New Zealand driver earns second career Xfinity Series win
Sonoma, Calif. – Shane Van Gisbergen is on a roll.
The 35-year-old NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie won his second straight race Saturday, June 8, with a win in the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 in the heart of Northern California’s wine country on Sonoma Raceway’s 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course.
“Man, what a race – an adventure up and down and up and down all day,” said Aukland, New Zealand native Van Gisbergen. “But that last restart I was just giving it all I had and two guys going for the same real estate came together.
“It was pretty awesome though, a lot of fun. Hope everyone enjoyed the show. Pretty awesome back-to-back weeks for us. Man, what a show. It’s awesome.”
Van Gisbergen led early and late but needed a bold move on the race’s final restart to put himself in position for the win.
When Jesse Love spun out entering Turn 10 on Lap 64 of the 79-lap race over the track’s 1.99-mile, 11-turn road course, it brought out the afternoon’s fourth, and final caution.
Austin Hill was in the lead at the time with Van Gisbergen second.
They lined up side-by-side with Hill taking the inside lane when the race resumed with 11 laps to go.
On the restart, Van Gisbergen banged into Hill, grabbing the lead.
Hill avoided a crash but fell back to fifth place.
“I didn’t go into the corner trying to take him out,” said Van Gisbergen. “When he took the left (inside) lane, I was thinking he made a mistake. I took the left earlier and it was a mistake, so when he did, I thought that was my chance. I was just trying to make a hole, no matter what.”
“I’m gonna leave it to the keyboard warriors on this one, I’ll let them figure out what happened,” said Hill, as he watched the replay. “No matter what comment I say, it’ll be wrong.
“I plead the fifth, I’m not going to say anything about it. We’ll just go on to the next one, good hard racing. We were holding off SVG for a while, had that caution and I knew it was going to be tough on the restart and it didn’t work out. But we had a good points day and finished in the top five. You can’t ask for more than that.”
“We’ll just go on to the next race. I had a good points day. We’ll just go on to the next one.”
Sheldon Creed finished second, 1.323 seconds behind Van Gisbergen, followed by Sam Mayer, Austin Green, Hill, Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer, and Parker Kligerman.
Van Gisbergen completed a weekend trifecta – being fastest in practice, winning the pole, and the race.
He also won last weekend’s Xfinity race on the road course at Portland International Raceway and won last year’s NASCAR Cup Series Chicago Steet Race in his American debut.
The 35-year-old New Zealander won his first career pole position at Sonoma.
He led a career-high 32 laps
Former Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs looked to be among Van Gisbergen’s toughest had a strong start, leading 26 laps, until a slow second pit stop put him way back in the field for the Stage 2 restart and then he was one of 13 cars collected in a Turn 2 accident that eliminated several top cars.
Van Gisbergen, Gibbs, and Hill were the only drivers to lead the race.
“It was the work we did between weeks to make the car better again,” said Van Gisbergen, who also took the Stage 1 victory; his first career stage win.
“It was awesome racing Ty Gibbs at the start, we were really pushing each other. It’s special to win two road courses in a row and dream about one day winning on an oval.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250
Sonoma Raceway
Sonoma, California
Saturday, June 8, 2024
Statistics provided by NASCAR
- (Started 1) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 79 laps completed.
2. (9) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 79.
3. (8) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 79.
4. (22) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 79.
5. (3) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 79.
6. (5) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 79.
7. (11) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 79.
8. (7) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, 79.
9. (12) Cole Custer, Ford, 79.
10. (14) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 79.
11. (13) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 79.
12. (6) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 79.
13. (15) Riley Herbst, Ford, 79.
14. (33) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 79.
15. (17) Ed Jones, Toyota, 79.
16. (31) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 79.
17. (4) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 79.
18. (21) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 79.
19. (19) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 79.
20. (18) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 79.
21. (36) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 79.
22. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 79.
23. (32) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 79.
24. (30) Brad Perez, Ford, 79.
25. (24) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 79.
26. (34) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 79.
27. (38) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 79.
28. (35) Boris Said, Chevrolet, 79.
29. (29) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 78.
30. (25) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 78.
31. (16) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 77.
32. (37) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 72.
33. (10) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 71.
34. (26) Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, Transmission, 63.
35. (2) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, Accident, 50.
36. (20) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 49.
37. (28) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Accident, 49.
38. (27) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 49.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 71.986 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 11 Mins, 2 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.323 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 14 laps.
Lead Changes: 3 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Van Gisbergen # 1-21; T. Gibbs(i) 22-47; A. Hill 48-68; S. Van Gisbergen # 69-79.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Shane Van Gisbergen # 2 times for 32 laps; Ty Gibbs(i) 1 time for 26 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 21 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 97,16,21,48,20,81,8,5,31,98
Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,97,2,18,00,81,20,48,7,31
