SONOMA, Calif. – Shane van Gisbergen was unstoppable at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday.

The New Zealander led all but 13 laps in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 as he went back-to-back in the NASCAR Cup Series. In the closing laps, van Gisbergen had to survive several late-race restarts. On the final restart with just four laps to go, Chase Briscoe nearly took over the top spot, but van Gisbergen in the Trackhouse Racing No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet was just too fast as he sailed away for his third victory of the season and the fourth of his career.

“I just have to thank these guys,” van Gisbergen said. “We built up all year, got better and better, and now we need to keep getting better on the ovals and start proving some people wrong.”

He continued and said, “It means everything. That’s why I race cars. I had an amazing time in Australia, and then to come here and the last couple weeks or years actually has been a dream come true. I’ve really enjoyed my time in NASCAR. Thanks, everyone, for making me feel so welcome. I hope I’m here for a long time to come.”

Briscoe started second in the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and he held on to finish runner-up.  The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was strong all afternoon long. He finished Stage 1 in seventh and Stage 2 in sixth. Although he was fast, Briscoe’s only chance of overthrowing Gisbergen was on restarts.

“The only opportunity I had was on the restarts,” Briscoe said. “I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s probably what it was like. That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He’s just so good. He’s really raised the bar on this entire series.

“Proud of the effort. 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. Yeah, proud of the effort. We were a second-place car all day and obviously ended up second with it.”

Chase Elliott was on a tear in the final laps, but in his fight to the front, he went off track. Despite the adversity, he battled back for a third-place finish in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet.

“I’m not sure if there was dirt across the track or what, but it happened a couple of times throughout the day,” Elliott said. “I was obviously pushing really hard. I just got sliding and ran out of road, but I don’t know that it would have been enough anyways, to be honest.”

Michael McDowell finished fourth, and Christopher Bell rebounded from an early spin to finish fifth. Rounding out the top-10 was Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.

Ross Chastain won Stage 1, and van Gisbergen won Stage 2.

There were 12 lead changes among six drivers. Van Gisbergen led a race high of 97 laps.

The caution came out on six occasions for 17 laps.

On Lap 63, contact with Chris Buescher sent Ryan Blaney into the hills as they raced into Turn 1.

Noah Gragson spun in Turn 7 to bring out the caution on Lap 101.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was sent spinning in front of the pack in Turn 8 on Lap 105 to bring out the final caution of the afternoon.

William Byron leads the standings by 14 points over Elliott.

The NASCAR Cup Series will visit Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 20, for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Live coverage will broadcast on TNT at 2 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images