Shane van Gisbergen will make his third NASCAR Cup Series start at Watkins Glen International in Upstate New York, competing in the Go Bowling at The Glen.
Last season at Watkins Glen, he claimed his fourth Cup Series victory of the season. He showcased a dominate performance, starting on the front row, leading 38 of the 90 laps and taking the checkered flag by a 11.116 second margin of victory. Van Gisbergen’s average finish in the Cup Series at Watkins Glen is 1.5.
“It was hard on tires there last year,” said SVG. “When we went to the different compound than the year before and you definitely felt a lot of fall off.
“So, the cooler temps will help with that. But I don’t know the climate there, how much cooler it will be. But I think it will affect all classes, even the O’Reilly Series, the tires blister and get pretty hot there, the left rear. So, it will probably be the same for them too.”
Triple Duty: Van Gisbergen will make his first attempt at a Triple-Duty weekend, at arguably one of his best tracks. On Friday, SVG will pilot the No. 4 Chevrole Silverado for Niece Motorsports. This will be his second career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race.
On Saturday, van Gisbergen will be back in the No. 9 Kubota Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. This marks his second start with JRM this season. In February, he piloted the No. 9 Chevrolet to victory lane at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. That victory marked van Gisbergen’s fifth O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career win.
Point Standings: Van Gisbergen enters this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen 19th in the Cup Series driver standings. He is just 27 points behind 16th-place, the last spot in The Chase.
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