Posted on by Staff Report

Shane van Gisbergen made it three wins in five races as he crossed the start/finish line comfortably ahead of Chase Briscoe on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. After the recent run of road courses in the schedule, the NASCAR Cup Series will head back to the ovals for the next three weeks, starting at Dover Motor Speedway.

Read on to see full playoff standings and key battles in each of NASCAR’s three national series.

As a reminder: A win provisionally clinches a playoff spot for full-time drivers in all three series, and it’s the simplest path to the postseason. The remainder of the postseason field — 16 drivers in Cup, 12 in Xfinity and 10 in the Craftsman Truck Series — is determined by points earned over the regular season.

RELATED: Upcoming Dover schedule | Cup standings

NASCAR CUP SERIES

By clicking on the “Playoff Picture” tab on our standings page, you’ll see SVG is now in third place ahead of Christopher Bell. SVG has one more playoff point based on three race wins and two stage wins versus Bell’s three race wins and one stage win. Hard to believe for a guy who, before this recent run of road-course dominance, sat 33rd in the standings.

Drivers provisionally qualified for playoffs with a win (12): Kyle Larson (three wins), Denny Hamlin (three wins), Christopher Bell (three wins), Shane van Gisbergen (three wins), William Byron, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric and Josh Berry.

Winless drivers more than 100 points above the elimination line (one): Tyler Reddick (+149).

Biggest movement: Thanks to his 10th-place finish at Sonoma, Kyle Busch gained nine points against the elimination line and now sits minus-37 heading to Dover. Three of Busch’s seven top-10 finishes this season have come on road courses, including two in a row the last two weeks.

Alex Bowman lost seven points against the elimination line after Ty Dillon bumped him out of the way on the last lap to win their In-Season Challenge matchup. In addition to losing to Dillon, Bowman’s 19th-place finish at Sonoma dropped him to just 32 points above the elimination line as he dipped beneath Chris Buescher in the playoff standings.

Note: Drivers in bold have provisionally clinched a playoff spot by virtue of winning. There are six races remaining in the regular season.

RankDriverCutoff
1Kyle Larson3 WINS
2Denny Hamlin3 WINS
3Shane van Gisbergen3 WINS
4Christopher Bell3 WINS
5William ByronWIN
6Ryan BlaneyWIN
7Austin CindricWIN
8Joey LoganoWIN
9Chase BriscoeWIN
10Ross ChastainWIN
11Josh BerryWIN
12Chase ElliottWIN
13Tyler Reddick+149
14Chris Buescher+34
15Alex Bowman+32
16Bubba Wallace+3
ELIMINATION LINE
17Ryan Preece-3
18Kyle Busch-37
19AJ Allmendinger-50
20Ty Gibbs-60
21Erik Jones-68
22Michael McDowell-70
23John Hunter Nemechek-85
24Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-91
25Carson Hocevar-96
26Zane Smith-96
27Brad Keselowski-136
28Austin Dillon-138
29Daniel Suárez-139
30Todd Gilliland-148
31Ty Dillon-149
32Justin Haley-152
33Noah Gragson-203
34Cole Custer-214
35Riley Herbst-231
36Cody Ware-322


NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

Connor Zilisch picked up his third win of the season by outmaneuvering teammate Shane van Gisbergen at Sonoma. The 18-year-old wunderkind joined Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill with three wins this season. However, Zilisch’s victory meant the number of unique winners in the series stayed the same at seven this week.

Drivers provisionally qualified for playoffs with a win (7): Justin Allgaier (three wins), Austin Hill (three wins), Connor Zilisch (three wins), Jesse Love, Brandon Jones, Nick Sanchez and Sammy Smith.

Winless drivers more than 100 points above the elimination line (one): Sam Mayer (+163).

Biggest movement: Thanks to his eighth-place finish at Sonoma, Carson Kvapil gained 27 points against the elimination line and sits just below the 100 club at plus-90 points to the good. In fact, everyone above the elimination line gained points at Sonoma: Sam Mayer (+14), Sheldon Creed (+24), Taylor Gray (+14) and Jeb Burton (+4) all joined Kvapil.

This meant most of the drivers below the elimination line lost some ground, with the biggest losers being Christian Eckes (-21) and Ryan Sieg (-20), who plummeted thanks to 34th and 35th place finishes at Sonoma, respectively.

Note: Drivers in bold have provisionally clinched a playoff spot by virtue of winning. There are seven races remaining in the regular season.

