Shane Van Gisbergen Unstoppable In Sonoma O'Reilly Series Victory

Saturday afternoon began with hope and optimism that the competition could rise to the level of Shane van Gisbergen in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway. That never materialized as SVG took one of the most decisive victories of his NASCAR National Series career.

The New Zealander led a race-high and career-high 66 laps in the 79-lap event as he left all challengers in the dust throughout the event. The driver, who is one of the most skilled road racers in NASCAR history, gave all the credit to his No. 9 JR Motorsports team for providing him with an incredible race car.

“Yeah, thank you to SuperFile and JR Motorsports, Chevy. What an amazing car, like, to lead like that, and the car was so good all race. Stoked to get another one for these guys,” van Gisbergen said.

In the final laps, Connor Zilisch was able to reel van Gisbergen in, as he came within 1.3 seconds of the race winner, but that was simply because van Gisbergen was ensuring that his car would make it to the finish on fuel.

He did. And he had enough fuel to do an epic burnout, and even drive the boss -- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -- and his daughter around after the race was over. Still, SVG admits he had legit worries about his fuel supply in the closing laps.

“A little bit,” van Gisbergen said of his worry level. “Luckily enough, I think I saved enough early. Sorry, it wasn’t the most exciting. I guess boring is good when you’re the one leading.”

In what was a whirlwind couple of days in the No. 1 JR Motorsports NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series car, Zilisch was able to at least turn the weekend into a positive with his runner-up finish. While he had hoped to have SVG in his sights all weekend long, Zilisch was too busy playing catchup due to obstacles that continued to stack up against him.

Zilisch had to start from the 30th position after suffering a flat tire during his qualifying run on Friday. And then on his pit stop at the end of Stage 1, Zilisch was busted for speeding on pit road. As if that wasn't enough, Zilisch's crew chief Rodney Childers chose to have him stay on track to win the second Stage of the race, instead of flipping the Stage for better track position in the final Stage.

“Yeah, I don’t think we probably thought we were going to restart 12th when we stayed out there at the end of Stage 2,” Zilisch said. “Obviously, the numbers that [Crew chief] Rodney [Childers] was getting on the box allowed us to be aggressive and push that entire last run. A caution or something to bunch us back up would have been nice.”

Even though he didn't win, the runner-up finish was still a good comeback rally for Zilisch, who will try to reverse his horrendous luck in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series event.

Brent Crews collected a third-place finish, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and by doing so, has moved back inside the top-12 of the series point standings. There are five races remaining until The Chase begins, and Crews now sits 21 points above the cutline.

The feel-good story of the race came in the form of the two cars that crossed the line directly behind Crews, as it was a double top-five day for Viking Motorsports.

Anthony Alfredo claimed the fourth-place finish, driving the team's No. 96 Chevrolet, while Parker Retzlaff took home a fifth-place result, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet.

Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 Race Results

9 - Shane van Gisbergen
1 - Connor Zilisch
19 - Brent Crews
96 - Anthony Alfredo
99 - Parker Retzlaff
91 - Carson Kvapil
17 - Corey Day
41 - Sam Mayer
2 - Jesse Love
00 - Sheldon Creed
8 - Sammy Smith
87 - Austin Green
18 - William Sawalich
88 - Rajah Caruth
39 - Ryan Sieg
7 - Justin Allgaier
42 - Will Rodgers
24 - Harrison Burton
0 - Alex Labbe
51 - Jeremy Clements
27 - Jeb Burton
21 - Austin Hill
02 - Ryan Ellis
44 - Brennan Poole
48 - Patrick Staropoli
07 - Josh Bilicki
92 - Josh Williams
26 - Dean Thompson
54 - Taylor Gray
31 - Blaine Perkins
28 - Kyle Sieg
45 - Lavar Scott
35 - Dawson Cram
53 - Kyle Kelley
71 - Leland Honeyman
20 - Brandon Jones
32 - Ross Chastain
55 - Brad Perez

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