CONCORD, N.C. — As if it were his own superhero origin story, everyone can recall the moment Shane van Gisbergen burst onto the scene and put the Cup Series field on notice with his victory in the inaugural Chicago Street Course race in 2023.
Fast-forward two years, and his road-course dominance has multiplied in his Cup Series rookie campaign as he stares down a potential fourth consecutive victory on the road this weekend at Watkins Glen International (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
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SVG is one of four Cup Series drivers with three or more victories in 2025, but the difference between him and his heavyweight counterparts is that all of the Trackhouse Racing driver’s wins have come on road courses. Christopher Bell is the only other Cup driver to score a road course win this season, winning at COTA in March for his second of three victories.
Many have labeled the three-time Australian Supercars champion as the gold standard when it comes to turning left and right at NASCAR’s top level, a title van Gisbergen is grateful to hold when it comes to battling the series’ best.
“I really love the racing here,” van Gisbergen said during a media availability on Wednesday. “I don’t feel like anyone targets me on the track and tries to take me out or anything. But, yeah, I feel like we’re the benchmark, which is really awesome to be.
“It’s the best thing on the road course. I’ve never really raced the same guy. Every week, there’s someone different. Like, the spread of talent is quite high here, and whoever nails it on a weekend will be up front. It’s pretty cool.”
DRIVER PAGE: Shane van Gisbergen
But a return to Watkins Glen brings bitterness to the forefront of SVG’s mind after the way last year’s race in the Finger Lakes ended.
Van Gisbergen took the lead entering Turn 1 on an overtime restart and looked to put the clamps down on Chris Buescher in the final two laps. But after a rare mistake in the bus stop on the final lap, Buescher got to the rear bumper of the then-Kaulig Racing driver and moved van Gisbergen up the track in Turn 5, creating one of the most memorable finishes at Watkins Glen — and one that got away for the Kiwi.
“I studied it a lot,” van Gisbergen said. “You know, that’s painful whenever you make a mistake that’s entirely your fault. I’m quite self-analytical. I was pretty pissed off about that, and even when I think of it now, you know, it’s just, it’s a mistake I made, and it frustrates me.
“It’s good knowing, like, we looked at all last year’s history on Monday, and all our sectors were good, apart from a couple, and it’s something to work on for this year. But yeah, had confidence knowing we were the fastest car by far last year, and we just need to keep building on that and keep getting better. But we had a good race last year. I remember [Buescher]. He’s a hard, clean racer, and I went and saw him in Victory Lane after, and he’s a nice guy, and, you know, I’m trying to get him back this year.”
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But after Watkins Glen, the Cup Series Playoffs begin to crest the horizon with just Richmond and Daytona remaining in the regular season. His three wins have him safely locked in, and his collection of playoff points gives him a cushion to open the Round of 16, although no advantage is safe.
While he continues to adjust to ovals, returning to tracks he has raced before gives SVG confidence that he can show improvement and put together a first round worthy of advancing.
“I see the improvement,” SVG said. “And there’s still a long way to go, but it has been good putting in that work. And yeah, I think Darlington, we had our first top 20 of the year there earlier, and hopefully we just keep getting better, and it helps us in that first round, and hopefully, we can put together three weeks.
“I feel like if you just get through that first round, if you make no mistakes and have three good weeks, you’ll get through. That’s what normally seems to happen. There’s normally one or two big dogs that have had a couple of bad races and miss out, so you just got to be mistake-free.”