Shane van Gisbergen is feeling the sting of disappointment. The NASCAR Cup Series rookie missed out on a Chase berth after Ryan Preece won the regular-season finale at Daytona and leapfrogged him at the cut-off line. The setback, however, has only fueled his determination to turn things around.
The past few weeks have been a rollercoaster for the driver of the #97 Chevrolet Camaro. Since his standout fifth-place finish at North Wilkesboro, he hasn't scored a top 10. A stage win at Daytona was quickly forgotten when he crashed on the final lap, allowing Preece to snatch the victory. At Darlington, he had little positive to say about his car, finishing 26th as the first car a lap down. Then at Gateway, a poor qualifying and handling issues left him fighting mid-pack, but a bold strategy call put him in top-10 contention late—until a wreck with Carson Hocevar on the penultimate overtime restart undid everything.
“Running bad stinks,” Shane van Gisbergen admitted. “The last couple of weeks haven’t been great, so the team has been pretty stressed. We are trying to get better. We aren’t complacent about it; everyone is still pretty mad about not being in The Chase. So, yeah, we are trying everything to get better and be prepared for when next season starts.”
Amid the struggles, there was a glimpse of hope. If not for the late spin, Gateway could have been the first time all season that Trackhouse Racing had all three cars finish inside the top 10. Ross Chastain finished fifth, Connor Zilisch was seventh, and SVG was running 10th when he spun. For Van Gisbergen, benchmarking himself against the more experienced Chastain has been his barometer of success. The New Zealander has an average starting position of 18.6 and an average finish of 18.8, while his American teammate’s averages are 17.8 and 19.6, respectively. “The last third of last year, we really took some steps forward and I think we’ve just continued on that,” said Van Gisbergen. “I feel like I’m a lot closer to Ross this year. He’s a pretty good benchmark as a teammate and I feel like I’ve been able to match him a lot. Still, there are some areas he’s really good at. He’s really good at not having bad days and dragging results out of cars that probably shouldn’t be up there. He’s someone I’m really trying to learn off and match closely. It’s been good to be around or just in front of him in the points this year—kind of pushing each other along has been really cool. I’ve just got to keep the improvement going. I feel like every week, I’m learning stuff and still trying new things. I still have a lot to learn.”
The NASCAR Cup Series Chase continues at Bristol on Sunday at 9:30am AEST. Kyle Larson has closed the gap to Denny Hamlin, who clings to the points lead. As the playoffs heat up, Van Gisbergen is determined to make the most of the remaining races and flip Trackhouse’s fortunes.
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