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The Live Sport Bible is here!Champion Kiwi driver shows he's still king of the road
AP • May 11th, 2026 1:20 pm
Shane van Gisbergen | Photo: 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 a league of his own on Sunday (Monday NZ time), schooling the stars of the Cup Series at Watkins Glen International in New York.
Starting from pole position, the New Zealander 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."
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Pitting from the lead under green with 24 laps remaining, van Gisbergen emerged in 24th place 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 reclaim the lead from Gibbs, winning by 7.288 seconds over Michael McDowell.
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 realised van Gisbergen was playing possum.
New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen stormed back to notch his seventh Cup Series victory | Photo: AP
"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 back to Mexico City last June, van Gisbergen has now won six of the past seven races on road or street courses in the Cup series.
"It's not easy," said van Gisbergen, a three-time winner of Australia's Supercars championship.
"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."
