SVG wins NASCAR Cup race at Sonoma and makes history
SONOMA, Calif. — Shane van Gisbergen dominated the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway and joined NASCAR Cup Series history with his third win of the 2025 season.
SVG led six times for 97 of the 110 laps run Sunday at Sonoma, including the final four laps, to claim victory over close challenger Chase Briscoe. Briscoe led laps 59 and 106 in his bid to unseat SVG on the road courses but finished second.
SVG is the fifth driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to get three or more road course wins in a row:
- Shane van Gisbergen: Mexico, Chicago, Sonoma 2025
- Tony Stewart: Watkins Glen 2004, Sonoma and Watkins Glen in 2005
- Jeff Gordon: Watkins Glen in 1997, Sonoma +Watkins Glen in 1998 and 1999, Sonoma in 2000
- Rusty Wallace: Watkins Glen and the second Riverside race in 1987, first Riverside race in 1988
- Tim Richmond: Watkins Glen and the second Riverside race in 1986, first Riverside race in 1987
SVG also became the second driver in series history to have three road course wins from the pole, setting a mark Jeff Gordon put up at Sonoma in 1998, Watkins Glen in 1998 and Sonoma in 1999.
TOP-10 FINISHERS: Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch.
Busch recovered from a poor stage one performance to score a top-10 finish. Stage one went to Ross Chastain.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 25): Ross Chastain, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., William Byron, Ty Dillon, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott.
The second stage also went caution-free and truly proved how strong SVG was. He pitted before the stage break and took the lead from Kyle Larson, who stayed out, to win the second stage.
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 55): Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, William Byron.
Ryan Blaney had one of the best cars, outside of SVG’s No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet from Trackhouse Racing. That all went awry on lap 63 when contact from Chris Buescher stuck Blaney in a spot on the hill adjacent to turn one.
Michael McDowell mounted a charge at SVG, pitting under that caution from sixth. Everything worked out as he emerged as the leader on lap 87. He led for a couple of laps but then sunk — until a caution fell for Cody Ware losing a tire.
The caution bred cautions, naturally, and caught out Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney (again) who all wrecked in the final laps. In fact, Blaney finished out of the race, four laps down in 36th. Larson finished 35th, two laps down.
Up front, SVG took home the win, solidifying his third win of the 2025 season and his fourth Cup win. No other driver has reached four Cup wins as fast as SVG since Parnelli Jones.
Seemingly the only thing SVG didn’t do Sunday was run the fastest lap. Justin Haley ran the fastest lap on lap 95 of 110, clocking in a 75.988-second lap. Haley finished 15th.
The NASCAR in-season tournament down to four drivers after Sonoma. Here are the points and results after Sonoma:
FINAL STAGE
Josh Berry spun Carson Hocevar in turn one in what appeared to be an intentional incident, three to go. Coming back through there, Chase Elliott goes off course and ruins his run to the front with fresh tires.
Green flag 88 19 20 17 77 24 38 9 21 71
SVG hangs on to the lead as Briscoe goes a little off course. Hocevar looks for third. Larson spins and clips Blaney, four to go.
Noah Gragson spins and crashes with 11 laps to go. He collected Ryan Preece and Erik Jones and Kyle Larson. Gragson has had an awful summer with no finishes better than 23rd since the Coca-Cola 600. He has dropped from 28th to 33rd in points.
Caution flies for Cody Ware losing a wheel. Off pit road: Elliott, Gibbs (+2), McDowell (-1), Keselowski (-1), Preece (+1), Larson (+1), Cindric (-2), Reddick (+1), Allmendinger (+2), Chastain (-2). Staying out: SVG, Briscoe, Buescher, Byron, Bell, ZSmith, Hocevar, Stenhouse, Berry, Jones, Gragson, Haley, Hamlin. Restart coming with 11 laps to go.
SVG back to the lead over McDowell, 21 to go.
After pit stops, Michael McDowell is out in front but he has a significant tire disadvantage that likely won’t allow his fuel stretch strategy to get him to victory lane. If he can finish better than sixth, it will be a net gain for him.
Bowman to pit road with others, lap 81. Buescher in a lap later.
Ryan Preece pits as TNT shows Shane van Gisbergen had a big moment in turn five, lap 80.
Kyle Larson is up to 13th after restarting 24th. McDowell is up to 24th, lap 75.
Keselowski bumps Bowman out of the way. Bowman drops to 11th, lap 74.
TOP-10, LAP 70: Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick.
Michael McDowell, from sixth, leads a few drivers on to pit road with 47 laps to go. Fuel window is 45 laps. Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Erik Jones, Katherine Legge, Denny Hamlin and Noah Gragson also pit.
Ryan Blaney goes off course after contact with Chris Buescher. Caution flies because Blaney is stuck on the hill. Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin also spun. Lap 63 top-10: SVG, Briscoe, Byron, Buescher, Elliott, McDowell, Bell, Gibbs, Preece, Bowman.