RankDriverCutoff
1Justin Allgaier3 WINS
2Austin Hill3 WINS
3Connor Zilisch3 WINS
4Brandon JonesWIN
5Sammy SmithWIN
6Jesse LoveWIN
7Nick SanchezWIN
8Sam Mayer+163
9Carson Kvapil+90
10Sheldon Creed+54
11Taylor Gray+22
12Jeb Burton+16
ELIMINATION LINE
13Harrison Burton-16
14Ryan Sieg-50
15Dean Thompson-66
16Christian Eckes-81
17Daniel Dye-84
18Brennan Poole-112
19Josh Williams-129
20Jeremy Clements-147
21Anthony Alfredo-179
22Matt DiBenedetto-192
23William Sawalich-197
24Blaine Perkins-212
25Kyle Sieg-218
26Parker Retzlaff-228
27Ryan Ellis-239
28Kris Wright-303

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

The Craftsman Truck Series is off until July 25 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, so there were no changes in the standings this week.

Drivers provisionally qualified for playoffs with a win (7): Corey Heim (five wins), Chandler Smith (two wins), Layne Riggs, Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Henric, Stewart Friesen and Rajah Caruth.

Note: Drivers in bold have provisionally clinched a playoff spot by virtue of winning. There are three races remaining in the regular season.

RankDriverCutoff
1Corey Heim5 WINS
2Chandler Smith2 WINS
3Layne RiggsWIN
4Tyler AnkrumWIN
5Daniel HemricWIN
6Stewart FriesenWIN
7Rajah CaruthWIN
8Kaden Honeycutt+67
9Grant Enfinger+64
10Ty Majeski+38
ELIMINATION LINE
11Jake Garcia-38
12Giovanni Ruggiero-65
13Ben Rhodes-68
14Tanner Gray-101
15Connor Mosack-141
16Matt Crafton-153
17Andres Perez-165
18Jack Wood-175
19Matt Mills-189
20Dawson Sutton-206
21Spencer Boyd-248
22Toni Breidinger-273
23Frankie Muniz-280
Posted on by Brandon White

For all the heat the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway brought on July 27, the second leg of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown is poised to be just as intense and grueling for drivers.

Langley Speedway hosts part two of the three-race championship, the prestigious Hampton Heat, this Saturday, July 19. First held in 2008, the Hampton Heat is a test of both physical and mental endurance, as competitors fight for solid track position all while dealing with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the cars.

A stellar performance in the Hampton Heat could be crucial to determining which drivers have the best chance to capture the Virginia Triple Crown championship at Martinsville Speedway on Sept. 27. Both frontrunners in last year’s Virginia Triple Crown fight, champion Peyton Sellers and Connor Hall, each finished inside the top five at Langley.

While the current group of Virginia Triple Crown contenders continue their battle from South Boston, a handful of Langley regulars are joining the grid for Saturday’s race, all of them eager to write their own chapter in the Hampton Heat’s proud history.

Below is everything to know about the 2025 Hampton Heat at Langley ahead of Saturday evening.

Hampton Heat
Intense heat and thrilling on-track action are in store for the second leg of the Virginia Triple Crown, the prestigious Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)

What TV channel is the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway on?

All the on-track action for the Hampton Heat can be viewed live on FloRacing, the official streaming home for all NASCAR Regional properties.

The event will not be shown on a television network.

Below is the complete schedule for FloRacing’s coverage of the 2025 Hampton Heat.

Date Start time How to watch
Saturday, July 19 4 p.m. ET FloRacing

Race-day schedule

This year’s Hampton Heat will take place on Saturday, July 19.

Two support divisions encompass the evening’s schedule of events alongside the headlining Late Model Stocks. The Legend and Super Street classes open the festivities before the night concludes with the 200-lap Late Model Stock feature.

Below is the complete race-day schedule at Langley Speedway.

(All times ET)

Time Event
10 a.m. LMSC Gates Open
11 a.m. Grandstand Gates Open
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. LMSC Open Practice (3 min. break every 30 min.)
12:30-1:30 p.m. Two Rounds of Rotating Practice for Local Divisions (2nd round will be 4 min. and set feature lineups)
1:45-2:30 p.m. LMSC Driver, Crew Chief, Spotter Meeting (V.I.P. Pavilion/Turn 4)
4:15 p.m. LMSC Hampton Heat Qualifying (scuff-green-white-checkered)
5:30-6 p.m. LMSC Haulers Removed From Infield
6:15 p.m. Invocation/God Bless America
6:30 p.m. Local Division Features (Legends: 25 Laps … Super Streets: 75 Laps)
7:45 p.m. LMSC Line Up on Front Stretch
8:10 p.m. LMSC Driver Introductions
8:30 p.m. Invocation/National Anthem
8:45 p.m. 17th Annual Hampton Heat (200 Laps)

Entry list

Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen headlines the stacked entry list for the 2025 Hampton Heat, ready to defend his victory from last year.

Before he became a full-time competitor in the ARCA Menards Series, Queen established himself as one of the best at Langley Speedway. Queen amassed three consecutive track championships from 2020-22, all while earning claiming three Hampton Heat checkered flags.

