WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – On a sun-baked Sunday at the iconic Watkins Glen International road course, New Zealand native Shane van Gisbergen put on a driving masterclass that further cemented his reputation as NASCAR’s undisputed king of street and road courses, claiming his second consecutive Cup Series victory at the 2.45-mile track in dominant fashion.
Starting from pole position in the No. 97 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, van Gisbergen controlled the majority of the 100-lap event, leading 74 laps en route to his seventh career Cup Series win. Remarkably, all seven of his top-series victories have come on road or street layouts, extending his all-time NASCAR record for the most wins by a driver born outside the United States.
The most stunning chapter of the race unfolded with just 24 laps remaining, when van Gisbergen pitted from the lead under green-flag conditions for a fresh set of four tires, a strategic call orchestrated by crew chief Stephen Doran. When he exited pit road, the Trackhouse driver sat 24th in the running order and nearly 30 seconds behind new race leader Ty Gibbs. What followed was a relentless charge through the field: van Gisberg carved his way past 23 competitors in just 17 laps, retaking the top spot before pulling away to a 7.288-second victory over runner-up Michael McDowell. Gibbs crossed the line third, with Chase Briscoe fourth and reigning points leader Tyler Reddick rounding out the top five.
Van Gisbergen admitted the outcome looked far more assured than it felt from behind the wheel, noting that his team had struggled for pace in practice before a shock qualifying performance locked him onto pole. “We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing, and then today, what a race car,” van Gisbergen said post-race. “Stephen 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.”
Despite the pressure that comes with being labeled the favorite for every road course event, van Gisbergen said he never takes his dominant streak for granted. Dating back to the Mexico City race last June, he has now won six of the last seven road and street course events on the Cup schedule. “It’s not easy,” he emphasized. “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.”
McDowell, who started second and also fought through the field after dropping to 27th on his final pit stop, said he quickly realized van Gisbergen was pacing him during the race. “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.”
Doran, van Gisbergen’s crew chief, explained the bold late pit strategy that set up the win: unlike most competitors who pitted earlier to save fuel, the team opted for a late stop to give van Gisbergen the aggressive car he prefers. “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.
The win completed a dream weekend for Trackhouse Racing, whose rookie driver Connor Zilisch claimed victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday. Zilisch was on track for a strong top-five finish in Sunday’s Cup race before a late tire issue dropped him to 20th. “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.” The organization’s overall performance was a marked turnaround: entering the weekend, Trackhouse had only secured four top-10 finishes across its three cars in the first 11 races of the season, but qualified all three entries in the top five on Sunday.
Beyond the on-track action, eight-time NASCAR Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott made a rare public push Saturday for his uncle, engine builder Ernie Elliott, to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The vote for the 2027 Hall of Fame class is scheduled for May 19, and this year marks Ernie Elliott’s first appearance on the ballot. Ernie built engines for Chase’s father, Hall of Fame driver Bill Elliott, throughout the 1980s and continued to contribute to Chase’s early racing career. “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… 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.”
This 2025 May running at Watkins Glen is also expected to be a one-off experiment. NASCAR has already confirmed the series will return to its traditional September date at the road course starting in 2027. The 2024 Cup race at Watkins Glen was held in September, and the previous 42 races at the track all took place in July or August. While next year’s schedule will not be released for several more months, new NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell reaffirmed during pre-race coverage on Fox that Homestead-Miami Speedway, which takes over as the season finale from Phoenix Raceway this year, will likely remain the final event on the Cup calendar in 2027.
Up next on the NASCAR schedule is the All-Star Race, which makes its debut at Dover Motor Speedway on May 17. Christopher Bell enters as the defending champion of the exhibition event, which was held at North Wilkesboro Speedway for the past three seasons.
