Shane van Gisbergen cruises to NASCAR O’Reilly Collection win at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday night within the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250.
SONOMA, Calif. — Shane van Gisbergen asserted his highway course mastery as soon as once more with a convincing victory in Saturday’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway.
Shane van Gisbergen Win at Sonoma
Cruising behind lapped site visitors on the ultimate circuit on the 1.99-mile, 11-turn highway course, the New Zealander however crossed the end line 1.324 seconds forward of runner-up Connor Zilisch, who needed to come from the rear of the sphere twice to realize the second-place end result.
Van Gisbergen’s victory was his second at Sonoma within the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Components Collection and the sixth of his profession, all on highway or road programs.
With van Gisbergen and Zilisch working one-two, JR Motorsports prolonged its streak of not less than one automobile within the high ten to 76 races, three behind all-time collection chief RFK Racing (2008-2010).
Van Gisbergen led 66 of 79 laps, short-pitting the second stage on lap 43 to regain the highest spot after the stage break. From that time to the end, he saved gasoline whereas sustaining the hole to Zilisch till the ultimate lap, when Zilisch closed in as SVG was content material to run behind site visitors to the end line.
“Fortunately sufficient, I feel I saved sufficient (gasoline) early,” mentioned van Gisbergen, after executing his signature rugby ball kick i/nto the grandstands. “Sorry, it wasn’t essentially the most thrilling—I assume boring’s good once you’re the one main…
“What an incredible automobile, to steer like that. The automobile was so good the entire race. It’s nice to get one other one for these guys.”
If van Gisbergen spent a lot of the afternoon on the entrance of the sphere within the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Zilisch spent the majority of the race passing vehicles and dealing his technique to the entrance.
He began within the rear after altering a tire that had leaked air throughout qualifying — an unapproved adjustment. After cracking the highest 15 within the opening stage, Zilisch short-pitted the 20-lap stage on lap 17 however sped on pit highway—incomes a pass-through penalty that left him thirty third within the working order firstly of Stage 2.
One other march by the sphere introduced him to second behind van Gisbergen on lap 35, and when van Gisbergen introduced his automobile to pit highway on lap 43, Zilisch had the lead within the No. 1 JR Motorsports Camaro and went on to win the stage.
After pitting, Zilisch restarted tenth and rapidly dispatched the vehicles in entrance of him, passing Jesse Love for second on lap 57. However there was no catching van Gisbergen over the ultimate 21 circuits.
“A warning or one thing to bunch us again up (on the ultimate run) would have been good,” Zilisch mentioned. “Our Chevrolet was quick sufficient to compete, however we have been simply matching one another your complete run there, and he was most likely saving gasoline and managing his stuff and giving me hope.
“I’ll all the time imagine we had one thing for him.”
Brent Crews completed third within the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, scoring a race-high 50 factors and transferring again right into a Chase-eligible place (eleventh) within the O’Reilly Collection standings.
“We maximized our day with stage factors and stuff like that, which was type of the secret for us in the present day, so we will race the subsequent couple of weeks,” the 18-year-old Crews mentioned.
“Simply making an attempt to get somewhat buffer in case one thing would occur. Total, glad for our workforce. We ran properly all day, bought stage factors and completed within the high three. In the end, had a very good day. Not what we’re striving for. Total, our objective is to win, however we did about pretty much as good as we might do there.”
Viking Motorsports loved a banner day on Saturday, with drivers Anthony Alfredo and Parker Retzlaff ending fourth and fifth, respectively.
Carson Kvapil, Corey Day, Sam Mayer, Love, and Sheldon Creed accomplished the highest ten.
The race featured eight lead adjustments amongst six drivers and 4 cautions for 11 laps. The ultimate stage ran caution-free for 30 laps.
For the second straight race, collection chief Justin Allgaier struggled, however he maintained a 207-point lead over second-place Love regardless of ending twenty sixth. Corey Day is third (-213). Sheldon Creed (-216) and Austin Hill (-247) spherical out the highest 5.
Up Subsequent
The O’Reilly Collection races subsequent on July 4 at Chicagoland Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
