While he was the favourite for the event, it was an encouraging result for van Gisbergen after he failed to finish in San Diego last week.
“I was certainly pissed at the beginning of the week but this well and truly makes up for it, pretty special to win,” van Gisbergen said following the race.
He admits it was a hard-fought win as his Trackhouse Racing car started to struggle with tyres.
“We had these s***-boxes come out in front and they were wobbling all over the track and putting dust [up] and I just kept struggling. Chase [Briscoe] was really good and a couple more laps, we would have had some problems.”
It is van Gisbergen’s second win of the season and fourth top-five finish.
He won in New York in May.
The win moves him up three places into 14th position in the championship and inside the top 16 who will contest the playoff series at the end of the season.
However he’s not feeling secure about repeating his feat from last year, when he clinched a place in the playoffs.
“I really need to step it up on the ovals but it certainly helps us. This is an ovals championship and I certainly need to get better at them.”
There are another eight races before the playoffs, known as The Chase. They are all ovals circuits.
Sonoma was also the first race in the Nascar in-season challenge where all 32 drivers go head-to-head with another driver over five consecutive race weekends through a single-elimination bracket with a US$1 million ($1.7m) payday for the winner.
The next round is in Chicago next weekend.
– RNZ