The NASCAR Xfinity Series completed the second leg of its two-race West Coast Swing on Saturday (June 8), making its second annual trip to a newly-repaved Sonoma Raceway for a 79-lap showdown.
Much like the other West Coast race at Portland International Raceway, it was Shane van Gisbergen who ended the day on top.
After entering Portland with only two top 10s in Xfinity competition, van Gisbergen has now won back-to-back races after dominating from the pole at Sonoma. With the win, van Gisbergen becomes the first international driver to accomplish such a feat in any of NASCAR’s premier series.
It wasn’t an easy victory to take, as varied pit strategy shook up the running order several times throughout the evening. Additionally, van Gisbergen’s No. 97 battled a litany of internal issues between voltage and steering. The stat sheet may have showed that he dominated, but he had to earn it.
In fact, the Kiwi didn’t even take the lead for good until the final restart with 11 laps to go, using up Austin Hill to do so. The two have history after their spirited battle for the win at Circuit of the Americas in March.
With Hill in the rearview mirror, van Gisbergen pulled away from the field to win comfortably at his de facto home track (Sonoma is the closest racetrack to his hometown of Auckland, New Zealand).
Van Gisbergen is not done for the weekend, though his time behind the wheel is complete. He will now turn his attention to spotting for his former Repco Supercars Championship mate Will Brown in his Cup Series debut.
The Winners
Finishing runner up behind van Gisbergen was Sheldon Creed. While Creed came up short of his first career victory yet again, it wasn’t by way of some heartbreaking loss like some of his losses have reflected. Not to mention, it’s his best finish this season since his runner-up run in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Creed wasn’t really a factor in the top five until late in the going on Saturday, only reaching second for the first time with just a handful of laps to go. The No. 97 was the class of the field when he was out front, so Creed was likely just racing for second anyway. Second always stings, but this one is likely near the bottom of the heartbreak list for the driver of the No. 18.
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