Shane van Gisbergen was in a league of his own on Sunday at Sonoma, leading 97 of the 110 laps to win for the third time in the last five races. He is the first driver since Jeff Gordon in 1998 and 1999 to win three straight road/street course races from the pole. van Gisbergen's four wins in 34 starts are the quickest any driver has recorded four wins at NASCAR's highest level since Parnelli Jones picked up the win at Riverside in 1967 while making his 31st start.
On Sunday, Chase Briscoe was the next best, turning in a runner-up finish on a day that no one appeared to have anything close to competing with van Gisbergen. He could hang alongside van Gisbergen for the first four turns on most restarts, but could not keep pace — much like the rest of the field — for the duration of the race.
Briscoe offered high praise for van Gisbergen after the race in a post-race interview with TNT Sports.
"I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that's what it was probably like," Briscoe said. "That guy is just unbelievable on road courses. He's raised the bar for this entire series."
van Gisbergen's dominance at Sonoma was something that had not been seen in a long time. His 97 laps at the front were the most by a winner at the track since Gordon led 92 in 2004. While he is still working on improving his craft on ovals, with a best finish of 14th at Charlotte this season, van Gisbergen now has three wins and sits tied atop the playoff standings with Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell for the most wins in the series.
What's next for van Gisbergen after sizzling stretch of races?
With three straight weeks of ovals at Dover, Indianapolis and Iowa coming up, van Gisbergen will likely be toward the middle of the pack if the first half of the season is any indication. Another road race at Watkins Glen on Aug. 10 will be his next chance to add another win before the playoffs, leaving the door open for him to potentially lead the series in wins.
Although the comparison to the six-time NBA champion may seem wild to some, it shows the respect that van Gisbergen has earned in the garage and his talent on road courses to even be mentioned in the same sentence with someone like Jordan. He has won four of his 10 road/street course starts and has six straight finishes of seventh or better.
The results certainly speak for themselves as van Gisbergen continues to own road and street courses. Sunday was just the latest example of how good he is on these layouts and why Trackhouse Racing founder Justin Marks gave him a full-time opportunity. That decision is paying off and will give van Gisbergen a solid points advantage entering the playoffs when the Southern 500 goes green on Aug. 31.