Another road course race led to another masterclass from Shane van Gisbergen in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Chase Briscoe was the next best, a distant second even with multiple late-race cautions.
Van Gisbergen dominated, leading 97 of 110 laps and was only leaped when pitting in the waning laps of Stage 1 and 2, along with bringing the No. 88 Chevrolet to pit road at Lap 84. He had such an advantage on the bulk of field that he still earned 19 stage points as other competitors dipped to pit road to flip the stage.
Briscoe tried everything in his power during a pair of late-race restarts to get by van Gisbergen. It wasn’t enough, though he settled for the best finish of his Cup Series career on a road course in second.
“I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s probably what it was like,” Briscoe told TNT Sports, having high praise for SVG. “That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He’s just so good. He’s really raised the bar on this entire series.
“I thought there was one restart I was maybe going to get clear of him, but truthfully even if I cleared him, he was probably going to pass me back by the end of the lap. We were a second-place car all day and ended up second with it.”
Throughout the weekend, Briscoe was silver medalist. The No. 19 car, which had won three of the previous six Sonoma races with Martin Truex Jr., started on the front row and flipped the opening stage to finish seventh. The James Small-led crew had the same strategy in the second stage, bumping one spot further up in the running order in sixth. Briscoe admitted that the No. 19 team opened its playbook to him, showing areas where Truex excelled around the 1.99-mile road course.
While van Gisbergen toyed with the field, Briscoe was the only driver that was able to keep a reasonable distance to the lead. While other contenders pitted during a late caution, Small left Briscoe on the track as the No. 19 team ran its best speed at Lap 93. That proved to be the right call, as the top two drivers held off Chase Elliott and Michael McDowell, both of whom pitted.
“I honestly don’t know what more I need,” Briscoe stated. I” feel like my car is extremely good, and I feel like every time I would run down Shane he would just pick up the pace himself and start driving back away. It was frustrating at times, but I was honestly happy with the effort. This is by far my worst racetrack. Kind of surprised myself, truthfully.”
With the runner-up effort, Briscoe has seven top-five finishes through the opening 20 races, his new personal best for a single season (previous best was six in 2022). He’s one top 10 shy of matching his most for a season (nine in 2024).
With the No. 19 team finding consistent speed, Briscoe feels like a legitimate contender on a weekly basis for the first time of his five-year Cup career.
“Just so honored and thankful that I get to drive this 19 car with Bass Pro Shops on the hood,” Briscoe noted. “I cannot thank Johnny Morris, J.P. Morris, the entire Toyota family, Bass Pro Shops family, and obviously Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me this opportunity because I am certainly having the time of my life right now. It’s fun running week in and week out in the Cup Series and feeling like you have a shot to go win.”
The series visits Dover Motor Speedway next where Briscoe has a previous best outing of 13th.