WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Like a world-class hunter stalking defenseless prey, Shane van Gisbergen reasserted his claim to the status as the best road-course racer NASCAR has ever seen.
It’s not just that the New Zealander beat runner-up Michael McDowell to the finish line to win Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen by 7.288 seconds. It was the way SVG ran down late-race leader Ty Gibbs to the tune of 29.2 seconds in 18 laps at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course.
The mythical shark “Jaws” couldn’t have been a more relentless or terrifying pursuer.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos
In defending last year’s win at The Glen, Trackhouse Racing’s van Gisbergen scored his seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory — all on road or street courses — and his first this season.
“Unbelievable to win with (the No.) 97,” van Gisbergen said. “Thank you to Trackhouse. We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing. Good tweaks, and then today, so what a race car.
“Then (crew chief) Stephen (Doran) made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Then to run them down, very, very special to do two in a row. Just stoked for these guys, you know, to execute every facet of our game. Speechless. This is so cool.”
Starting from the pole, van Gisbergen led the first 18 laps before short-pitting the first 20-lap stage. He pitted once again on Lap 41 under a bizarre caution caused by a tent blowing through the air from the camping area onto the race track.
After passing McDowell for the lead on Lap 47, van Gisbergen stayed on the track to win the second stage at Lap 50 and declined to pit on Lap 61 under caution for debris from Joey Logano’s left-front tire. That strategy was contrary to most of the rest of the field.
Van Gisbergen built a lead of more than six seconds before making a green-flag stop on Lap 76. That’s when the heroics began in earnest.
SHOP: Winner’s gear
Leaving pit road more than 29 seconds behind Gibbs and Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch, van Gisbergen charged through the field in pursuit of the first- and second-place cars. Both Gibbs and Zilisch were saving fuel after pitting on Lap 61 and were racing on tires that were degrading rapidly.
Zilisch dropped from contention on Lap 92 with a flat right-front tire and finished 20th after posting the race’s Xfinity Fastest Lap. One lap later, van Gisbergen muscled past a helpless Gibbs into the lead and stretched his advantage until the finish.
McDowell, on a similar pit strategy to SVG’s, passed Gibbs for second on Lap 95. Gibbs held third, followed by Chase Briscoe and series leader Tyler Reddick, who leaves Watkins Glen with a 129-point lead over second place Denny Hamlin (16th on Sunday).
“Yeah, it’s great. It’s great to get this Chevrolet in the top five,” said McDowell, who had to settle for best-in-class in his No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. “There were moments where I thought, ‘Oh, maybe we can hang with SVG,’ and it felt like he was just pacing himself back off me, and he would take back off.
“In that second stage there, we got a little off strategy and then recovered well, which (crew chief) Travis (Peterson) did a great job of getting the track position when we needed it. Just not quite enough to run him down.
“Like I said, it’s just tough, man. Second is awesome. It’s great to get momentum back on our side. We needed it after a rough few weeks, but we wanted to get to Victory Lane.”
In fuel-saving mode over the last 39 laps, Gibbs couldn’t run the pace he needed to stay ahead of the race winner.
“Honestly, just a little frustrating,” said Gibbs, who picked up his first career Cup Series victory at Bristol in April. “I wish we could keep racing, but unfortunately, just had to save some fuel there.
“Yeah, good to come home with a third-place finish. Obviously, wish it was another win, but you know, had a lot of fun today. Always fun to come to Watkins Glen.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon finished sixth — his first top 10 of the season — followed by AJ Allmendinger, RCR teammate Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek.
In a race that featured six lead changes among four drivers, van Gisbergen led 74 of 100 laps, followed by Gibbs with 17. There were four cautions for 12 total laps.
The Cup Series travels to Dover Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race on May 17 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Ryan Blaney, who signed a long-term contract extension this week with Team Penske, finished 11th with Chris Buescher, Daniel Suárez, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer rounding out the top 15.
A tough day for Hendrick Motorsports resulted in a 23rd-place finish for Kyle Larson with teammate Chase Elliott — last week’s Texas winner — 24th and Alex Bowman 25th. William Byron suffered damage in Stage 2 that dropped the No. 24 car to a 36th-place finish, three laps down.
Logano, a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished last in 38th place, 15 laps down after his tire issue.
Stage 2 recap
Shane van Gisbergen charged from seventh to first in just two laps at Watkins Glen International to score the victory in Stage 2 of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen.
SVG surged back to the front of the field after a mid-stage yellow flag shook up pit strategy for some. Tyler Reddick finished the stage second ahead of Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Connor Zilisch, Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace.
RELATED: Stage 2 results
A burst of wind at Lap 40 led to the first caution for cause in Sunday’s 100-lap contest when a tent from infield blew skyward and landed squarely atop the pavement exiting the esses.
Six cars stayed out under that caution period to gain track position: Michael McDowell, Daniel Suárez, Christopher Bell, Wallace, Riley Herbst and John Hunter Nemechek. SVG had led every lap of the stage until that point and restarted seventh, ahead of Connor Zilisch, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon. Wallace was the only driver of those who stayed out to score stage points.
Trouble occurred on the ensuring restart twice at Lap 44. Herbst spun to the excess pavement in Turn 1 and ended the stage 31st. Once the field approached the inner loop, Buescher and William Byron were in a side-by-side battle that led to an incident.
MORE: Byron around in the bus stop
Buescher hopped the curb to driver’s left entering the chicane and caught Byron’s left rear, sending the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for a spin. Byron, who made his 300th NASCAR Cup Series start Sunday, suffered a broken toe link that needed repair. In total, Byron lost four laps as a result of the incident and runs last, 38th, entering the final stage. Todd Gilliland also spun in the melee while drivers like Connor Zilisch, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith bolted to the grass to driver’s right exiting the bus stop to avoid the spun car of Byron.
The top nine finishers in Stage 2 stayed out under caution with Ross Chastain moving into the top 10 when Wallace hit pit road.
Stage 1 recap
Shane van Gisbergen controlled the pace early at Watkins Glen International, but his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain won Stage 1 of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (FS1).
Chastain stayed out to collect the stage win, while van Gisbergen and other leaders opted to hit pit road to maintain track position for the Stage 2 restart. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger completed the top five at the end of the 20-lap opening segment.
MORE: Stage 1 results
John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, van Gisbergen, Riley Herbst and Michael McDowell rounded out the top 10. Van Gisbergen and McDowell, who both started on the front row and ran first and second before pit stops began, were the only two leaders who managed to both pit and score stage points. Van Gisbergen led the opening 18 laps before surrendering the lead to Chastain to hit pit road.
Only 15 of the 38 teams in Sunday’s race opted not to pit before the stage break. Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott both elected to stay out in an attempt to score stage points but ultimately were bested by van Gisbergen and McDowell, who were leading but pit.
NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without issue, confirming van Gisbergen’s victory. The Nos. 17 and 88 cars will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further inspection.
Contributing: Staff report