Shane van Gisbergen’s dominance on road courses has earned him a comparison to Michael Jordan (Image: Getty)
Chase Briscoe likened Shane van Gisbergen to one of the greatest players in NBA history moments after falling short to the No. 88 Chevrolet driver at Sonoma Raceway.
The Toyota Save Mart 350 was rife with tension, featuring a near physical altercation between Ty Gibbs and Brad Keselowski’s pit crews, Noah Gragson expressing his displeasure with Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez turning down Ross Chastain’s apology and Ryan Blaney’s blunt reaction to being run off the track by Chris Buescher.
Despite the various on-track scuffles, van Gisbergen smoothly sailed to victory en route to tying Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell for the most wins in 2025. Perhaps even more impressive, he became the first driver since Jeff Gordon in 1998 and 1999 to win three-straight road course races from pole position.
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Following van Gisbergen’s dominant performance — during which he led a whopping 97 of 110 laps — Briscoe compared competing against the 36-year-old on road courses to playing basketball with Michael Jordan at the peak of his career.
“Really the only opportunity I had was on the restarts,” said Briscoe, who settled for a P2 finish in Sunday’s event. “I obviously never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s what it was probably like. That guy’s just unbelievable on road courses. Just so good. He’s really raised the bar of this entire series. Proud of the effort. I thought there was one restart I was maybe gonna get clear of him, but I mean, truthfully, he was probably gonna pass me back by the end of the lap.
Chase Briscoe finished runner-up to Shane van Gisbergen at Sonoma Raceway (Image: Getty)
“We were second-place car all day and obviously ended up second with it. Man, I honestly don’t know what more I need. I feel like my car is extremely good and I feel like every time I would kind of run down Shane, he would just pick up the pace himself and start driving back away. So, yeah, it was frustrating at times, but I was honestly happy with the effort. This is by far my worst race track. So, kind of surprised myself, truthfully.”
