We really can’t be surprised that Shane van Gisbergen has finally found his footing. In the Xfinity Series, Shane did so by going back-to-back at road courses. Sonoma marks van Gisbergen’s third career NASCAR National Series victory, giving him a 15% win rate in 20 starts. In Xfinity, Shane now sits in the third seed in the playoffs with 11 Playoff Points and two victories, just 1 Playoff Point behind Austin Hill.
His performance at Sonoma Raceway sure wasn’t a dominant showing, but scoring 59 of the possible 60 race points helps gain him 4 places in the points standings to tenth. SVG sits 147 points behind series leader Cole Custer currently at 509 points.
SVG’s race at Sonoma started on the pole. Shane ran the entire first Stage to win his first Stage of the season. Stage 2, SVG came runner-up to Cup Series regular Ty Gibbs to net him 19 of the possible 20 Stage Points on the day.
Although the day was not dominant for the Kiwi, he did lead a race high 32 laps. Ty Gibbs followed up with 26 laps led and Austin Hill with 21 led. Shane got his lead back for the second and final time late in the race. With a move to the inside of the 21 of Austin Hill on lap 69 after making contact with Hill in the middle of the corner. Van Gisbergen would then lead the remaining 11 laps to score his second career Xfinity win.
Post Race
The cooldown lap, yeah, that was anything but. Shane van Gisbergen performed his signature “track drift” burnout around the entire race track. The best part, he not so subtly taunted Austin Hill. He performed these burnouts directly behind and all around Hill’s 21 car following their lap 69 contact. That contact resulted in a fifth-place finish for Hill.
Then, to the front straight, Shane van Gisbergen performed a masterful burnout for the crowd. Upon exiting his Kaulig Racing No. 97 Chevrolet, Shane signed a rugby ball before kicking it to the fans. His kick landed just a bit short, as FOX showed it bouncing just behind the pit boxes. We sure do hope someone tossed it into the stands for him from there.
