SONOMA, Calif. — At NASCAR road courses, when nothing fluky happens, Shane van Gisbergen feels inevitable.

That feeling was proven correct yet again on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, as the New Zealand driver known as “SVG” won his eighth career Cup Series road course race to move within one victory of Jeff Gordon for the all-time lead on the twisty tracks.

Though van Gisbergen did not win the pole position at Sonoma, briefly raising questions as to whether he was vulnerable this time, he ended up as the dominant driver yet again.

SVG swept the weekend (also destroying the field in Saturday’s O’Reilly Series race) and moved back into a provisional spot for NASCAR’s “Chase” playoffs this fall with eight races remaining before the 16-driver field is set.

It will be a tremendous challenge for van Gisbergen to hang onto that position for the next two months, as oval tracks — which make up the rest of the regular season — are not his background. But on road courses? No current driver can hang with him, and many in the NASCAR industry feel he’s already the best to ever do it on these types of circuits.

Van Gisbergen now has a 50 percent win rate in his Cup Series starts on road and street courses, winning eight out of 16. Gordon, the all-time road course king, won nine out of 47.

— Jeff Gluck

Briscoe was there … but SVG holds on! pic.twitter.com/wgirpu2hD9

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 28, 2026

SVG’s secret sauce

Drivers say they understand what makes van Gisbergen so good on road courses. They just can’t replicate it.

“Shane is one of the greatest road racers in the world, and where he really shines is just tire conservation,” Chase Briscoe said.

Briscoe said that last week, before he was trying to chase down van Gisbergen with a noble effort Sunday, as Briscoe made a last-lap lunge after hoping he saved enough tire. But SVG barely kept the chasing car at bay again, as he’s done so often since coming to NASCAR.

Less experienced road racers find themselves having to drive to the limit to keep up with van Gisbergen, but they burn through their precious rubber faster. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen has a way of keeping the tire underneath him without making it “angry,” as drivers put it.

Todd Gilliland said the way to drive like van Gisbergen is to use lower gears and keep the car “very straight” instead of sliding the tires, but “obviously that’s been proven very hard to do.”

“Shane is really good no matter what, but that’s what takes him to the next level: He’s so good at being fast, but also taking care of the tires,” A.J. Allmendinger said. “… He knows how to manage that better than anybody so far.”

— Jeff Gluck

500 for the ‘Dinger

Allmendinger didn’t think much of making his 500th career NASCAR Cup Series start until someone mentioned he was only the 48th driver to do it.

Always self-critical, Allmendinger said he was somewhat sheepish to embrace 500 Cup starts because he’s only won three of them — Watkins Glen 2014, Indianapolis road course 2021 and the Charlotte Roval 2023.

“Unfortunately and fortunately, my mentality is I’m always out there trying to prove to myself that I still belong here,” Allmendinger said. “It’s what drives me insane sometimes. It’s also what pushes me to want to be at my best every second of the day, to prove it to myself.”

Then again, there were times in Allmendinger”s career when he could have never imagined reaching 500 starts. In 2007, he failed to qualify for 19 of 36 races with the new Red Bull Racing team. And in 2012, he lost his ride with Team Penske due to a suspension for taking an Adderall pill.

“If you’d ask 2007 A.J. … ‘Hey, 19 years later, you’re going to be at start 500 at Sonoma,’ I would have been like, ‘There’s not a chance in hell. I’m literally just trying to get to the next one,’” he said.

But that’s about all the reflection he could muster, because Allmendinger is still very actively focused on his current Kaulig Racing ride at age 44.

“Maybe at the end of it, I’ll look back and be like, ‘Hey, that’s pretty amazing that I’ve gotten to do so many of them,’” he said. “But right now, I just want to be better.”

A native of nearby Los Gatos, Allmendinger started eighth and finished 16th.

— Jeff Gluck

Tyler Reddick loses points lead

Not too long ago, Tyler Reddick held a seemingly insurmountable 129-point lead over second-place Denny Hamlin. It felt like NASCAR could go ahead and carve Reddick’s name on the trophy awarded to the regular-season champion.

Six races later, Reddick’s once mighty lead has completely vanished.

Hamlin rallied back from a spin to finish 26th on Sunday, while Reddick finished last (36th) due to a mechanical problem. That was enough to vault Hamlin over Reddick into the top position. Hamlin is now up by a single point on Reddick with eight regular-season races remaining.

Adding to Hamlin’s remarkable comeback over the past six races — sparked by him winning three times — is that the stretch included two road courses, a style of track on which Hamlin often struggles and Reddick excels. Nonetheless, Hamlin persevered the past two weeks, while Reddick has been snakebitten, having a flat tire in the closing laps at San Diego and then being slowed by a power steering issue Sunday.

With the series returning to ovals for the rest of the regular season, the momentum is clearly on Hamlin’s side, and the championship feels like his to lose.

— Jordan Bianchi

Connor Zilisch’s new career high

In what has been a frustrating rookie season filled that’s often left him feeling exasperated, Connor Zilisch had a much-needed clean race that netted him a career-best seventh-place finish.

Not only was it Zilisch’s best result of the season, it also marked the first time he finished better than 14th in 18 starts. And while he didn’t seriously contend for the win as some thought he would, the highly touted 19-year-old wasn’t complaining afterwards — especially having crashed out of four of the past five races entering Sonoma.

— Jordan Bianchi