Van Gisbergen puts on another road course masterclass with Cup Series win at Watkins Glen

The master put on another masterclass on Sunday at Watkins Glen.

Shane van Gisbergen came from 29.2 seconds behind the field, needing only 18 laps to go from about the 24th position to the lead and the race win. He did so after starting from the pole, once again showing he was the class of the field on a road course. The Trackhouse Racing driver led a race-high 74 laps and also won the second stage.

“Unbelievable to win with [No.] 97,” van Gisbergen said. “The Superfile Chevy was great. Thank you to Trackhouse. We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing, good tweaks, and then today. So, what a race car and Stephen [Doran] made great calls.

“I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, and then to run them down like that. It’s very, very special to do two in a row [here].”

The split strategy of the field in the second half of the race provided an opportunity for van Gisbergen to be snookered. Doran kept van Gisbergen on track at the end of the second stage, whereas others took the opportunity to pit. A caution on lap 60 then dragged others down pit road, while van Gisbergen again stayed on track.

Then came the final green flag pit cycle in which van Gisbergen gave up the lead on lap 75, with 25 laps to go. Ty Gibbs, who had already pitted, and Connor Zilisch became the leaders. Zilisch and Gibbs both had to focus on fuel saving — and on each other — as van Gisbergen began marching through the field.

The gap had shrunk from 29.2 seconds to 14.9 seconds by the time van Gisbergen crossed the line with 14 laps to go. He was in seventh place. With 10 laps to go, the gap was down to 4.2 seconds, and he was in fifth place.

van Gisbergen took the lead from Gibbs with eight laps to go. He drove away from Michael McDowell, who made his own drive through the field, as McDowell began to conserve in case of a late-race caution.

Gibbs held on for a third-place finish behind van Gisbergen and McDowell. Chase Briscoe finished fourth, Tyler Reddick finished fifth, and Austin Dillon finished sixth, while AJ Allmendinger was seventh. Kyle Busch finished eighth, Austin Cindric finished ninth, and John Hunter Nemechek completed the top 10. Zilisch finished 20th after having to pit with eight laps to go for a flat tire.

Ross Chastain won the first stage and finished 27th.

van Gisbergen, Gibbs, McDowell, and Chastain were the only leaders on the day. There were four cautions, with two being for debris and the other two for the stage breaks.

The victory is the seventh for van Gisbergen in 62 starts. They have all come on road courses.

“Oh, for sure, but it’s not easy,” said van Gisbergen about these courses playing to his skills. “Everyone is really good. There was a lot of pressure there. McDowell was good. Connor was good. Tyler Reddick. There were some really good guys and a lot of pressure. I’m just stoked for these guys to execute every facet of our game.”

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