It’s hard to keep an eagle caged because of its dream to conquer the skies. Just like that, you can’t keep Shane van Gisbergen down for too long when it comes to road courses. After his runner-up finish in the Xfinity race to Connor Zilisch,  SVG continued his road course dominance at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Clearly, he was indomitable on the track, leading 97 of 110 laps, beating the record of the legendary Jeff Gordon, who led 92 laps continuously on the Sonoma track. His hat-trick win at three road courses within just 34 starts is the highest, with an average winning percentage of 33.3%. And, this dominance has taken the competition to the next level.

Top drivers who were considered to be in the elite club of road courses, like Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson, are now trailing behind SVG to get close to him. The 2023, champion Ryan Blaney recently said, “The only time he gets to see SVG is when he is watching the races on television.” Blaney, on the other hand, had a very bad day at Sonoma, finishing 36th after a crash at Lap 62. And, out of all the road course heroes, only Bell put down a great performance, finishing 5th. However, he is not satisfied with the top 5 result.

C. Bell is eager to find Shane van Gisbergen’s secret

It doesn’t really matter how many wrecks, cautions, or restarts happen; if it’s a road course, most probably the leader will be the No.88 Trackhouse Racing Driver, Shane Van Gisbergen. However, Bell is trying to figure out how the Trackhouse driver is doing that.

After the race at Sonoma, Bell, in his post-race pitlane interview, was asked if it was a bad finish (P5), to which he said the strategy was not close enough. And, when talking about SVG’s dominance. Bell was more descriptive of SVG’s dominance than his own performance.

“Well, what, if anything, can be done about the 88? I mean, he just seems so dominant. Yeah, they’ve hit on something and, you know, clearly he’s a great road course racer, but he’s been uh, you know, he ran most of them last year and even in 2023, he didn’t win all of his races. So, uh, they clearly have hit on something that that fits his style, and he’s obviously an excellent driver, and they’re kicking our butts. So, uh, need to need to get a little bit better. All of us need to catch up,” Christopher Bell mentioned to Frontstretch.

So, Shane van Gisbergen made a sensational debut at the inaugural Chicago Street Course in July 2023, starting third and taking the checkered flag. And, to Bell’s concerns, SVG has won on Sonoma, as well as Chicago in 2024 as well, in his Xfinity races. However, for the Mexico win, this was NASCAR’s first time on international ground. So, to Bell’s worries, one can say maybe the Kiwi driver has learned the road course tracks well.

While that’s Bell’s judgment on the Trackhouse driver, this is what SVG had to say post-race. “These races are really hard to win, even though we had the fastest car today, it’s very rare in NASCAR for the fastest car to win the race. There’s so much stuff that happens—those late-race restarts. Just to execute, make the most of it… Really, really cool.”

And, it’s not just about the road courses; the team is showing great trust in him. “He’s something NASCAR has never seen on road courses,” said his crew chief, Stephen Doran, “It’s just an honor being part of it. He’s amazing. I don’t know what else I can say about it. He shows it every time we come to these tracks.”

In all, Bell might be sceptical about his rival, but he surely acknowledged SVG’s ability to win at any road course provided. Bell’s runner-up finish at Mexico also shows his skills on road courses. And, even though Bell is dissatisfied with his performance, he and his team have managed to finish in the Top 10 in Sonoma.

Christopher Bell is not satisfied unless he finishes first

C. Bell seems to be quite harsh on himself with the criticism, as the 5th place finish marked a great bounce back from in contrast to his 24th, 30th, and 17th finishes in the previous races.

Addressing the same, after the race, he said, “I mean, honestly, our car performance was pretty good. I don’t. Obviously, the 88’s got the field covered right now, so I need to do a little bit of homework on that. We’re just uh struggling to get a little bit of momentum right now. It’s everything is just being really sloppy on all accounts, and  yeah, to walk out here with a fifth place finish hopefully gives us a little bit of momentum, and we can we can keep it going, build on it.”

However, in an overall perspective, the Joe Gibbs Racing did give a good performance. Ty Gibbs, who was among the most celebrated contenders to win at Sonoma, finished 7th. While the N0.19 Chase Briscoe gave a tough challenge to SVG, trailing close behind him to take the lead. Briscoe finished second with a small difference of 1.128 seconds. Unfortunately, the veteran legend of JGR Denny Hamlin could only finish in 20th position.

Does Christopher Bell have a chance at the NASCAR 2025 Championship? Let us know in the comments below.