NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Shane van Gisbergen’s progression on NASCAR ovals took another significant step in Sunday night’s showdown at North Wilkesboro Speedway. A milestone of sorts came early, when his No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet rocketed into the lead, bypassing veteran short-track ace and Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin, no less.
Van Gisbergen feigned at least a measure of surprise.
“I’m leading. What the [expletive] do I do now?” van Gisbergen cracked through the No. 97 team communications.
The road-racing specialist knew more than he let on, maintaining a steady presence in the top five throughout Sunday’s Window World 450 and sealing a fifth-place result — a Cup Series career-best on a short track. The outcome capped a consistent weekend at the 0.625-mile circuit, where he backed up a noteworthy third-place run in Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: North Wilkesboro
Getting the better of Hamlin in the 52nd of 450 laps to top the scoring pylon provided both a statement and the opportunity for some levity.
“Yeah, I’m just having fun,” van Gisbergen said post-race after dousing himself with water and pausing to recover from the heavy evening heat. “Yeah, just pretty cool to get up front and then be able to pass for the lead genuinely, and just got to enjoy ourselves.”
Van Gisbergen started eighth in the 37-car field, but vaulted to fourth place when crew chief Stephen Doran opted for a two-tire stop in the first cycle through pit road. From there, SVG picked off three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers in a row — Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs and ultimately Hamlin — to lead for the first time on an oval track since Nashville in late May. The charge forward came at the expense of his rear-tire grip, and Gibbs caught him in the final lap of Stage 1 to take the green-checkered flag by half a car-length.
The remaining portions of the race morphed into a show of dominance by eventual race winner Joey Logano with a valiant pursuit by Hamlin, the runner-up. But van Gisbergen kept both his poise and his positioning the rest of the way, netting not only his first short-track top five but his first such result inside the top 10.
Van Gisbergen led four times for 49 laps — second only to Logano’s impressive 323. Post-race, he said he enjoyed the company up front and the change of pace.
“I mean, it’s just calmer when you get up there,” van Gisbergen said. “Everyone’s racing really respectful. … I passed Denny and mucked that up and let him back through, like it’s a lot friendlier type of people up there.”
The oval-track lessons he’s learned since joining the Cup Series full-time last year have been valuable, but the knowledge from participating in Saturday’s Truck Series event here was a worthwhile supplement.
“It was just a real solid day,” Doran told NASCAR.com. “You speak about the the race yesterday, I feel like that helped him a ton. Just learned the track. He used some of the lines that he figured out yesterday in the truck, so thanks to Spire for letting him do that. I feel like it benefits us a ton at these places, so the more of those we can do, the better, the more laps he can get at these tracks. He’s so good. He’s just got to figure out how to make the speed, and that just gives him a step ahead when we get to our stuff, if he has laps in a truck or an O’Reilly car.”
Intriguingly enough, some of the old habits from his road-racing background also translated to the venerable, old-school bullring.
“It’s a bit like a road course here,” van Gisbergen said. “I tried right-foot brake for a bit. Half the race, I right-foot braked and just felt comfortable doing that. It’s a real balance track, and you can really affect the car with your driving technique. So yeah, I felt comfortable doing that.”
Additional comfort came after the points were tabulated. Van Gisbergen now sits 54 points above the provisional Chase elimination line, a 23-point jump in his bid to make the 16-driver Cup Series postseason for the second consecutive year.
MORE: Cup Series standings
Last year’s playoff berth came via a win-and-in format, where his road-course excellence provided him easy passage to championship eligibility. Van Gisbergen’s quest this year — while aided by two road-race wins — will require a greater measure of consistency on ovals. Five races remain in the regular season to close that goal out, and though van Gisbergen said there’s more work to be done on intermediate-sized tracks, Sunday’s short-track effort produced another sizable leap.
“It’s a huge one for the numbers,” Doran said. “We had a little buffer, but not big enough to be comfortable by any means. I haven’t looked at what they are after this, but those stage points help, all of it helps. So yeah, a little bit more comfortable, but still got to keep pushing.”
More strides like Sunday’s and those appearances in the lead won’t seem so surprising. Don’t expect it, however, to keep van Gisbergen and his No. 97 group from mining for the occasional laugh over the team radio.
“I think that’s the M.O. of this team,” Doran said, smiling once reminded of SVG’s Stage 1 transmission. “We have fun with all of it. We try to stay light. There’s a lot of inside jokes going on throughout the race between him, myself, Josh (Williams), the spotter. Just keep it fun. That’s why we all do this, to have fun, win races. So it’s fun to run up front like that.”