Shane van Gisbergen knows he owns these road-course races. He’s been nearly untouchable for the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series. But he insists he had to work for it at Watkins Glen International on May 10.
“Oh, for sure, but it’s not easy,” SVG said. “Everyone’s really good.”
Yes, van Gisbergen secured his first win of the 2026 season in the Go Bowling at The Glen. It was his sixth victory in his last seven tries on the road.
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But with 24 laps to go, he pitted from the lead and reemerged in 24th.
Still, he weaved his way through the 38-car field in just 16 laps, retaking the top spot and eventually crossing the finish line seven seconds in front of runner-up Michael McDowell. Ty Gibbs placed third.
“There was a lot of pressure there, and I think McDowell was good,” van Gisbergen said. “Connor (Zilisch) was good, Tyler Reddick. There was some really good guys and a lot of pressure. Just stoked for these guys to execute every facet of our game.”
Here are three takeaways.
1. Shane van Gisbergen gives himself extra birthday present
SVG turned 37 years old on May 9 and gave himself a birthday gift that afternoon by securing pole position during qualifying.
He unboxed another present with his win Sunday. He claimed Stage 2 and fronted the pack for 74 of the 100 laps. Gibbs led the second-most laps with only 17.
Gibbs was the driver van Gisbergen overtook for the final lead change.
“Thank you to Trackhouse,” van Gisbergen said. “We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing. Good tweaks. Then, today, what a racecar. (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, very, very special.”
With the seventh victory of his Cup Series career, van Gisbergen tied Chase Elliott as the circuit’s winningest active driver on the road. He also holds the record for most wins by a driver born outside of the United States.
2. Michael McDowell has top finish since 2024
McDowell is no slouch on road courses, either.
The 41-year-old slotted as the runner-up for his first top-three finish since snatching second at Sonoma in June 2024. He led five laps.
It marked his second top-five of the campaign, with his first occurring at COTA in March. In eight races between then and Watkins Glen, McDowell cracked the top 20 only twice — and hadn’t done so in five weeks.
“It’s been a rough few weeks,” he said. “But that’s what is great about NASCAR. You’re only one week away from grabbing a top-five finish and having some momentum on our side.
“We knew this was a track we could come to, and if we executed like we did today, we could contend for the win. We still needed a little bit more to hang with Shane van Gisbergen there. But all-in-all, the No. 71 Go Bowling Chevrolet team had a good day.”
The Spire Motorsports driver carries two career victories — one at Daytona in 2021 and another on the Indy road course in 2023.
3. NASCAR All-Star Race next on schedule
Next weekend, the Cup Series will take a break from points-paying events. Drivers will compete in the annual All-Star Race.
For the first time, Dover Motor Speedway will serve as its host. The one-mile oval track opened in 1969 and has put on a Cup event every year since then. From 1971 to 2020, it had two.
The All-Star Race lived at North Wilkesboro the last three years.
The green flag will drop a few minutes after 1 p.m. on May 17. The exhibition will feature 350 laps and air on FS1.
The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte follows on May 24.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR takeaways: SVG ends Watkins Glen race with crazy drive
Reporting by Chris Vinel, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