The weekend will be a busy one for Queen. He is set to compete in the ARCA Menards Series event at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday before making the long trek back to Virginia for Saturday evening’s Hampton Heat.

To earn another Hampton Heat win, Queen will once again face off against another name familiar to Langley’s fanbase, Connor Hall. The two engaged in an intense battle for last year’s Hampton Heat victory, but Queen gained the upper hand after performing a bump and run on Hall with five laps remaining.

Hall enters this year’s Hampton Heat with plenty of momentum on his side. He delivered JR Motorsports their first Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 victory at South Boston Speedway last month and seeks to increase his Virginia Triple Crown points lead with his first Hampton Heat victory since 2019.

Sitting behind Hall in the Virginia Triple Crown point standings is 14-year-old Darren Krantz Jr., piloting the No. 77 for Chad Bryant Racing that Hall previously found success in. Despite his age, Krantz has some experience at Langley entering his maiden Hampton Heat attempt, with his best finish at the track this year being a third on May 10.

Other names set to compete in the Hampton Heat include Peyton Sellers, Landon Pembleton, Matt Waltz, Ronnie Bassett Jr., Kade Brown and Deac McCaskill.

The complete entry list for the 2025 Hampton Heat can be viewed below.

Car No.  Driver
0 Landon Pembleton
00 Chase Burrow
2 Brandon Pierce
2 Matt Waltz
03 Brenden Queen
3 Trey Williams
04 Ronnie Bassett Jr.
4 Kade Brown
05 Mason Bailey
5 Jonathan Shafer
6 Bobby McCarty
08 Cody Bryant
08 Deac McCaskill
8 Tate Fogleman
9 Ayden Millette
12 Trevor Ward
15 Ryan Millington
17 Daniel Silvestri
21 Greg Edwards
22 Carson Loftin
25 Craig Eastep
26 Peyton Sellers
28 Dustin Storm
38 Andrew Condrey
41 Woody Howard
42 Chris Horton Jr.
47 Ryley Music
50 London McKenzie
51 Ryan Matthews
57 Chase Johnson
71 Parker Eatmon
77 Darren Krantz Jr.
77 Blake Stallings
78 Atley Weise
88 Doug Barnes Jr.
88 Jacob Derrick
88 Connor Hall
91 Justin Carroll
95 Sam Yarbrough
Hampton Heat
Brenden Queen and Connor Hall are set to continue their thrilling battle from last year’s Hampton Heat in Saturday’s 200-lap Late Model Stock feature. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)

Hampton Heat history, winners

Nick Smith’s victory in the inaugural Hampton Heat back in 2008 kickstarted a proud tradition for Langley Speedway that continues today.

Aside from 2016 due to the track’s brief closure, the Hampton Heat has been held annually at Langley every summer and regularly attracts many of the best Late Model Stock competitors in the Southeast. The most successful driver in early Hampton Heat history was C.E. Falk III, who won the crown jewel event three times between 2010-14.

Brenden Queen matched Falk’s Hampton Heat record with his third victory in the race last year. Queen and Falk are amongst the elites who have a Hampton Heat triumph on their resume, with that list also including Lee Pulliam, Philip Morris, Peyton Sellers and Josh Berry, who prevailed in his lone Hampton Heat appearance in 2021.

Five past Hampton Heat winners are on the entry list for Saturday’s 200-lap race. Queen and Connor Hall look to continue their intense battle from last year and earn another Hampton Heat checkered flag, but they will have to fend off the other past winners including Sellers, Bobby McCarty and Woody Howard.

Below is the complete list of winners in the Hampton Heat.

Year Winner
2008 Nick Smith
2009 Woody Howard
2010 C.E. Falk III
2011 C.E. Falk III
2012 Matt Bowling
2013 Peyton Sellers
2014 C.E. Falk III
2015 Lee Pulliam
2016 Not held
2017 Bobby McCarty
2018 Philip Morris
2019 Connor Hall
2020 Brenden Queen
2021 Josh Berry
2022 Jared Fryar
2023 Brenden Queen
2024 Brenden Queen

Virginia Triple Crown standings

  1. Connor Hall (1.0)
  2. Darren Krantz Jr. (2.0)
  3. Parker Eatmon (3.0)
  4. Ryan Millington (4.0)
  5. Ronnie Bassett Jr. (5.0)
  6. Tate Fogleman (6.0)
  7. Doug Barnes Jr. (7.0)
  8. Brandon Pierce (8.0)
  9. Woody Howard (9.0)
  10. Conner Jones (10.0)
Posted on by Staff Report

Carson Hocevar appeared to be on his way for a solid top-10 showing Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, steadily wheeling his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet through the closing laps — until contact from Josh Berry in Turn 2 changed everything.

The bump sent the 22-year-old spinning through the grass and tumbling down the running order, relegating him to a frustrating 32nd-place result while the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford drove on to finish 13th.

