<\/p>\n
Shane van Gisbergen was reportedly running at only about 80 percent for most of the final run during Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Sonoma, yet he still drove away from the field and beat his JR Motorsports teammate, Connor Zilisch, to the checkered flag by 1.324 seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SVG was forced to save fuel over the race’s final run after short-pitting prior to the end of Stage 2, but it hardly mattered. The road course ace from Auckland, New Zealand, dominated Saturday’s race en route to his sixth career NOAPS win and his second of 2026.<\/p>\n
The top two were a mirror image of the 2025 NOAPS race at Sonoma, in which Zilisch edged van Gisbergen for the victory. Van Gisbergen led 66 of the race’s 79 laps and starts sixth in Sunday’s Cup race, where he’s looking for a second straight Sonoma win.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n“Luckily, I think I saved enough [gas] early,” van Gisbergen told CW Sports. “Sorry, it wasn’t the most exciting. I guess boring is good when you’re the one leading. What an amazing car to lead like that. Stoked to get another one for these guys.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Zilisch, Brent Crews, Anthony Alfredo and Parker Retzlaff rounded out the top five, with \u00a0Carson Kvapil, Corey Day, defending series champion Jesse Love, Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed completing the top 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taylor Gray was running inside the top five but ran out of gas on the final lap and finished 29th as the first car one lap down. Gray received a push \u2014 albeit an illegal one that invalidated his final lap \u2014 from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in Brandon Jones to get to the line and complete the race.<\/p>\n
Zilisch stormed back after having to start at the rear in the field due to a flat tire in qualifying. He made up substantial ground in the first stage before a speeding penalty on pit road forced him to do a drive-through penalty with three laps remaining in Stage 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zilisch successfully clawed his way back through the pack in the second stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alfredo and Zilisch won Stages 1 and 2, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Van Gisbergen’s victory is Chevrolet’s 18th consecutive in road course races in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the 12th in the last 13 road races for JRM.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Notable results<\/h2>\n
Other notable finishers include Sheldon Creed in 11th, Austin Green in 12th, William Sawalich in 13th, Austin Hill in 22nd and points leader Justin Allgaier in 26th.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brad Perez finished last (38th) after issues pre-race prevented him from taking the green flag, while Ross Chastain finished 37th after mechanical issues took him out after only 29 laps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Jones finished 11 laps down in 36th after mechanical issues, while Leland Honeyman Jr. finished 35th after apparent engine issues in the closing laps.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n