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4 NASCAR Cup Series Drivers Who Can Beat Shane van Gisbergen At Sonoma

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Chase Elliott

It’s not often that a driver goes into a NASCAR Cup Series race as heavily favored to win as Shane van Gisbergen will be on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

But given that van Gisbergen arrives at the Northern California road course having captured two road course victories from the pole in the last four weeks, any reasonably minded prognosticator would be silly to bet against him.

With that said, anything can happen in a NASCAR Cup Series race, and no driver — van Gisbergen included — is ever a shoe-in for the trophy.

Let’s quickly run through the four drivers with the best chance to at least temporarily knock van Gisbergen off his perch as NASCAR’s resident king of the road.

1. The Road Course Wins Leader Among Active Drivers, Chase Elliott

Triumphant seven times at tracks where drivers turn both left and right, Chase Elliott trails only Jeff Gordon (9 wins) and Tony Stewart (8) on the list of all-time Cup Series winners on road courses.

The only asterisk? Elliott recorded all of his now league-leading seven road course victories before the debut of the Next Generation car that Cup Series drivers have campaigned since 2022.

Even so, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champ and Hendrick Motorsports driver is still a threat every time NASCAR ventures to a road circuit, and Sunday at Sonoma — where Elliott has actually never been to Victory Lane — will be no exception.

2. Last Year’s Sonoma Raceway Runner-up, Michael McDowell

Before a mechanical issue on his No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet last weekend on the Chicago Street Course, Michael McDowell seemed to have the field covered.

How dominant was the veteran driver and 2021 Daytona 500 winner? Well, he led the opening stage from flag to flag, and even Shane van Gisbergen failed to seriously challenge him for the top spot.

Historically one of the Cup Series’ best road racers, McDowell finished second to Kyle Larson at Sonoma one year ago after coming home third in the Wine Country two years earlier.

Wondering about McDowell’s only NASCAR Cup Series win outside of Daytona? Yep, you surmised correctly — it came on a road course. Specifically the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where he celebrated most recently, in 2023.

3. Two-Time Sonoma Raceway Winner Kyle Larson

As just noted, Kyle Larson is the defending race winner at Sonoma, where last season he led 19 of 110 laps and took the checkered more than four seconds ahead of Michael McDowell.

Larson also also sipped the ceremonial Sonoma winner’s wine in his championship season of 2021, leading a whopping 57 of 92 laps from the pole on the way to victory.

Widely considered NASCAR’s most talented and versatile driver, Larson has prevailed 26 times — far more than any of his competitors — since 2021.  Nearly 20 percent of those wins have come on road courses, which says a lot about the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s abilities as a road racer since ovals make up over 80 percent of the Cup Series schedule.

4. Three-Time Road Race Winner AJ Allmendinger

No full-time Cup Series driver besides Shane van Gisbergen has a deeper road racing background than AJ Allmendinger, who has logged a lot of laps on non-oval tracks from years gone by while competing in various open-wheel series.

It’s no surprise, then, that Allmendinger has posted each of his three career Cup Series wins on a road course. The latest of those came in 2023, when he finished P1 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL for his current team at Kaulig Racing, which he also took to Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2021.

Allmendinger is surprisingly winless at Sonoma, a track just two-and-a-half hours from his hometown of Los Gatos, California. Considering Allmendinger’s proximity to home, a win on Sunday at Sonoma would undoubtedly be wildly popular among those in attendance.

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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