Toyota/Save Mart 350: Shane van Gisbergen holds off Chase Briscoe for Sonoma win

SONOMA, Calif. — Trackhouse Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen put on another road-course masterpiece as he led 74 of 110 laps and held off Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

This was van Gisbergen’s eighth road-course win in the NASCAR Cup Series, tying Tony Stewart for second on the all-time list.

“I think my No. 97 Red Bull Chevrolet team just did an excellent job making it drivable,” van Gisbergen said. “Yesterday, I wasn’t very good at all. There were still better cars than us, but Stephen (Doran, crew chief) and the guys called a great strategy and we had awesome pit stops all day. To get Red Bull in Victory Lane again, I’m stoked. I am also stoked it wasn’t two laps longer; it would have been interesting with Chase (Briscoe) there.”

The win was crucial for van Gisbergen as he looks to make The Chase. Earning 63 points helped him jump three spots in the Cup Series standings and move back into the top 16, as the Trackhouse driver leaves Wine Country 14th in points.

Van Gisbergen also won the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Sonoma in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet on Saturday, and Sunday’s victory completed the weekend sweep.

Briscoe finished second in his No. 19 Columbia Bank Toyota at Sonoma for the second consecutive season. The JGR driver did not lead a single lap, but gave van Gisbergen a run for his money at the end of the race as he got to his bumper in Turn 11.

“I was better,” Briscoe said. “I just messed up with three or four to go getting into (Turn) 1. I don’t know. I didn’t time my downshift right and about wrecked. I lost a ton of ground and was able to run him back down, but if I don’t make that mistake, I truthfully, probably win the race. That one is going to sting for a while. Trying to beat him would just be a big accomplishment. Proud of our Columbia Bank Toyota group. That one stings. That one is a tough one.”

Arguably, the best performance from a driver other than SVG was Ty Gibbs, who is known as one of the best road-course racers in the Cup Series. Gibbs started on pole, swept both stages and led 31 of 110 laps en route to a 54-point day for the No. 54 team.

The driver of the No. 54 SAIA Freight + Logistics Toyota jumped to fourth in the Cup Series standings after having his best points day in a non-race win.

“It was a great run for our SAIA Toyota team,” Gibbs said. “Just got to keep working hard and keep getting better. I felt like we had the speed today. We just had a different strategy. It was a fun day. Just will keep working hard and staying after it.”

Results from the 2026 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway are listed below:

Other Race Facts

Kyle Larson’s fourth-place finish was his fourth consecutive top-five finish. The Hendrick Motorsports driver scored 35 points in the race that he won back in 2024.

“Yeah, it was just a lot of green-flag runs,” Larson said. “It was hot, but it was a lot of fun. It was fun to get long runs like that where you have to manage your equipment. I thought we had a really good No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. I felt like I learned the kind of sequence that it took to be a little bit better on the long run. I thought our pit strategy there was going to pay off, but those two guys up in front of us (Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Briscoe) and Ty Gibbs were just better than me on the long run. We’ll take another top-five finish. It’s been a good stretch for this team.”

Christopher Bell, who is racing with a fractured left wrist, continued to show why he is one of the best in the sport. The driver of the No. 20 Rheem Toyota was runner-up in both Stage 1 and Stage 2, then finished fifth, earning a much-needed 50 points to help him bounce back after scoring one point last week.

“Yeah, I’m just super proud of this Rheem team. We’ve had a lot of adversity this year, and we keep battling back. They brought an amazing Rheem Camry. We had an amazing race car last week in San Diego too. Got a good finish out of it, got a lot of points, which is great. That is what we needed today.”

Trackhouse Racing’s Connor Zilisch earned a career-best seventh-place finish, as the rookie driver contended in the top 10 for most of the race.

“I felt like I could have been a little better there on that last run,” Zilisch said. “We just got really loose. We’ll have to look at it and see, but it was a good day for this No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet team. At the end, we just needed more rear grip. Overall, our Chevy was good all day, but with that last set of tires, we struggled. It felt good to have a clean run. We needed a day like this to go into next week with something to build on.”

Michael McDowell’s ninth-place finish was his fifth-straight top 10 at Sonoma Raceway.

In-Season Challenge Updates

Year 2 of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge kicked off at Sonoma Raceway, and just like last season, some big names got eliminated after Round 1.

After battling mechanical issues all race long, No. 1 seed Tyler Reddick finished 36th, while No. 32 seed Alex Bowman ended up 10th, eliminating last season’s semi-finalist in the first round.

No. 25 seed Todd Gilliland pulled off an upset on No. 7 seed and former Sonoma race winner Daniel Suárez.

GRID RANKING

The 2026 GRID Ranking is the 10th year of the world’s premier motorsports ranking system, which was initially released on Sunday, April 5.

The official ranking includes drivers participating in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, WRC, Supercars, MotoGP). Each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

DRIVER	OLD RATING	PREVIOUS RANKING	MOST RECENT FINISH	NEW RATING	NEW RANKING
Tyler Reddick	17.50	2nd	36th	16.53	2nd
Denny Hamlin	15.32	4th	26th	14.47	5th
Kyle Larson	9.66	23rd	4th	10.11	23rd
Ty Gibbs	9.23	27th	3rd	9.95	24th
Chase Elliott	9.40	25th	17th	8.88	27th

Week 13 of the GRID Ranking:

Week 13 of the GRID Ranking saw another poor finish from NASCAR Rating leader Tyler Reddick, including a bad finish for Denny Hamlin. Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs had impressive runs, with both increasing their rankings. Chase Elliott fell to fifth in the NASCAR Rating.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, July 5. Coverage will begin at 6 p.m. ET on TNT Sports.

 

GRID Network