Shane van Gisbergen remains
NASCAR’s road-course ace with Watkins Glen win from the pole
[May 11, 2026]
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) — Shane van Gisbergen insists his NASCAR
road-course dominance is harder than it looks, and that he feels “a
lot of pressure” to beat the best in stock-car racing.
But the Trackhouse Racing driver was in another league Sunday,
schooling the stars of the Cup Series at Watkins Glen International.
Starting from the pole position, van Gisbergen scored his seventh
Cup Series victory — all on road or street courses — and his second
consecutive on the 2.45-mile track by leading 74 of 100 laps in his
No. 97 Chevrolet.
“We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing,
and then today, what a race car,” van Gisbergen said. “And then
(crew chief) 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.”
Pitting from the lead under green with 24 laps remaining, van
Gisbergen emerged in 24th and was nearly 30 seconds behind leader Ty
Gibbs.
Extending his Cup record of wins by a driver born outside the United
States, the New Zealand native needed only 17 laps to retake the
lead from Gibbs, winning by 7.288 seconds over Michael McDowell.
“He’s made it pretty clear, especially at these tracks, he likes to
be on offense, so we put him there and just let him go do his
thing,” Doran said of the call to make a late stop for four tires
instead of pitting earlier and conserving fuel as many others did.
Gibbs finished third, followed by Chase Briscoe and points leader
Tyler Reddick.
McDowell, who started second, also had to charge through the pack
after falling to 27th on his last pit stop. He occasionally thought
he could keep pace with the race winner but soon realized van
Gisbergen was playing possum.
“It felt like he was just pacing himself off me, and he’d take back
off,” McDowell said. “We still got a little work to do, but it’s a
good building block.”
Dating to Mexico City last June, van Gisbergen has now won six of
the past seven races on road or street courses in Cup.
“It’s not easy,” van Gisbergen said. “Everyone’s really good.
McDowell was good. Connor (Zilisch) was good. Tyler Reddick. There
were some really good guys and a lot of pressure. So just stoked to
execute every facet of our game. And speechless. This is so cool.”
Trackhouse sweep
The win by van Gisbergen came a day after a win in the O’Reilly Auto
Parts Series by rookie teammate Zilisch, who finished 20th Sunday
after a tire problem late in the race. It still was a strong showing
for Trackhouse, which qualified all three of its cars in the top
five after compiling only four top-10 finishes in the first 11
races.
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Shane Van Gisbergen celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series
auto race, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Photo/Adrian
Kraus)
“Just frustrating because we had a really good day
going,” Zilisch said. “At worst, we were going to get ourselves our
first top five and walk out of here with something. But congrats to
Shane, Trackhouse and everybody who makes this happen.”
Stumping for his uncle
Chase Elliott is known for avoiding public stances on NASCAR topics,
but the eight-time Most Popular Driver concluded a Saturday media
availability by volunteering a strong opinion.
With the vote on the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2027 set for May
19, Elliott made an impassioned plea to elect his uncle Ernie
Elliott, who built engines for Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, Chase’s
father. Ernie Elliott is on the ballot for the first time this year.
“I don’t talk about this stuff a lot, but you don’t have to dig very
far into the Elliott racing story to recognize how much of a family
effort it was,” Chase Elliott said. “I don’t think the story has the
same ending, throughout the course of the 1980s and even leading
into my career, without Uncle Ernie and what he meant to all of us.
He’s meant a lot to my career. There are a lot of very, very
deserving names on the list, but he is one of the very deserving
that doesn’t get talked about enough for the credit that he
deserves.”
One and done
The first May race at Watkins Glen might mark the only time that
NASCAR runs the road course in the spring. NASCAR has already
announced a September 2027 return to the Glen on a date to be
determined. The 2024 race was held Sept. 15, and the other 42 Cup
races at Watkins Glen were held in July or August.
NASCAR won’t unveil next year’s schedule for a few more months, but
new CEO Steve O’Donnell reaffirmed on the Fox prerace show that
Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will take over from Phoenix Raceway
as this season’s finale, likely will be the final race in 2027.
Up next
The All-Star Race will make its debut May 17 at Dover Motor
Speedway. Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the exhibition
event, which was held the past three years at North Wilkesboro
(N.C.) Speedway.
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