Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen is beginning to stamp some authority on the NASCAR Xfinity series, with his second victory in a week at Sonoma Raceway, California.
After winning his NASCAR Cup debut on a Chicago street course last July, the three-time Aussie Supercars champion switched fulltime to the US motorsport championship, but has had to battle in the second-tier competition, as he comes to grips with the peculiarities of stock car racing.
Last week, he broke his duck on the Xfinity circuit, winning the Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland, and has backed that up with more success at the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250, edging American Sheldon Creed by 1.323s.
This time, van Gisbergen dominated from the moment he rolled onto the track, clocking fastest times in practice and qualifying for his first-ever pole, before leading 32 of the 79 laps for victory.
The performance did not come without controversy, as he contested a late restart with Austin Hill, who came off second best and eventually finished fifth.
"Man, what a race - an adventure up and down and up and down all day - but that last restart, I was just giving it all I had and two guys going for the same real estate came together," said van Gisbergen. "It was pretty awesome though, a lot of fun."
The rivals have pushed each other all season, colliding at Circuit of The Americas in Texas, as they contested the late lead. Both were eventually passed by Kyle Larson for the win, with van Gisbergen crossing second, but later relegated to 27th, after a 30-second penalty.
"I'm gonna leave it to the keyboard warriors on this one," said Hill at Sonoma. "I'll let them figure out what happened.
"No matter what comment I say, it'll be wrong. I plead the fifth, I'm not going to say anything about it.
"We'll just go on to the next one, good hard racing. We were holding off SVG for a while, had that caution and I knew it was going to be tough on the restart and it didn’t work out, but we had a good points day and finished in the top five.
"You can't ask for more than that."
The result boosts van Gisbergen up four spots to 10th on the overall championship standings, with his next outing at Iowa Speedway next Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kiwi Marcus Armstrong will start on the second row of the IndyCar Grand Prix at Road America, Wisconsin, after finishing third in the 'Fast Six' qualifying shootout.
Last week, Armstrong, 23, achieved his first podium finish, with third at Detroit, where fellow Kiwi Scott Dixon scored his 58th career victory, moving atop the championship standings. Dixon will start 10th on the grid at Road America, with Scott McLaughlin eighth.
