Odds Say SVG Wins Again—He Says It’s Just a Holiday

gettyimages-2224806834 — SONOMA, CALIFORNIA - JULY 12: Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 Red Bull Chevrolet, waits on the grid during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on July 12, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

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Road course superstar Shane van Gisbergen has a standard answer when asked about his expectations for any upcoming race.

“I don’t have any expectations,” the new Zealander always says.

Oddsmakers have other ideas. Coming to Sonoma Raceway, van Gisbergen was the heavy favorite to win both Saturday’s Pit Boss/Food Maxx 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race and Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series event (3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

After all, SVG had just completed a weekend sweep of the Xfinity and Cup races on the Chicago Street Course.

The three-time Australian Supercars champion has been on an amazing roll of late. In mid-June, he won the inaugural Mexico City race by 16.567 seconds over runner-up Christopher Bell.

Then came the dominating performance in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend. SVG arrives in California wine country with 11 Playoff points, good for fifth on the current Playoff grid, with two road courses left before the end of the 26-race regular season.

“It’s been a nice couple of weeks,” van Gisbergen said with classic understatement. “As I said multiple times last week, it’s like a holiday, these races, for me—just relax go have fun, and that’s when I drive at my best as well.”

Van Gisbergen started the Sonoma weekend with Friday’s pole-winning run for the Xfinity race, and followed that up grabbing the pole for the Cup event on Saturday.

And even if van Gisbergen avoids setting expectations for himself, other drivers in NASCAR’s top division have sized him up as formidable competition.

“He’s so good, and it’s rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is,” said Kyle Larson, the defending Sonoma race winner. “You know, he’s way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff.

“And he’s got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own, because the rest of the world does it—you know, right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks… like there’s zero chance I can learn how to do that.

“And even if I did, like there’s zero chance that I can have it be better than what I’m probably doing with left-foot braking. So yeah, he’s just so good. He’s still new to the oval stuff, so he’s going to continue to get better at that. And, yeah, I mean, if he can figure out the ovals, he’s going to be dominant.”