Less than one week after picking up his maiden NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Portland International Raceway, Shane van Gisbergen appears to have this road course thing figured out.
Piloting the No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing, the three-time Supercars champion clocked in the fastest of the 39 drivers in Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Sonoma.
Laying down a fast time of 75.290 seconds (95.152mph), Van Gisbergen led the Xfinity Series field by more than three-tenths of a second, with his closest competitor, Parker Kligerman, posting a lap of 75.599s / 94.763mph.
Ty Gibbs, a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series, ranked third in the session, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Justin Allgaier and Jesse Love, both Xfinity Series regulars, completed the top five in the extended session.
Austin Hill was ranked sixth in the session, while road course ringer AJ Allmendinger posted the seventh-fastest lap. Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Riley Herbst and Cole Custer were eighth and ninth, with Chandler Smith completing the top-10.
The 50-minute session featured a couple of stoppages for various incidents, one of which saw a mechanical issue for Josh Bilicki in the No. 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet. The second was more severe, though, as Boris Said crashed his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro into the barrier in the first corner, destroying the No. 17.
After running 11 laps in the session, Said cooked in 32nd, while Bilicki only got to make three laps around the 1.99-mile road course, and was classified as the slowest in practice. Ryan Ellis, Riley Herbst, Jeremy Clements, and Austin Hill also had some minor incidents in the session, but all were able to return to the racetrack without major damage.
Next for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is qualifying from Sonoma Raceway on Saturday at 3:30 PM ET, before contesting the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 at 8:00 PM ET on Saturday evening.
Practice Results: NASCAR Xfinity Series Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 at Sonoma
