There was some contact between Shane Van Gisbergen in winning the Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway over Austin Hill but then came a celebratory burnout directly in front of his emerging rival of sorts.
On the final restart, with 11 laps to go, leader Hill certainly pinched SVG who stayed in the gas and the result was a hip-check. Van Gisbergen went to the lead, and would go on to win the race, while the contact dropped Hill to fifth.
It’s the second win in a row for Van Gisbergen, who also won the weekend before on the road course at Portland International Raceway. It’s also the second time in three road course races where there has been contact between the two in the decisive moments of a race. The first incident between the two came in April at Circuit of the Americas.
SVG then did his celebratory burnout right in front of and beside Hill.
The first question to SVG in his post-race press conference.
Given what happened at Circuit of the Americas, was it like, whatever happens, happens?
“100 percent,” Van Gisbergen said definitively
This is the first time Van Gisbergen has had to race like that in his racing career because NASCAR style contact isn’t allowed in Australian Supercars but Hill has established the rules of engagement to him and that’s how he will race in return, he said.
“I hate racing and thinking like this but we’ve both taken a win from each other now,” Van Gisbergen said. “I didn’t go into the corner thinking I was going to hit him off the track but I was going to do whatever it took.
“When he kept choosing the left on the restart, I thought it was surprising because I chose the left on the first restart and paid for it. So, when he did I thought it would be a good opportunity to hang on the outside and force my way into the inside of turn 2.
“I didn’t take him out properly. I just made a hole and went on through.”
For his part, Hill, who is embracing kind of a heel role in the Xfinity Series as of late, referred to his detractors as keyboard warriors on his TV interview and seconded that sentiment in the media scrum.
“I’m going to let everyone else figure out what happened there,” Hill said afterwards. “It seems like any opinion I have is always wrong so I’ll let them figure it out. At the end of the day, was racing hard for the win, and we’ll move on to the next one.”
The Big One at Sonoma?
There was also a massive crash to start the final stage.
The initial contact was made between Chander Smith and Jeb Burton near the back of the top-10 and everyone behind them struggled to take evasive action.
All told, there were 19 cars listed as being involved in the melee.
2 – Jesse Love
6 – Thomas Annunziata
9 – Brandon Jones
11 – Josh Williams
17 – Boris Said
19 – Ty Gibbs
20 – John Hunter Nemechek
26 – Ed Jones
27 – Jeb Burton
29 – Blaine Perkins
31 – Parker Retzlaff
39 – Ryan Sieg
43 – Ryan Ellis
50 – Preston Pardus
81 – Chandler Smith
91 – Kyle Weatherman
92 – Josh Bilicki
98 – Riley Herbst
What happened, Josh Williams?
“The 81 was in a hurry to go to the front, I guess,” Williams said. “I don’t know if he had a bad pit stop or what. Overly excited. We still had 30 laps to go. You know these kids, they get excited and get in a hurry to get to the front. Now there’s a bunch of torn up race cars as a result.”
What about Jones?
“The big problem is that it’s the apex of the corner, you’re not in gear and you get pulled into the wreck shifting and I couldn’t get it out of gear,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot I could have done there.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250
Sonoma Raceway
Sonoma, California
Saturday, June 8, 2024
1. (1) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 79.
2. (9) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 79.
3. (8) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 79.
4. (22) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 79.
5. (3) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 79.
6. (5) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 79.
7. (11) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 79.
8. (7) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, 79.
9. (12) Cole Custer, Ford, 79.
10. (14) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 79.
11. (13) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 79.
12. (6) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 79.
13. (15) Riley Herbst, Ford, 79.
14. (33) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 79.
15. (17) Ed Jones, Toyota, 79.
16. (31) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 79.
17. (4) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 79.
18. (21) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 79.
19. (19) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 79.
20. (18) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 79.
21. (36) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 79.
22. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 79.
23. (32) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 79.
24. (30) Brad Perez, Ford, 79.
25. (24) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 79.
26. (34) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 79.
27. (38) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 79.
28. (35) Boris Said, Chevrolet, 79.
29. (29) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 78.
30. (25) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 78.
31. (16) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 77.
32. (37) Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 72
33. (10) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 71
34. (26) Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, Transmission, 63.
35. (2) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, Accident, 50.
36. (20) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 49.
37. (28) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Accident, 49
38. (27) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 49.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 71.986 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 11 Mins, 2 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.323 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 14 laps.
Lead Changes: 3 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Van Gisbergen # 1-21;T. Gibbs(i) 22-47;A. Hill 48-68;S. Van Gisbergen # 69-79.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Shane Van Gisbergen # 2 times for 32 laps; Ty Gibbs(i) 1 time for 26 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 21 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 97,16,21,48,20,81,8,5,31,98
Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,97,2,18,00,81,20,48,7,31
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.