RELATED: Race results | Crews tussle on pit road

The on-track run-in at Sonoma wasn’t Hocevar’s first clash with the organization, as the Michigan native was penalized at Nashville Superspeedway in 2024 for spinning then-No. 21 driver Harrison Burton under caution.

The incident was later referenced on X, where the official Wood Brothers Racing account appeared to take a jab at Hocevar following the Sonoma race.

Burton, to his credit, seems content to stay out of it.

Sunday’s run-in with Josh Berry at Sonoma adds to a growing list of incidents for Hocevar in 2025, including high-profile clashes with Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville and again during the inaugural Cup Series race in Mexico City.

Posted on by Nate Ryan

So now that Trackhouse Racing has parlayed possibly the greatest leap of faith in NASCAR history into a playoff berth, who’s next?

It’s actually a two-part question.

Part 1 is finding another iteration of Shane van Gisbergen, who was tooling around race tracks literally half a world away when he got the FaceTime call from Trackhouse founder Justin Marks that changed his life and permanently has altered the landscape of NASCAR for the foreseeable future.

RELATED: Race results | Best photos from Sonoma

With his third victory in five races, van Gisbergen is making a strong case he will be remembered as the all-time greatest road-course racer in the Cup Series.

Just consider the company he already is keeping.

With his victory at Sonoma Raceway, van Gisbergen joined four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to have won three consecutive Cup races from the pole position.

With his 34th start, van Gisbergen became the fastest driver to four wins since Baja 1000 and Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones in January 1967.

A three-time champion in Supercars (the premier category of racing in Australia and New Zealand), van Gisbergen wasn’t plucked out of complete obscurity, but Marks deserves a ton of credit for giving the massively talented Kiwi a shot.

Yet that was only the first step.

Part 2 is having a team owner with the financial wherewithal and unshakable belief to commit a full-season Cup schedule to a driver largely untested in NASCAR.

Marks did that with van Gisbergen and might have created a blueprint for making the playoffs in the road course era of the Next Gen car.

Shane van Gisbergen celebrats in Victory Lane at Sonoma.
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media

The 2022 season brought the switch to a vehicle that is nimbler and more sophisticated than its lumbering and antiquated predecessor. And that opened the window to recruiting world-class road-racing talent with designs on parachuting into a NASCAR schedule in which one of every six races now features left and right turns.

Dropping a highly accomplished driver from the realm of single-seater formula or sports car racing into a stock car with the goal of securing a playoff berth no longer seems fanciful. It could be a Cup Series cheat code, provided a driver can get acclimated with as much aplomb as SVG.

Despite his immense lack of NASCAR experience, van Gisbergen has been very comfortable behind the wheel of the Next Gen with its independent rear suspension and sequential gear shifter, among the many reminders of his days dominating Supercars, which race entirely on road and street courses.

“He’s something NASCAR has never seen on road courses,” crew chief Stephen Doran said. “It’s just an honor being part of it. He’s amazing. I don’t know what else I can say about it. He shows it every time we come to these tracks.”

RELATED: SVG on his oval progression: ‘Felt like I got better’

Did Marks know van Gisbergen could be this good?

Perhaps not when he hired him for a one-off in the Project 91 program that was intended to showcase elite international drivers in Cup.

But then van Gisbergen stunned NASCAR on July 2, 2023 in the streets of downtown Chicago, and became the first driver in 60 years to win his Cup debut. Trackhouse wasted little time in assembling a fast-track program for van Gisbergen, who started last year in the Xfinity Series before moving to Cup this season.

By taking the calculated risk of putting SVG full-time in the No. 88 Chevrolet, Marks now has a car guaranteed to finish in the top 16 in the points standings (with a driver who has been ranked outside the top 30 for much of the season).

It was a multimillion-dollar gamble that already has realized a major return on the investment.

“Unreal,” van Gisbergen said on Sunday’s TNT post-race show when asked to describe his two-year whirlwind. “Chicago was just an experience that I really enjoyed, and I never thought it would lead to more, let alone moving over here and doing all these things. It’s been amazing. Everything I could have hoped it would have ever been.”

And it all started with a leap of faith that any team owner could take with another undiscovered diamond of a driver possessing sublime road-racing skills.

So who’s next?

The Cup playoffs could await.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

SONOMA, Calif. — Based on his performance in three qualifying races, the chances of Ty Dillon making a deep run in the inaugural In-Season Challenge were slim.

All he needed was an opportunity.

After entering the tournament as the final seed — No. 32 of 32 — Dillon and his No. 10 Kaulig Racing team kept the Cinderella story alive Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, using a late bump-and-run in Turn 11 to shift this week’s opponent — Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 8 seed Alex Bowman — out of the way on the final lap to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament.

