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Connor Zilisch fends off Shane van Gisbergen in instant classic at Sonoma

JHby: Jonathan Howard07/12/25Jondean25
Connor Zilisch Sonoma win
Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Leading 46 laps on the day, Connor Zilisch held off Shane van Gisbergen in an instant classic between the two drivers at Sonoma. That is one of the best road course races you will see between a pair of drivers in NASCAR. What a race!

All day long, we knew it was going to be Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen. SVG won the pole. He had also won the Cup Series pole earlier today. Zilisch showed that he might be the only driver who can consistently compete with SVG on these tracks.

This was not an easy win. It was perhaps the most impressive performance of Zilisch’s career yet. These two drivers put on a show for the fans. After last week’s rough finish, this one got physical as well.

Zilisch fought off every bump and hit that SVG threw at him the last few laps. Just pure NASCAR action.

There were no cautions for cause today in Sonoma. Only two cautions for stage breaks. Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen were both cutting the stage short to pit and flip track position at the end of each stage. Of course, that worked out well for them.

Leading 70 of 79 laps today, Zilisch and SVG were on another level. No one could touch them, and by the end of the race, P3 was 13 seconds behind. Credit to William Sawalich. He won the ARCA West race in an even wilder finish last night. He followed it up with his first top-five finish of the season today in the Xfinity Series.

While everyone else took a backseat today, fans didn’t lose out. This was an epic race with two elite talents doing what they do best.

Connor Zilisch gets third win of 2025

This season is really coming together for Connor Zilisch. In fact, he looks like he is perhaps the championship favorite. Since his injury and missing Texas earlier this season, Zilisch has seven top-five finishes and two wins in that time. He has three runner-up finishes in that same timeframe.

Winning at COTA, Pocono, and now Sonoma, the sky is the limit for Zilisch and the 88 team. Dover is the next challenge. Don’t sleep on him even though this is an oval race coming up. He has shown that he can race the ovals with the best of them, and last year, he won the ARCA race at the Monster Mile.

Taking down Shane van Gisbergen today was no small feat. Zilisch deserves all of the credit for his win today. There are few NASCAR drivers who have been able to go head-to-head with SVG like that and come out on top on a road course.

Bad news, Connor Zilisch won’t be racing in the Cup Series tomorrow. But at Watkins Glen in a few weeks, we will see SVG and Zilisch race twice in one weekend. Zilisch may end up winning his first Cup Series race when that comes around.

Zilisch is only 10 points off of Sam Mayer for second in the standings. He trails Allgaier by 69 points for the regular-season points lead. If Allgaier, Mayer, and Hill aren’t careful, there is a real chance that Zilisch could steal the regular-season championship.