WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Shane van Gisbergen carried a lingering frustration with him into Watkins Glen International.
What should have been a 2024 victory in his eyes was erased by a mistake he made entering the bus-stop chicane, handing the win instead to Chris Buescher.
Eleven months later, SVG made sure no error would cost him the win this time.
“It certainly makes up for it,” van Gisbergen said.
The Trackhouse Racing rookie made history Sunday afternoon, becoming the first NASCAR Cup Series rookie to collect four wins in a season and the first driver, period, to earn four road-course victories in the same season. His dominant performance, though, made him feel like anything but a rookie. A relentless romp resulted in an 11-second margin of victory over runner-up Christopher Bell, who finished second to SVG for the second time on a road course this year after winning in March at Circuit of The Americas.
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With only two weeks remaining in the Cup Series’ regular season, van Gisbergen has built up 22 playoff points to lean on through the Round of 16. His inaugural appearance is earmarked by hopes to advance out of the first round and into the Round of 12, where the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval provides an opportunity to propel him toward an improbable run at the NASCAR Cup Series championship. The plan Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks believed to be possible is suddenly manifesting into a reality.
“That’s why I moved here, and that’s why I guess Justin believed in me and he knew I could do this,” van Gisbergen said. “Yeah, I’ve changed my life to come and do this. And to come and make true of what everyone believed in me and to execute myself and get everything right, it’s why I go racing.”
Marks navigated the ups of Watkins Glen this weekend, with SVG’s Sunday win and the downs of Connor Zilisch’s broken collarbone Saturday in Victory Lane. Sunday, though, pushed his vision one step closer to reality. Until 2024, van Gisbergen had never competed on a paved oval, much less in a premier stock-car racing series’ oval event. That inexperience is, at times, still evident. But his sheer excellence on road courses has put him in serious contention not just to make the playoffs — a mark guaranteed two months ago at Mexico City — but to make a serious if surprising advancement through the postseason.
“Being able to go to the road courses and win like this is a really great support mechanism for his development on the ovals as we chase the points championship,” Marks said Sunday. “I’m very encouraged by his rate of learning on the ovals. I think he has only just begun to start to put it together. I think the ceiling is really high for him, and he’s here for a while.
“There’s not going to be a ton of pressure on him this year. It’s going to be like, go into the playoffs and learn about how things start to change in the playoffs, how teams race each other, how drivers race each other, how important points are, how you’re always looking at the (elimination) line in the next round, and that’s going to be another great experience for him. I think we have a real opportunity to get to the Round of 8, and either way, it’ll be a great learning experience for him and get him prepared for making a deeper run year after year.”
Van Gisbergen spent last season competing full-time in the Xfinity Series. And while learning stock cars, racers’ tendencies and getting familiar with different venues were each beneficial, the Xfinity car and Cup car each behave differently, necessitating a near reset in SVG’s learning curve as he shifted his 2025 attention to Cup. A turning point, though, came during a test in May at the 1.5-mile Charlotte. One week later, in the All-Star Open, van Gisbergen led 54 laps on the 0.625-mile short oval at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
“We had a little test at Charlotte before Wilkesboro and found some things and what I needed from the car, and it was like a lightbulb moment,” van Gisbergen said. “It was only the race before the main one in Wilkesboro, but to lead the race and kind of feel what I needed and get that flow in the car, it’s a lot about rhythm and car placement, and yeah, when you feel it on an oval and get it once, it’s like, OK, it kind of clicks. That’s been happening more and more.”
That’s a dangerous revelation for the field to combat. If he already understands the car this well on road courses, imagine how unstoppable he could be if he masters the ovals. First come this year’s playoffs, though, featuring a three-race Round of 16 that includes Darlington Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Having 22 points obviously gives us a little buffer, but we’ve got to keep building on what we’ve been doing at the ovals,” crew chief Stephen Doran said. “I think the last couple months has shown that we’re in the game now, consistently running top 15. I thought our last oval at Iowa, although it wasn’t a great finish, was probably one of our best as far as pace. His restarts were amazing. I think we’re peaking at the right time all around.”
SVG has already competed at Darlington and Bristol once each this season, but his outlook for the two couldn’t be more opposite. Doran said he believed van Gisbergen could fight for a Darlington top 10. Bristol, on the other hand, was the site of a 38th-place finish after a suspension issue put him out of the race.
“Probably the one we’d most be worried about is Bristol. I ran terrible there,” he said. “Bristol was so far from anything I’ve ever done, and that’s a really tough place. That’s probably the biggest worry, but Darlington, I feel fine. Especially now we have a lot of points, too, I think you’ve just got to have three solid weeks, and you might get through.
“We just have to play the averages, make no mistakes, and make sure we’re in a good spot every week, and who knows how far we’ll get.”