Shane van Gisbergen will make his first NASCAR Cup Series career start at Richmond Raceway in Virginia this weekend after a dominate win at Watkins Glen. Last year, Van Gisbergen made one NASCAR Xfinity Series career start at the 0.75-mile track, where he scored a respectable 15th-place finish.
”We only went there once in Xfinity, so it’s still a really fresh track for me,” said van Gisbergen. “I had a fun race there and it was early in the season. I enjoyed it, how you can move around and try and make the car work.
“It was very line sensitive. You could change the line and see what worked best for you. The track allows you to have a bit more driver input on what works to get the best result out of the car. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish there this weekend.”
Van Gisbergen now holds the record of most wins by a Sunoco Rookie in a single season (four). The Watkins Glen victory makes Van Gisbergen the fastest driver to five Cup Series wins since Dan Gurney in 1968.
Following his Sonoma win, Van Gisbergen became the first driver since Jeff Gordon to win three consecutive road course Cup races from the pole. The Kiwi is the only driver not from the United States to win at least four NASCAR Cup Series races.
“Yeah, it means everything,” commented van Gisbergen. “The prep that we go through, not just for these road courses, but we do it every week. As I’ve said many times over the last few weeks, I feel like we’ve gotten a lot better, especially on the ovals.
“It’s been cool working with a great bunch of people. To share four wins with everyone and to see how much it meant to everyone when you’re high fiving during the burnout, you can see how into it they are. It’s so cool.”
After last weekend’s win at Watkins Glen, SVG is now second in the 2025 Cup Series Playoff Standings with 22 playoff points. The Mexico City victory locked him into the playoffs, his first-ever appearance in NASCAR’s post-season. He also clinched a playoff spot in his full-time season in the 2024 Xfinity Series.
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