Chase format just another mountain to climb for van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen is unfazed by having to race under a different championship format this season, and doesn’t see that it changes anything for him.

“Not the real racer in me,” van Gisbergen said. “I think we can make it on merit as well if we get everything right. I think it loses a little bit of excitement in some ways, but as a racing championship, I definitely think it’s a better way to do it.”

Van Gisbergen, of course, made the move to NASCAR in part because of the championship system in which a win guaranteed a team entry into the postseason. By now, it’s well known how perfect the scenario was for someone like van Gisbergen and Trackhouse Racing, who could capitalize on the Supercars champion adjusting to stock cars by winning on the road courses, benefiting from the postseason perks, while still learning the ovals.

But that system is no more this season. NASCAR has reverted to the Chase, which van Gisbergen has never competed in. It will consist of the final 10 races of the season, and the top 16 drivers in the point standings.

In order for van Gisbergen to be championship eligible, he will need to be 16th or better at the end of the regular season. Last year, despite his four wins in the regular season, he was 25th in points.

“If you’re a front-runner guy consistently, I think it’s a really good, more of a pure racing championship,” van Gisbergen said. “I think it still keeps the balance of excitement or closing everyone up for those last 10 races. So, I think it’s pretty cool.

“I feel like you lose the desperation a bit of people winning races to turn their season around. But if I were a top guy every week, I’d be all for this.”

But, van Gisbergen also said, “Thankfully, we’re getting better at the ovals. So that’s good.”

While van Gisbergen has been the man to beat on road courses from the outset in Cup, they are no longer enough in themselves to put him in the postseason – and there are fewer of them this year too. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

There were the expected ebbs and flows of van Gisbergen’s rookie season. The first half saw struggles to get up to speed on the ovals, but multiple road course wins. In the second half of the season, in addition to adding more road course wins, performance began to show slight improvements. By season’s end, van Gisbergen felt his team was closer to the top 10 than ever before.

The New Zealander won five of the six road course races on the calendar last year, with four of them coming in the regular season. There will be four in the regular season again. Another sweep of those would help van Gisbergen’s cause in trying to make the Chase, as long as his overall numbers improve, too.

But those four road courses are also the only ones on the schedule, as NASCAR is not returning to the streets of Chicago or Charlotte's Roval. Naturally, van Gisbergen was disappointed to lose two from the circuit.

“I want to do as many as I can, but I came here not to run courses,” he said. “So, I’m 50/50 on it. Hopefully, next year some will come back.”

In the meantime, though, it’s all about the here and now. And that starts with Sunday’s Daytona 500 and working toward making the Chase.

“It’s my mindset straight away to accumulate as many points as we can every week,” he said. “That’s the focus now.”