Van Gisbergen played second fiddle to his JR Motorsports teammate for the lion’s share of the race, and in a thrilling third stage the Kiwi came up short.

It marked Zilisch’s second win of the season for JR Motorsports after his earlier triumph at Pocono.

“First, hats off to Shane, that was awesome,” said Zilisch.

“All race long, I felt like we were racing each other with respect.

“I wheel-hopped a little into [Turn] 7 that one time and got into him, but other than that it was awesome to get to race against him finally and battle with him a whole race long.

“So proud of this Chevrolet #88 team. We did such an awesome job all weekend long just executing, and our car was as fast as Xfinity mobile from the moment we got here.

“We made the right adjustments and here we are, victory lane.”

A week on from losing to van Gisbergen on the streets of Chicago in a move that he said was line-ball, Zilisch said he was grateful for how his teammate raced him.

“It’s always the hardest trying to save fuel while someone is breathing down your neck,” he said.

“There was a chance he could have got by me when he hit me and he let me have it and raced me clean.

“I respect the hell out of him for that. I’m looking forward to racing against him more. We’ve got to race against each other at Watkins Glen and that’s one of my favourite tracks. I hope I can beat him again there.

“It’s awesome. I didn’t want to have to do anything dirty to win this race and I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad I got to do it fair and square. I learned a lot racing around him and he’s got so many years of experience on me that I can learn from.

“Very glad to get the opportunity to race against him. Glad he came to America to race against us and really proud of this team. It’s awesome to get our third win at a track this beautiful with some fans so awesome.”

.@ConnorZilisch gets his road course revenge against teammate @shanevg97 at @RaceSonoma! pic.twitter.com/Bm6YKsiun9

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) July 12, 2025

Asked post-race if he throught about being more aggressive, van Gisbergen said he wanted to race Zilisch fairly.

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to be [too agressive],” he explained.

Congrats to those guys. What an awesome race. I hope everyone enjoyed that.

“I gave him a bump into [Turn] 7 and wheel-hopped and probably could have taken it, but I just waited and I didn’t want to do it like that.

“Then we raced down the hill. What an awesome race.”

At the start, van Gisbergen got the holeshot, but it wasn’t long before Zilisch challenged for the lead.

On Lap 2, the #88 dove to the inside at the hairpin and the pair ran side-by-side up the hill. Zilisch led Lap 3.

At the same time, van Gisbergen bemoaned low starting pressures, which by Lap 5 righted themselves and the Kiwi was flying again.

“I’m really struggling with the left rear,” he said to his crew on the radio.

Through the esses, van Gisbergen retook the lead and held sway until he pitted just short of the Stage 1 end on Lap 17.

In that sequence, Zilisch beat van Gisbergen out of pit road.

Sam Mayer took Stage 1 while Zilisch was 10th and van Gisgergen was 11th. After the pit stops, the JR Motorsports drivers restarted at the point.

Zilisch led the field to green on Lap 25 with van Gisbergen on his inside. Side-by-side up the hill, the 18-year-old held onto the lead into Turn 3.

👍 pic.twitter.com/Xv9DM7wOJH

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) July 12, 2025

Come Lap 28, van Gisbergen showed his nose into the hairpin and got alongside Zilisch. At the same time, he threw his hand out the window and gave his teammate the thumbs up.

Moments later, van Gisbergen noted his “left rear is starting to struggle again” and he gave the lead back to Zilisch out of Turn 3 on Lap 37 with nine to go in Stage 2.

“I don’t think I drove it harder. The rears just burnt off it,” van Gisbergen radioed.

“The balance is better but the rear has just died. Might have to take that back out.”

The crew debated whether to take the wedge out that was put into the car to help in the right-handers. Ultimately, the set-up change stayed in.

On Lap 44, van Gisbergen pitted from second before Stage 2 ended.

On the Lap 51 restart, the teammates ran side-by-side. Zilisch put up some staunch defence, and van Gisbergen’s attempt to pass him around the outside at Turn 7 was fraught.

Attack turned to defence as William Sawalich in the #18 made the most of the opportunity and got around van Gisbergen.

👍 pic.twitter.com/Xv9DM7wOJH

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) July 12, 2025

It was a short-lived second place for Sawalich. Just a lap later, van Gisbergen retook the spot at Turn 7.

The gap to Zilisch ebbed and flowed at about one second with Zilisch slightly compromised on fuel.

The final stanza was a cat-and-mouse of Zilisch fuel-saving and van Gisbergen conserving his tyre life. Despite a somewhat conservative approach, they left their rivals languishing. The nearest threat, Sawalich, was six seconds in arrears with 10 laps to go.

Van Gisbergen got within a few car lengths of Zilisch but radioed that his tyres were shot.

“Yeah, I’ve got no rear,” said van Gisbergen.

“Think about pitting if there’s a potential yellow. The rears are dead.”

Despite concerns about his tyres, van Gisbergen piled tons of pressure on Zilisch.

With two laps to go, van Gisbergen put the bumper to Zilisch through Turn 6 and again through the esses.

Zilisch put on an all-time defensive display, keeping van Gisbergen at bay to take his second win of the season after his earlier triumph at Pocono.

Van Gisbergen will turn his attention to the NASCAR Cup Series where he’ll start from pole position.

“Hopefully we can have another good race. I learnt a lot today, how the track rubbered in and how the lines changed a bit during the race,” he said.

“Really valuable to do this race and a lot of fun too.”

Results: NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss FoodMaxx 250, Sonoma Raceway

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