MORE: In-Season Challenge after Sonoma | Sonoma results

“I’m a little in shock,” Dillon said.

He and everyone else who made a bracket.

Dillon trailed Bowman much of the day, but with Bowman in his sights in the final 15 laps, Dillon knew he had a chance to pounce if he could get there.

“I was like, ‘OK, we have the opportunity here. Just execute some good restarts,’ ” Dillon said. “And I did. I got by him on the last restart, and he battled back. I know he was (champing) at the bit, too. He passed me clean — we all got checked up at (Turn) 11; he got around me on the outside. And my goal on the last lap was just try to be close enough getting into 11 where I could move him off the bottom and try to drag race him back.”

Move him he did, sliding Bowman out of the groove and allowing Dillon to jolt by on his right, rocketing Dillon to a 17th-place finish and dropping Bowman to 19th. All he needed to do was beat him by one to advance.

“If it wasn’t for a million dollars, I probably would have never punted him for that position,” Dillon said. “But a million dollars means a lot.”

Ty Dillon races at Sonoma.
Daylon Barr | For NASCAR Digital Media

Dillon has had perfectly improbable — or improbably perfect — performances when it has mattered most. In the opening two weeks of the five-week, bracket-style challenge, Dillon was tasked with beating a 57-time Cup Series winner and top seed Denny Hamlin at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) before getting paired against 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski in Chicago.

At EchoPark, Hamlin was one of more than 20 drivers involved in a massive pileup at Lap 70 and was eliminated from competition while Dillon charged to an eighth-place finish. Fate played into Dillon’s hands early at Chicago, too, when Keselowski was collected in a Lap 3 traffic jam that ousted his No. 6 Ford from the race while Dillon used a 20th-place run to advance.

Dillon earned his way to the semifinals Sunday. Faced with elimination in the final hairpin corner of the race, Dillon took matters into his own hands without wrecking Bowman, but moved the Hendrick Motorsports driver out of the way to join John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs in the penultimate round.

“This in-season tournament, to some, might not mean a lot, but you see what it’s done for our team and myself,” Dillon said. “We’re excited to be a part of it and down to the final four. It’s been just a dream run. It’s hard to even put it together. I’m a little bit shook by how it all shook out, but yeah. We did it.”

Dillon said he and Bowman spoke after the race and shared a laugh about the contact with both understanding the circumstances and no lingering frustration over a bump-and-run for 18th place.

“I told him, I’m like, ‘Hey, man, I’m sorry,’ ” Dillon said. “If it wasn’t for a million dollars, I would have never done that. I appreciated him for racing me clean, and he was cool. He knew it was coming. I think he was more frustrated with my teammate (AJ Allmendinger), my brother (Austin Dillon). They were all racing hard back there, and he did a great job.”

The tournament now shifts to Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Dillon will face off against No. 12 seed John Hunter Nemechek, who advanced over his Legacy Motor Club teammate Erik Jones at Sonoma. Dillon is carrying more than just some head-to-head wins with him into the 1-mile oval. He and the No. 10 team have rattled off three consecutive top-20 finishes for the first time this season.

All Dillon needs at Dover is a chance.

“We don’t give up when things are against us, and we scored a bunch of points today too,” added Dillon, who scored 29 points at Sonoma. “For whatever reason, this has brought our team alive in a good way, and we just want to keep this momentum going forward for the rest of the year.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

SONOMA, Calif. — Chase Briscoe lined up alongside Shane van Gisbergen for the Sonoma Raceway win three times in the final 13 laps.

But despite being the closest one to contest NASCAR’s latest road-course hero, Briscoe couldn’t muster any more than what he showed Sunday en route to a second-place finish in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

“I wish I had more,” Briscoe said. “That’s all I got.”

RELATED: Race results | Best photos from Sonoma

A rash of three cautions in the closing 15 laps brought Briscoe’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota within striking distance multiple times, giving Briscoe both a chance to pounce and a chance to learn. Much of what he learned, he already knew.

“I learned that he could still go a lot faster if he wanted to,” Briscoe said. “There was one time I felt like I made a push and got within, I don’t know, four or five car lengths, and he just drove right back away another five car lengths. So he definitely had more in the tank anytime he really wanted to.”

The gap, he believes, comes from van Gisbergen’s innate muscle memory, utilizing the clutch in his shifts with his left foot while using the heel-toe method with his right foot to brake and blip the throttle simultaneously.

“It’s just so foreign for what we do,” Briscoe said. “And that’s why I think on the ovals, he kind of struggles a little bit more because of how he’s using his feet, but that’s what’s natural for us, right? And it just is such an advantage on these road courses. So he does an incredible job. He’s an incredible race car driver, so I’m honestly proud of running second to that guy. I was even saying in my TV interview, I obviously never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that is very similar to what it would be like. It’s just a lot of fun and proud to have ran second to him.”

