this, hell no.
Don’t agree? Ask the drivers themselves.
Who Stood Out?
It was a historic win for SVG, to be sure. The Kiwi was almost completely flawless when it came to the Sonoma weekend. The only thing the No. 88 didn’t win was stage one during Sunday’s race; he finished second there.
In addition, the former Supercars champion led a whopping 97 of the 110 laps – eclipsing the track record set by Jeff Gordon in 2004 when the four-time champion led for 92 circuits.
Yes, SVG was the star of the last two weeks, and I’m sure he’ll be in the headlines again when the series visits its next road course at Watkins Glen International in August.
Next week, however, the series will surely be talking about Ty Dillon.
That No. 10 Kaulig Racing team has become the underdog story of the NASCAR In-Season Bracket Challenge. Dillon entered the tournament as the No. 32 seed – last – and has had to overcome some of the toughest competitors and got away with it.
At Atlanta Motor Speedway, he survived a crash that bracket rival Denny Hamlin did not. At the Chicago street course, fortune struck again when Brad Keselowski was caught in an early crash.
Sunday? He simply flat-out outdrove Alex Bowman.
There was a time near the end on Sunday when Bowman was in the top 10 while Dillon was mired back outside of the top 25. All hope appeared to be lost.
Yet a couple of chaotic, field-shuffling restarts brought Dillon higher in the rankings while Bowman slipped backward. On the final lap, they found each other in the last corner of the race.
Dillon did exactly what he needed to keep his tournament hopes alive against the Hendrick Motorsports Goliath.
The story appears to be the highlight of the entire challenge. Additionally, his semi-final rival will be a Legacy Motor Club-powered John Hunter Nemechek at Dover Motor Speedway next weekend.
Not the easiest matchup, but certainly not an impossible task, either.
Who Fell Flat?
With two wins at Sonoma in his career, if there was a list of favorites to win aside from van Gisbergen entering this weekend, there’s a good chance Kyle Larson was on that list.
After four weeks that have resulted in only one top-10 result and no laps led since Charlotte Motor Speedway all the way back in May, he needed a strong showing on Sunday.
But he didn’t get one.
Larson began the day from 11th position and dropped to nearly 20th position before the end of stage one and pitted. Afterward, it appeared to be a game of catchup for the No. 5 team.
In stage two, crew chief Cliff Daniels left the native Californian on the track in an attempt win stage two. However, van Gisbergen, who had already pitted from the lead, came back out only a couple of seconds behind the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and made quick work of him before the end of the segment.
It wasn’t a stage win, but it was at least nine extra points toward Larson’s regular season championship efforts.
Yet that would be almost all the team had to show for their efforts on Sunday.
Larson was mire in traffic for almost the entire rest of the race and couldn’t seem to return to the top 10. At the final restart with only four laps to go, the No. 5 Chevrolet was 20th.
Upon entering middle of the circuit, however, he was caught in a late scuffle with Ryan Blaney that sent him into the tire barrier.
With no yellow flag, he returned to pit road and finished the race 35th, two laps down.
Paint Scheme of the Race
It was another one of those weeks.
There were a number of designs that stood out this weekend; however, only one appeared to spark conversation among some on social media.
Maybe it was the bright, vibrant green primary color of AJ Allmendinger‘s Big Sipz Chevrolet that made it stand out. Then again, the marketing behind the brand’s 16% alcohol content matching with Allmendinger’s number was also a nice touch made by the team.
Further, music artist Waka Flocka’s ambassadorship turned heads as well, making this perhaps one of the most well-marketed Kaulig Racing cars in some time.
What’s Next?
The Cup Series heads to the Monster Mile.
NASCAR returns to Dover Motor Speedway for its annual 400-mile race on Sunday, July 20th. TNT and HBO Max will broadcast the event live with coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT