RICHMOND, Va. — With The Chase postseason format shifting the focus of competition, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen is someone who has felt the new emphasis. The sport’s reigning road-course master had earned previous positions in The Chase with his trophy haul on this season’s road-course stops.
The 37-year-old New Zealander has two wins in 2026 and sits 15th in points, just inside the 16-driver Chase cutoff. More refined racing on all tracks, along with his road-course dominance, has put van Gisbergen in a title-contending position. And it’s something Van Gisbergen said he has consciously worked on.
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“I guess initially, it’s probably a good thing for the sport,” van Gisbergen said of the championship format change. “I guess initially, I was brought over here for that ‘win and you’re in’ to guarantee a spot in the playoffs, so yeah, I certainly knew I had to get better at ovals, and I think we’ve done that.
“I don’t think my mindset has changed every race. I think maybe these couple of races, I’m points racing a little bit, but the rest of the year, you’re just driving flat out. I don’t think I’ve ever really point-raced trying to stay out of trouble. I think that when you’re not driving naturally, you find yourself in trouble. So yeah, I just try and drive every race flat out.”
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His emphasis and work are evident. He has already equaled career single-season highs in top fives (five) and top 10s (seven) with 13 races remaining. Four of his top 10s have come on traditionally difficult ovals, and he’s twice set a career-best showing on ovals — fifth place at both Nashville Superspeedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Van Gisbergen started his weekend off by winning the pole position for Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet — his first career pole in the series and first pole position of any kind on an oval.