Briscoe needed a bounce-back performance after the way his last two weeks ended. Since winning at Pocono Raceway on June 22, Briscoe had finished 35th at EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway) and 23rd on the Chicago Street Course. Yet Briscoe is one of only two drivers not named van Gisbergen to win a NASCAR Cup Series race in the last five races, a testament both to van Gisbergen’s recent dominance and Briscoe’s persistence as he rebounded to runner-up Sunday.

“I feel like I get overlooked a lot of the time,” Briscoe said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to earn the respect of a lot of guys — not even all the drivers, but I think just everybody. I always felt like I was capable of doing it and the 19 car finally lets me show what I feel like I’m capable of. It’s just so fun to drive fast race cars.”

MORE: Race recap 

He certainly earned van Gisbergen’s respect, particularly after their late head-to-head duels.

“I knew Chase wasn’t going to do anything stupid, but he got really close at Turn 2 a couple of times and he had a proper crack,” van Gisbergen said. “It was cool racing.”

What Briscoe has proven so far is 2025 is already a career year for the Indiana native. Through 20 races, Briscoe has accumulated a career-high seven top fives and nine top 10s, one top 10 short of tying his career-best mark set in 2022. His 14.7 average finish is also on pace to outrank his previous best of 17.3, also set in 2022.

“I’m just super proud of this 19 team,” Briscoe said. “It took us a little bit at the beginning of the year to kind of find our stride, but I feel like we’re honestly as strong as any team in the field right now as far as just overall balance. Whether it’s a short track or road course or intermediate, I feel like we can go any single weekend and battle for the win. And it reminds me a lot, honestly, of when I was in Xfinity, and I haven’t had that ever in the Cup Series, so it’s a lot of fun.”

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

The Cinderella run extends into the final four for No. 32 seed Ty Dillon as he passed No. 8 seed Alex Bowman in Turn 11 on the final lap to advance to the semifinals of the In-Season Challenge Sunday afternoon at Sonoma Raceway. It was arguably the most impressive win in the 32-driver tournament for the driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet as he had to outduel a pretty stout road-course driver in Bowman from start to finish. What was once improbable is now trending realistic as Dillon now has a 25% chance to claim the $1 million prize in NASCAR’s inaugural tournament on TNT Sports.

Here’s where we stand after Sonoma and before next Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio):

RELATED: Race results | Check your bracket

Sonoma Raceway winner: Shane van Gisbergen has become unstoppable on road courses this year, winning three of the last five races to match Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell for most wins at the Cup level in 2025. Van Gisbergen led 97 of the 110 laps completed Sunday at the Northern California track, the most ever for a Cup race at Sonoma.

Who advances to semifinals: (6) Ty Gibbs, (12) John Hunter Nemechek, (23) Tyler Reddick and (32) Ty Dillon.

Nemechek clashed with Legacy Motor Club teammate Erik Jones in a Round 3 matchup. The No. 43 Toyota driver held point on Nemechek until late in the race when Jones was spun off Turn 7 in a multicar incident with nine laps to go. The two were separated by a single position until the checkered flag waved, with Nemechek getting the nod in 28th. Jones crossed the line in P29.

Pitting for fresh Goodyear tires with 13 to go, Ty Gibbs placed seventh Sunday to outduel Zane Smith in their third-round matchup. On the same strategy as Gibbs, Tyler Reddick stumped Ryan Preece after finishing sixth. Preece also collected significant damage in the Lap 101 incident, but still managed to score a 12th-place result.

There will be no clear favorites heading to Dover next Sunday. Nemechek and Dillon will face off in the semifinals on their side of the bracket, while Gibbs and Reddick meet for a spot in the championship round.

Who’s up

Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Gibbs’ seventh-place finish at Sonoma continued a fruitful summer stretch that has included two top fives (Michigan, Chicago) and no finish worse than 14th in the last six races. Gibbs’ run to the semifinals has now included wins over Justin Haley, AJ Allmendinger and now Smith. Dover could be enough to get Gibbs into the championship round as the third-year Cup driver finished 10th in last year’s event, shaping up a thrilling battle with Reddick as the No. 45 driver finished just behind Gibbs in the most recent edition.

Who’s down

Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota. Sunday was not what the doctor ordered for the Jones camp as a 29th-place result will now put the No. 43 team in must-win territory the next six weeks to make the playoffs. It’s the second straight finish of 25th or worse for the 29-year-old driver. Jones had quite the eventful end at Sonoma as he was involved in a multicar wreck after getting turned by Josh Berry coming out of Turn 7. Jones, however, can gain some momentum back at Dover as he has just two finishes outside the top 20 in 11 starts at the concrete oval.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

SONOMA, Calif. — Shane van Gisbergen proved on Sunday that it’s impossible to keep a road-course superstar down for more than a brief interlude.

