Shane van Gisbergen's four victories this year give him the distinction of having won the most races in his rookie season.
Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart won three races in his rookie year while Davey Allison claimed two.
Van Gisbergen is the first NASCAR Cup driver to win four straight road/street course events since Chase Elliott 2019-2020.
For a year, the final lap of the 2024 NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen has haunted Shane van Gisbergen. In that event, five centimeters made the difference as Van Gisbergen nipped a barrier, allowing Chris Buescher to pass him for the victory.
However, this year Van Gisbergen gained redemption, winning his fourth consecutive road/street course event in the Go Bowling at The Glen by 11.116 seconds.
“I definitely gave that Bus Stop wall another meter on that last lap,” Van Gisbergen said after claiming his fifth career Cup victory.
Van Gisbergen’s Watkins Glen win was his second double digit victory margin this year. The other occurred in Mexico City where he won by 16.567 seconds. In both races, Christopher Bell finished second.
The New Zealander’s four victories this year give him the distinction of having won the most races in his rookie season. Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart won three races in his rookie year while Davey Allison claimed two.
All five of van Gisbergen's NASCAR Cup wins have come on road or street courses. He joins Dan Gurney as the only Cup drivers whose first five career wins came road courses. Gurney won five races between 1963 and 1968 at Riverside International Raceway.
Van Gisbergen and Denny Hamlin are now the only two drivers with four victories in the regular season, and with two races remaining before the playoffs begin, Van Gisbergen is the second seed. He possesses 22 playoff points, third to Hamlin with 24 and Kyle Larson with 23.
“The day went flawlessly, and I can’t believe it,” said Van Gisbergen, who autographed a rugby ball before kicking it into the frontstretch grandstand, his signature victory celebration.”
Earlier in the weekend, Van Gisbergen admitted he was homesick even though he was having fun racing in the United States. Joining him in the Watkins Glen victory lane was his father, whom he had not seen since Christmas. Van Gisbergen’s mother passed away last year.
“It’s just amazing to have him here,” Van Gisbergen said about his dad, who gave his son a hung shortly after he climbed from his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet on Watkins Glen’s frontstretch. “It’s been a very tough year for Dad. He hasn’t been able to travel, so to have him here for the next three weeks and share this with him, it’s amazing.”
In becoming the first driver to win four straight road/street course events since Chase Elliott 2019-2020, Van Gisbergen led Trackhouse Racing’s top-10 performance. Daniel Suarez finished seventh for his first top 10 since May at Texas and Ross Chastain placed 10th for his first top 10 since July at Chicago.
“For the last couple of months, I feel like we’ve had decent, top-10 speed. We just haven’t been able to execute,” Suarez said. “Today, we were able to execute a decent race.
“This place has been good to me in the past. Like Iowa and Indianapolis, there’s been a lot of tracks that have been good to me in the past. We’ve just had a lot of accidents and things happen that were out of our control. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into the next couple of races and get a win.”
Buescher Gains Points In Playoff Bid
With two races remaining in the regular season, Chris Buescher is dueling with RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece for the last playoff berth in the 16-driver field, and in the Go Bowling at The Glen he gained 11 points with a third-place finish to winner Shane van Gisbergen.
Buescher is now 34 points above the cutline. It was his first top-five finish since Pocono in June.
“It was great execution all day,” Buescher said. “We were able to get a Stage win there and still in the hunt (for the win). I had a couple more laps on my tires and I used the rears up really hard trying to get by a few cars there.”
The final two regular season races are at Richmond and Daytona, and Buescher has won at both tracks. He produced victories at Richmond and Daytona in 2023.
Brake Issues Foil Larson’s Run
The Go Bowling at The Glen was only five laps old when Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet spun and the Hendrick Motorsports driver reported a brake issue.
After making a brief appearance on pit road, the team took Larson’s car to the garage to make repairs. His team first changed the brake line. Then they determined it was a seal issue.
Larson eventually returned to the race, 15 laps behind the leader. With no one exiting the event, Larson finished last in the 39-car field. It was his worst finish this year, and his fifth of 35th or worse this season.
Zilisch Attends Cup Race
Connor Zilisch, who fell off his car in victory lane while celebrating his win in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen, attended Sunday’s NASCAR Cup event.
Zilisch was scheduled to compete in the Go Bowling at The Glen, but Trackhouse Racing withdrew his car after the 19-year-old was diagnosed with a broken collarbone.
Currently, Zilisch leads the regular season standings in the Xfinity Series by seven points over JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier. He has won six races this year and possesses 36 playoff points. Four races remain in the regular season. The Xfinity Series is off next weekend.
NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen
Watkins Glen International
1. (2) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 90.
2. (9) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 90.
3. (12) Chris Buescher, Ford, 90.
4. (10) William Byron, Chevrolet, 90.
5. (3) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 90.
6. (1) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 90.
7. (19) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 90.
8. (15) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 90.
9. (21) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 90.
10. (4) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 90.
11. (18) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 90.
12. (29) Erik Jones, Toyota, 90.
13. (17) Ryan Preece, Ford, 90.
14. (11) Joey Logano, Ford, 90.
15. (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.
16. (13) Austin Cindric, Ford, 90.
17. (33) Zane Smith, Ford, 90.
18. (8) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 90.
19. (6) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 90.
20. (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 90.
21. (35) Noah Gragson, Ford, 90.
22. (5) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 90.
23. (34) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 90.
24. (28) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 90.
25. (22) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 90.
26. (20) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 90.
27. (23) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 90.
28. (27) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 90.
29. (36) Cody Ware, Ford, 90.
30. (32) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.
31. (16) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 90.
32. (30) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 90.
33. (14) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 90.
34. (31) Cole Custer, Ford, 90.
35. (24) Josh Berry, Ford, 90.
36. (37) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 89.
37. (39) Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, 89.
38. (38) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 89.
39. (26) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 75.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 101.263 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 10 Mins, 39 Secs. Margin of Victory: 11.116 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 8 laps.
Lead Changes: 8 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Blaney 1-18;C. Buescher 19-23;R. Preece 24;S. Van Gisbergen # 25-36;R. Blaney 37-53;S. Van Gisbergen # 54-62;C. Briscoe 63-68;B. Keselowski 69-73;S. Van Gisbergen # 74-90.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Shane Van Gisbergen # 3 times for 38 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 35 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 6 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 5 laps; Chris Buescher 1 time for 5 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 17,48,60,9,42,47,12,88,19,51
Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,24,20,16,6,35,48,47,54,60
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