Shane van Gisbergen made history at Sonoma on Sunday by securing his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory, equaling a significant record held by Jimmie Johnson. The rookie driver achieved three wins in just 33 races, joining Johnson’s elite 2002 rookie-season pace and placing himself among the sport’s legends.
Driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing, van Gisbergen finished ahead of Chase Briscoe to claim his third win of the current season. Briscoe himself commended van Gisbergen’s performance, underlining the rookie’s rapid ascent in NASCAR.
Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time Cup Series champion who shares the record for the most championships with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, had set the bar high by winning three races quickly during his rookie year. Now, van Gisbergen’s recent wins have matched this feat, emphasizing his growing prominence in the series.
Van Gisbergen Approaches Johnson’s Pole-to-Victory Record
In his rookie season, Johnson notably started 11 races from the pole position in 2008, converting five of those starts into wins at tracks such as Phoenix, Martinsville, Kansas, California, and Indianapolis. Since then, no driver had matched Johnson’s number of pole-to-win triumphs in a single season—until van Gisbergen’s Sonoma victory.
Van Gisbergen clinched pole position at Mexico City, Chicago, and Sonoma this year and won all three races, effectively becoming the first since Johnson to claim three Cup Series wins from pole in one season.
Shane van Gisbergen is the first driver to win 3 NASCAR Cup Series races from pole in a single season since Jimmie Johnson in 2008. pic.twitter.com/tY3b14nwi3
— NASCAR Insights (@NASCARInsights) July 14, 2025
Notably, van Gisbergen also matched Jeff Gordon’s accomplishment of winning three consecutive road course races in NASCAR—a feat Gordon achieved in the 1998-1999 span.
The Future Potential of Van Gisbergen’s Record-Breaking Season
While many competitors battle fiercely across different tracks, van Gisbergen continues to dominate road courses, though he still adapts to oval racing formats. His current tally of three wins ties him with established drivers like Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell for the most victories this season.
With his fourth career Cup Series win at Sonoma, van Gisbergen now shares the modern-day rookie win record. The next victory would set him ahead of celebrated champions Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson, who both won three races in their respective rookie years.
Stewart originally set the rookie-season wins record in 1999, which Johnson equaled in 2002. Van Gisbergen is now positioned to surpass both, especially with road courses like Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Roval remaining on the schedule.
As TNT mentioned, Shane van Gisbergen’s win marks the first time a driver has won three-straight road course races from the pole since Jeff Gordon did it between Sonoma 1998 and Sonoma 1999.
This was part of Gordon’s streak of six-straight road course wins from 1997 to 2000. pic.twitter.com/5yaLuFxq2J
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) July 13, 2025
Beyond rookie milestones, van Gisbergen is in contention to challenge Jeff Gordon’s record of six consecutive road course wins, a streak spanning four seasons between 1997 and 2000. Should van Gisbergen secure victories at the upcoming road course events, starting with Watkins Glen, he could tie that historic streak by next year.