After finishing second to Connor Zilisch in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, van Gisbergen was back on top on a pleasant Sunday afternoon in wine country, winning the Cup Series’ Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

As has become his custom of late, the New Zealander reached a trio of milestones, winning his third straight road/street course race from the pole position to equal Jeff Gordon’s feat from 1998 and 1999.

The victory was van Gisbergen’s third of the season in his first trip around the 1.99-mile, 12-turn circuit in a NASCAR Cup Series car. SVG won for the fourth time in 34 starts, becoming the quickest to four wins since Parnelli Jones won at Riverside in 1967 in his 31st Cup start.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Sonoma

His 97 laps led are the most by a Sonoma winner, eclipsing Jeff Gordon’s high-water mark of 92 set in 2004.

“We had an amazing car,” van Gisbergen said. “Chase Briscoe, what a great racer and gave me respect. Jumped the last (restart) a little bit, and it was pretty tense, but amazing. So stoked for Red Bull, Trackhouse, Chevy. I believe we had a really fun weekend here, some great races, and I hope everyone enjoyed that.”

The winner of 81 Australian Supercars races on the way to three championships in the series, van Gisbergen already is being touted as perhaps the best road-course racer in NASCAR history.

“I had an amazing time in Australia, and then to come here and the last couple weeks or years actually has been a dream come true,” said the 36-year-old driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. “I’ve really enjoyed my time in NASCAR. Thanks, everyone, for making me feel so welcome. I hope I’m here for a long time to come.”

Winning the second stage despite short-pitting to preserve track position, van Gisbergen advanced to third on the current Cup Series Playoff grid with 17 playoff points. He arrived at the finish line 1.128 seconds ahead of consistent Chase Briscoe, but the win was far from guaranteed, given the chaos of the final 15 laps.

SVG had to survive three cautions and subsequent restarts in the late stages of the race to seal the win, as a large group of drivers on better tires chased those who had stayed on the track (including the race winner) after the No. 51 Ford of Cody Ware jettisoned a tire and caused a yellow on Lap 97.

Briscoe qualified second and finished where he felt he deserved.

“The only opportunity I had was on the restarts,” Briscoe said. “I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s probably what it was like. That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He’s just so good. He’s really raised the bar on this entire series.

“Proud of the effort. I thought there was one restart I was maybe going to get clear of him, but truthfully, even if I cleared him, he was probably going to pass me back by the end of the lap. Yeah, proud of the effort. We were a second-place car all day and obviously ended up second with it.”

Chase Elliott pitted on Lap 97 for fresher tires and came home third after restarting 14th on Lap 100. Michael McDowell, on the same strategy as Elliott, climbed to fourth at the finish, while Christopher Bell held fifth on older tires.

“It was nice to be on offense and give ourselves a shot,” Elliott said. “I wish I could have made it happen there. I was trying, but I just couldn’t get going like we needed to there at the end.”

SHOP: Buy winner’s gear

The action on the final few laps was attributable in part to battles within the NASCAR Cup Series’ In-Season Challenge. In Sunday’s third round at Sonoma, 32nd seed Ty Dillon bumped the No. 48 Chevrolet of Alex Bowman out of the way on the final lap to finish 17th to Bowman’s 19th and keep his hopes for the $1 million prize alive.

Dillon will face John Hunter Nemechek in next Sunday semifinals at Dover Motor Speedway. Nemechek finished one spot ahead of Legacy Motor Club teammate Erik Jones (28th to 29th) to advance to the fourth round.

“It was a rough couple of laps there,” Dillon acknowledged. “Alex and I race really clean. I told him, ‘Man, if it wasn’t for the million dollars, I probably wouldn’t have done that,’ but I had to. It’s been an incredible run for this No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team. We’ve worked so hard for this opportunity…

“We’re going to give it all we’ve got at Dover; put pressure on the guys. I think you’ve seen through this that our team doesn’t quit. I saw the No. 48 there at the end, and I knew it was our opportunity to race hard and go get him. Just proud of this team’s effort.”

Ty Gibbs moved into the tournament semifinals with a seventh-place finish to Zane Smith’s 27th, and Tyler Reddick ousted Ryan Preece with a sixth-place run to Preece’s 12th. Gibbs and Reddick will face off at the Monster Mile for a trip to the finals.

William Byron, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch completed the top 10 in a race that featured six cautions for 17 laps.

Ross Chastain and van Gisbergen divided the stage wins. Chastain encountered trouble in a tangle with Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez on Lap 45, with Suárez spinning after the contact in the Turn 11 hairpin and losing 15 positions in the exchange.

MORE: Chastain, Suárez collide in Stage 2

The Cup Series’ next race falls Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Six races remain in the regular season before the 16-driver field for the Cup Series Playoffs is set.

