NASCAR Xfinity Sonoma: Shane van Gisbergen earns back-to-back wins

Van Gisbergen, who had some struggles in the race, returned to the lead on a restart with 11 of 79 laps remaining after door-slamming then-leader Austin Hill.

From there, van Gisbergen held off first Sam Mayer and then a late charge from Sheldon Creed by 1.323 seconds to claim his second straight Xfinity win. He earned his first series win last week at Portland.

The 35-year-old Kiwi now has three NASCAR victories – all on road courses. He won last year’s inaugural Cup Series Chicago Street Race in his first NASCAR start.

“The car got beat up again but what a race,” he said. “On that last restart, I was giving it all I had and two guys going for the same real estate come together. It was pretty awesome, though.

“When you’re out front you hear all the little noises. What a race. Really good battles with everyone all day, had a blast.”

Asked about the last restart after the race Hill chose his words carefully.

“I saw the replay, I don’t know. I’m going to leave it to the keyboard warriors on this one. It seems like every time I make a comment it’s wrong,” he said. “I knew it was going to be tough to hold him off but I thought we could do it.

“I plead the fifth. I’m not going to say anything about it.”

Mayer ended up third, Austin Green finished a career-best fourth and Hill – after briefly going off course in the skirmish with van Gisbergen – ended up fifth.

Completing the top-10 were Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Parker Kligerman.

Stage 1

With several drivers pitting just before the break, van Gisbergen stayed out and cruised to a more than 12-second Stage 1 win over A.J. Allmendinger. Hill was third, Kligerman fourth and Nemechek fifth.

Stage 2

Ty Gibbs led every green flag lap on his way to 6.655-second Stage 2 win over van Gisbergen. Jesse Love finished third, Creed fourth and Custer rounded out the top five.

Stage 3

During the break between Stages 2 and 3, a handful of drivers elected to pit, but Hill remained on the track and inherited the lead. Hill led Green and Allmendinger when the race returned to green with 29 laps to go.

As the field entered Turn 3, a 13-car wreck erupted that brought the field briefly to a halt as cars attempted to clear the track. Among those involved were Gibbs, Jeb Burton, Josh Williams and Brandon Jones.

At one point in the aftermath, Gibbs was spinning his car to get out of the mess and ended up hitting several cars, including his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Jones.

“It’s what happens when you send the rich kid to the back with a bad pit stop and they’re going to win the race with 30 laps to go,” a frustrated Williams said after a visit to the infield care center.

Hill remained in the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Green and van Gisbergen when the race resumed with 24 laps to go. Van Gisbergen took over the second spot one lap later.

With 17 laps to go, van Gisbergen reported low voltage in his No. 97 Chevrolet, and he fell more than a second behind Hill.

Jesse Love spun around and went off course in Turn 10 which placed the race under caution. That set up a restart with 11 laps to go and Hill ahead of van Gisbergen – whose care had returned to form – and Allmendinger.

Van Gisbergen forced Hill wide on the entrance to Turn 1 on the restart and came away with the lead while Mayer moved into the runner up spot.

Creed got around Mayer to take over the second position with three laps to go but remained almost three seconds behind the leader.