AUSTIN, Texas — After winning Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Circuit of The Americas, Shane van Gisbergen admitted his No. 97 Cup Series hot rod for Trackhouse Racing was lacking pace. He wasn’t certain he’d be able to contend for the victory, a rarity for the New Zealander at road courses.
But come the green flag in Sunday’s DuraMax Grand Prix, van Gisbergen did what SVG does on road courses, maneuvering the car forward in a hurry. By Lap 7, he had already progressed to sixth position, more than cutting his track-position deficit in half from a 13th-place starting spot, his worst starting effort in 12 career road-course appearances.
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Ultimately, van Gisbergen’s pursuit fell just short of history. After winning each of the last five road-course races in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen ended Sunday second, 3.944 seconds shy of tying Jeff Gordon’s record of six consecutive triumphs at a road course in Cup competition.
“It’s still good. I’ve always had [expletive] results here,” van Gisbergen said. “It’s good to get a win and a second for the weekend. Yesterday, I felt like we were a long way off and today, I think the car was much better, so the guys did a good job of tuning it up.”
It took just over 10 laps for van Gisbergen to crack the top five. He and Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain chased stage points in Stage 1, as the No. 97 car earned nine of them, one spot short of Chastain’s stage win.
“I need to keep scoring points and accumulate as much as we can,” van Gisbergen said. “I’m pretty stoked about that.”
Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney was the car to beat in the opening stage. At the start of Stage 2, polesitter Reddick showed his hand while van Gisbergen continued marching forward. At the end of the second stage, that trio had separated itself as the elite cars, all electing to flip the stage to have track position come the start of the final stage.
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Compared to earlier in the race, No. 97 crew chief Stephen Doran thought the team’s Trackhouse entry had closed the gap on Reddick, who led a race-high 58 laps. Yet prior to a caution flying for Chastain dropping a right-rear tire onto the course with 20 laps remaining, van Gisbergen still ranked behind Reddick and Blaney. The threesome stayed out while other drivers pitted for fresh Goodyear tires, hoping to make a difference in the final stint.
“I think maybe I was a little deceived in the next to last run,” Doran told NASCAR.com. “I thought we had closed the gap enough to him that we could fight it out on equal stuff. My initial instinct was to pit on that last caution. I thought we were as good to race it out – and we weren’t.”
Van Gisbergen passed Blaney on the opening lap of the restart and was in the tracks of Reddick. He hounded the No. 45 Toyota for upward of 10 laps before Reddick took off. After the checkered flag, the six-time road-course victor gave Reddick all the credit for beating him straight up. Van Gisbergen wasn’t certain that Reddick was showing his full hand either, believing the No. 45 car could separate further from him.
“I knew I had gotten beaten by somebody better,” van Gisbergen said. “[Reddick’s] car was really good and he never put a foot wrong. He was driving really well, consistent line, accurate through the bundles. It was impressive to watch. Knowing we got beat by someone that was better is good, just need to work harder and make our car a bit better and there are some things I can do better too.”
With the runner-up finish, van Gisbergen netted 48 points, trailing only Reddick and Ty Gibbs in points scored Sunday. He gained 11 spots in the regular-season standings, moving to fifth after the first three races of the 2026 campaign and one week after netting his best career oval finish (sixth, EchoPark Speedway).
The driver and crew chief had mixed emotions on coming up short, knowing they fell short of the ultimate goal.
“I guess it’s a good consolation to come out of here with a lot of points,” Doran said, “but it burns right now not to win.”
Van Gisbergen was pleased: “Second sucks, but to get good points days, that’s what I need to get into this Chase.”