Van Gisbergen aiming to spring a surprise in NASCAR's playoffs

Shane van Gisbergen considers it a privilege to be in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, and now he sets his sights on how to make something of them.

Van Gisbergen is the No. 6 seed as the postseason begins Sunday night at Darlington Raceway, courtesy of his four race wins and two stage wins. It is his first appearance in the Cup Series postseason in his first attempt as a rookie with Trackhouse Racing. Not until last year in the Xfinity Series did van Gisbergen experience a format like this in racing.

“This is probably the only sport I know of that has it like this,” said van Gisbergen during media day this week. “It’s confusing.”

Van Gisbergen understands things slightly better this year. The key takeaway is that the better a driver performs, the better things will fall their way. So, he knows that if he focuses on the results and not points, things will be fine.

“I remember last year, the way it was approached was different from the rest of the season,” van Gisbergen said. “We got caught up in the moment a little bit too much. We did a silly strategy at the Roval; it was an unexplained mistake, really. I think this year has been good, trying to stay level-headed and take it week by week. 

“We’re in an amazing spot to be here, and we have no expectation to make it to the second round. No one knows what we’re going to do. So, if we go and perform, we can surprise some people.”

There are three oval races in the first round of the playoffs: Darlington, St. Louis, and the elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Darlington is van Gisbergen’s favorite racetrack, and Sunday will be his third start at the South Carolina track. However, he has never been to St. Louis for the World Wide Technology Raceway, and his first start at Bristol earlier this year was marred by suspension issues.

Van Gisbergen does have his playoff points to fall back on if he can perform well enough and capitalize on any mistakes by the competition. But many are still writing him off as a candidate to advance. 

“Which is great,” van Gisbergen said. “It doesn’t worry us. It puts no pressure on us, right? If we have a good week this week, it takes the next few harder. But if we have a tough week, it puts us in a hole, and it’s going to be hard to get out of it.

“Hopefully, it’ll be nice to prove people wrong.”

Waiting in the second round if van Gisbergen advances in the Charlotte Roval. His four wins came on four of the five road courses in the regular season.

Van Gisbergen has also clinched Rookie of the Year honors. Because he qualified for the postseason, he is guaranteed to finish no worse than 16th in the standings, while fellow rookie contender Riley Herbst did not make the postseason and therefore cannot overtake van Gisbergen in the point standings for the award.