SVG’s streak broken by Reddick’s at COTA

Shane van Gisbergen had his road course streak end at five Sunday afternoon at Circuit of The Americas.

Van Gisbergen came home second to Tyler Reddick, who dominated the event. Although he was able to get to second during the final stretch of the race, which came off a restart with 17 laps to go, the Trackhouse Racing driver could not mount a challenge for the race lead. He trailed Reddick for much of the run, but the gap grew to 3.9 seconds at the checkered flag.

“It’s weird to be disappointed with second, but this series is at a high level,” van Gisbergen said. “I felt OK. We got our Safety Culture Chevy a lot better than yesterday, but just following Tyler, his driving was immaculate, and his car was very good, too. I tried but didn’t quite have enough. But still a great points day for the (No.) 97.”

Jeff Gordon remains the record holder of six consecutive road course victories in the Cup Series.

A year ago, van Gisbergen began his win streak in Mexico City and then added Chicago, Sonoma and the Charlotte Roval. The streak began after van Gisbergen finished sixth at COTA. It remains the only road course on which van Gisbergen has not won in the Cup Series.

The New Zealander qualified 13th in Austin, which was only the second time in his career on a road course that he qualified outside the top 10. But the first stage saw van Gisbergen make quick work of the competition as he had moved inside the top 10 in two laps, and then inside the top five by lap 10.

It was still an uncharacteristic day for the Kiwi as he led just two laps. The exchange happened during a green-flag pit cycle.

The car was also not as strong as van Gisbergen needed it to be. At one point in the final stage, van Gisbergen reported that he didn’t have the speed to challenge Reddick.

“Yeah, just not enough grip really, and it needed some balance,” van Gisbergen said of the car. “But not enough overall grip. I had decent turn but that didn’t give me enough drive. But his [Reddick's] car was really, really good, and he was making no mistakes.

“When I got to him, I could tell he was driving straight, and he had a bit left in reserve. So, it made it difficult.”

Van Gisbergen jumped 11 positions in the championship point standings with his performance and sits fifth going into Phoenix Raceway.