Noah Gragson spins and wrecks, lap 60. Buescher to third behind Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Briscoe. Michael McDowell to seventh. Ryan Preece drops back some as Ty Gibbs is racing Preece hard.
TV, radio and multiple X users reported a fight between pit crew members of RFK Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, set off by Ty Gibbs’ entry into pit road by Brad Keselowski:
Can anyone beat Shane van Gisbergen? He leads Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece and Ty Gibbs — in 10th — as the stage goes green on lap 60.
Kyle Larson in 24th leads the drivers who pitted during the stage break.
STAGE TWO Winner: Shane van Gisbergen
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 55): Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, William Byron.
Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who all stayed out while SVG pitted. The next guy who pitted, Chase Briscoe, finished sixth in the stage… 6 seconds behind SVG. SVG is going to be hard to beat.
Bell, Reddick, McDowell, Bowman… and more… pit, lap 52. Byron, Buescher, Preece pit a lap later with Gibbs. Buescher comes out ahead of Byron. SVG, Briscoe and others pit. Kyle Larson assumes the lead but SVG is on his bumper. SVG passes him after pitting.
Biggest movers in stage two, lap 49 (20 green flag laps):
- Kyle Busch +14 to 23rd
- Ross Chastain +11 to 13th
- Todd Gilliland +10 to 21st
- A.J. Allmendinger -21 to 28th (spun)
- John Hunter Nemechek – 18 to 36th (spun)
- Daniel Suarez -13 to 29th (spun)
LAP 47: Carson Hocevar is now a lap down in 37th with an issue. Further up, in 16th, Austin Cindric’s nose is caved in.
TOP -10, LAP 45: Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece.
Further back, Ross Chastain locks up the brakes after Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez blocks his move to the inside. Suarez spins and drops from 14th to 29th. Chastain is up to 14th after restarting 24th.
Chase Elliott goes off course just after an incident involving Custer, Nemechek. lap 31. Michael McDowell, Denny Hamlin also go off course. Ty Gibbs to third over Briscoe.
A.J. Allmendinger spins, lap 30.
Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty and Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, Erik Jones and Carson Hocevar pitted, among others including Kyle Busch and Katherine Legge. Legge and Custer were too fast on pit road and will go to the tail end of the field. Chastain will restart 24th, leading that group.
Shane van Gisbergen took the lead back after finishing second to Chastain.
STAGE ONE WINNER: Ross Chastain
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 25): Ross Chastain, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., William Byron, Ty Dillon, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott.
Ross Chastain won stage one. He is the 16th different driver to win a stage this season.
The stage went caution-free and saw most of the field pit before the stage break on lap 25. In fact, Shane van Gisbergen pitted from the lead and still finished the stage in second while second-place William Byron finished fifth in the stage. Bubba Wallace and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished between them in the stage in second and third.
Leaders, including Shane van Gisbergen and William Byron, pit before the stage break on lap 25. Others pitted before them, ensuring they get a solid stage finish. Ross Chastain stayed out and is set to earn 10 stage points and a playoff point.
The first stage is 25 laps in length before the 30-lap second stage. The final stage is 55 laps to the checkered flag at lap 110.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Start at Sonoma
Shane van Gisbergen commanded pole position over Chase Briscoe in qualifying. SVG, the winner of the last two NASCAR Cup Series road course races, won the pole by around three tenths of a second.
SVG isn’t invincible. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday, he lost to Connor Zilisch, his hotshot teammate who took the fight to him.
While Zilisch isn’t in Sunday’s race, other drivers could take the fight to SVG. A.J. Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs have been strong on road courses and need a win to get into the playoffs.
NASCAR in-season tournament at Sonoma
The NASCAR in-season tournament is continuing with eight drivers left. Among them are teammates Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek who will face each other at Sonoma.
“I didn’t really pay much attention at the start just because the races were so goofy… and all of a sudden we’re sitting here on to round three so I guess it’s time to start paying attention since we’re only a couple of races away from racing for a mil [$1 million],” Jones said with a smile.
Jones and Nemechek may be teammates but Jones wants nothing more than to beat him.
“I hope we can beat him this weekend. We’ve been getting our road course stuff better I think Sonoma is one of my better road courses,” Jones said. “Get through that, go to Dover, see what we got, it’s an okay race for us and then Indy is one of our stronger tracks. I think any of us would take a million bucks.”
MORE: NASCAR at Sonoma 2025: Odds and more info
NASCAR Cup Series 2025 Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway Info
Broadcast: TNT Sports, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 110 laps / 218.9 miles
Stages: 25 / 55 / 110
Average time of race: 2:48:16
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph
Fuel Window: 45 laps
Here is when everything will start, according to NASCAR:
Invocation: 12:30:20 p.m.
National Anthem: 12:31:00 p.m.
Command: 12:38:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 12:50:00 p.m.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com