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage was completed without issue, confirming van Gisbergen as the winner. Competition officials indicated that no cars would travel back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for further inspection.

Contributing: Staff Report

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

SONOMA, Calif. — The Nos. 6 and 54 pit crews had a minor altercation during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.

On Lap 52 of the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota led Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford onto pit road near the end of Stage 2. The two were pitted directly next to each other, with Gibbs’ crew in stall No. 16 and Keselowski’s in stall 17.

RELATED: Race results

Gibbs drove through Keselowski’s pit box on entry and nearly clipped Telvin McClurkin, Keselowski’s tire carrier, as the No. 6 crewmen leaped over the wall. The hesitation appeared to slow the No. 6 team’s stop, and upon its completion, McClurkin approached the No. 54 crew to express his displeasure.

The confrontation resulted in a brief burst of physical shoves between two RFK Racing crew members and three Joe Gibbs Racing crew members that was visible from the Sonoma Raceway media center before NASCAR officials intervened to break up the scrum.

Spokespersons for both JGR and RFK Racing described the incident to NASCAR.com and PRN Radio as a “disagreement” as the second stage came to an end.

Gibbs explained his view of the incident after finishing seventh, four spots ahead of Keselowski in the 37-car field.

“By NASCAR’s rules, you know, I’m the lead car because I’m in the pit box past where the 6 is and I’m in front of them as well,” Gibbs told TNT Sports. “We have these orange lines right there — as you can see, I’m sure they’ll show you after — where if I’m behind him, I have to go around those orange lines for it to be the rule. Going in, I have the right-of-way. So you know, they’re on the wall for a reason, they jump for a reason, and they kind of get out of the way. And those guys like to push it, and that’s kind of the consequence you pay. So it’s unfortunate for them that they had a penalty. Nothing malicious. It’s my right-of-way.”

Jeremy Bullins, crew chief for Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, came off the pit box to help diffuse the situation.

“If we were in that pit box, I would expect him (Keselowski) to do the same [expletive] thing, so we’re good,” Bullins told No. 54 jackman Braxton Brannon. “It’s your right to drive through here. It sucks, but it is what it is.”

TNT Sports reported McClurkin expressed Gibbs’ car did hit the tire in his hands and twisted his wrist. McClurkin also told TNT he was OK and would continue pitting the rest of the afternoon.

A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed that officials reviewed the incident and expressed to the No. 6 team that the crew should have given more room for the No. 54 car and ruled Gibbs’ close entry unintentional, therefore not resulting in a penalty. Additionally, officials will review the altercation during the week and determine if there will be any penalties to come.

WATCH: RFK shares overhead view of pit stop, altercation

“I mean, I get it. It was overblown because you look up and people are scrapping and you’re wondering what the heck’s going on here,” said Chris Gabehart, Joe Gibbs Racing’s competition director. “So I understand why it was made a scene, but the truth of the matter is, the lead car in that instance has the right-of-way to the trailing-box car. It’s just really, really tough when they’re literally coming to pit road nose to tail. It doesn’t happen very often. So in that instance, and we all know on pit road how to deal with that, like everybody understands that the trailing car has got to give a gap so the leading car, so your guys can jump in between the two, but it’s just a really tight spot.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez tangled in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, with Suárez getting the worst of a Turn 11 collision at Sonoma Raceway.

Suárez was running 14th when Chastain overcooked his entry into the final corner in the 45th of 110 laps in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. The contact from Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet sent Suárez’s No. 99 Chevy spinning in the hairpin, knocking him to 29th place in the running order.

RELATED: Race results | Best photos from Sonoma

“You better hope I don’t get to him today,” Suárez told his team over the No. 99 radio after the incident. During the Stage 2 break, Suárez was told that Chastain had relayed an apology through his spotter, indicating he did not intend to drive that deep into the turn and could not halt his car’s momentum.

Suárez had a measure of turnabout in the final results after a series of late-race caution flags, finishing 14th. Chastain placed 24th after starting fourth in the 37-car field.

Chastain left Sonoma without comment, but Suárez said a conversation between the two might be warranted.

“I hope so,” Suárez said. “And if it doesn’t happen, he’s gonna get it back.”

Suárez and Trackhouse announced July 1 that they had mutually agreed to part company at the end of the 2025 season. Suárez left Sunday’s race 29th in the Cup Series points standings. Just six races remain in the regular season before the 16-driver field for the Cup Series Playoffs is set, and he needs a win to reach the postseason.

MORE: Trackhouse to part ways with Suárez after 2025 season

Chastain, who won Stage 1 Sunday at Sonoma, clinched a playoff berth with his May victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Shane van Gisbergen, the third Trackhouse Racing driver racing full-time in the Cup Series, cruised to his third win of the season Sunday at Sonoma. It’s quite the tear for the New Zealand import, who also won the previous weekend in the Chicago Street Race.