There was no stopping Shane van Gisbergen at Watkins Glen on Sunday, as he collected his seventh career win and Trackhouse Racing’s first of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season.
In 18 laps, he made up 29.2 seconds, passing Ty Gibbs for the race lead with seven laps to spare. And after that, he went on to win the race with a seven-second margin.
“Unbelievable to win with 97,” said van Gisbergen. “Yeah, this SuperFile Chevy was great. Thank you to Trackhouse. We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing. Good tweaks, and then today, so what a race car.
“Then Stephen [Doran, crew chief] made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Then to run them down, very, very special to do two in a row.”
Van Gisbergen later added: “…It’s not easy. Everyone is really good. There was a lot of pressure there, and I think McDowell was good, Connor [Zilisch] was good. Tyler Reddick. There was a lot of good guys and a lot of pressure. Just stoked for these guys, you know, to execute every facet of our game. Speechless. This is so cool.”
Watch: SVG on winning in No. 97 for first time: ‘What a race car’
Michael McDowell finished second, with Gibbs finishing third. Chase Briscoe finished fourth and Tyler Reddick fifth.
Austin Dillon, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, and John-Hunter Nemechek filled out the remainder of the top ten.
Stage 1
Van Gisbergen led the way from pole position, followed by McDowell. Cindric fell behind the Trackhouse cars as Zilisch moved up to third.
However, there was no catching Van Gisbergen as he drove off with the lead by several seconds over the field.
Stenhouse went off-roading through the bus stop, but avoided any damage as he drove through the muddy grass.
There was a tense moment between Spire teammates as Suarez and Hocevar rubbed doors, with Hocevar radioing the team to say “Daniel can go f*** himself” and that he will ‘never let him go again.’
As expected, many cars flipped the stage by short-pitting, including Van Gisbergen.
Chastain stayed out and won Stage 1, followed by Logano, Blaney, Cindric, Allmendinger, Bell, Nemechek, Van Gisbergen, Herbst, and McDowell.
The battle for the final stage point was dramatic as McDowell, Herbst, and Wallace fanned out three-wide across the line, with Wallace losing out.
A couple other cars sacrificed track position in an effort to gain stage points, but came up empty-handed, including Elliott.
Stage 2
On the restart, Van Gisbergen continued to control the race, but Zilisch shadowed him for much of the stage.
Larson and Keselowski lost a lot of spots on the restart as things got chaotic in the midfield, but they kept it clean.
With 10 laps to go in the stage, a tent or canopy from the campground blew onto the track, forcing a caution flag.
Van Gisbergen pitted from the lead and most of the field followed suit, but six drivers stayed out: McDowell, Suarez, Bell, Wallace, Herbst, and Nemechek.
The restart was wild, and Herbst was the first driver to go spinning in Turn 1. At the bus stop chicane, Byron went around and Blaney slammed into him, damaging both cars. Gilliland also spun in the chaos, while Zilisch lost a few spots after being forced to bail through the grass. Byron had to pit and lost several laps in the process.
Bell missed the bus stop and had to stop, denying him a shot at any stage points.
Van Gisbergen easily reclaimed the lead, winning Stage 2 over Reddick, Gibbs, A. Dillon, Busch, Buescher, Cindric, Zilisch, Briscoe, and Wallace — who beat Chastain by just a nose at the green-and-white checkered.
McDowell fell all the way outside the top ten and scored no points, giving up a top three run without gaining any extra bonus from it.
Stage 3
Van Gisbergen restarted with Reddick now alongside. It was a clean restart with no drama at the front.
Logano slowed with a flat tire and spit tire carcass onto the track, forcing a caution just outside the fuel window.
Van Gisbergen and Reddick stayed out, but most of the field opted to pit.
A total of 12 cars stayed out, with Gibbs leading those who came down pit road in 13th.
Van Gisbergen checked out on the restart, as Allmendinger took second from Reddick. Gibbs quickly made his way up into the top five, with Zilisch close behind him.
Katherine Legge spun but continued. However, Reddick reacted, thinking the No. 78 would trigger a full-course caution. As the final stage progressed, Gibbs moved up to second as Van Gisbergen led by over five seconds.
Van Gisbergen pitted from the lead with 25 laps to go, and the race was on as Gibbs inherited the race lead. He rejoined the race in 25th, about 30 seconds behind the race leader.
Zilisch was putting pressure on Gibbs as Wallace spun at Turn 1, but continued. There was also an incident with Josh Berry and Cody Ware on the approach to the final corner, but the race remained green.
Zilisch ultimately had to pit, while Van Gisbergen took the lead with seven laps to go. He simply drove away at that point, earning back-to-back wins at Watkins Glen.
SVG’s car passed post-race inspection without issue, making the win official. The No. 17 RFK Racing Ford of Buescher and the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet of Zilisch were taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center.
Photos from Watkins Glen – Sunday
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Watkins Glen – Sunday, in photos
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Watkins Glen – Sunday, in photos
Watkins Glen – Sunday, in photos
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