To say it’s been a season full of learning curves on oval tracks for Shane van Gisbergen, a rookie contender in the NASCAR Cup Series, would be an understatement. However, on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, van Gisbergen, a road racing expert, finally reached a major milestone on his path to oval track mastery, and he did it the hard way.
Following pre-race inspection on Saturday, NASCAR handed down stiff penalties to the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team for unapproved adjustments made to its car heading into practice for the Hollywood Casino 400. The infraction resulted in the ejection of crew chief Stephen Doran, the loss of pit stall selection, and a stop-and-go penalty after taking the green flag from the rear of the field.
Incredibly, the three-time Supercars champion would rally back to secure his first career top-10 finish on an oval track in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Race Results: Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas
After recording the achievement, van Gisbergen had high praise for his interim crew chief, who filled in for Doran.
“It was difficult to start a lap down and having that penalty, van Gisbergen explained, “But Chais Eliason, our interim crew chief, did a great job.”
After serving the penalty on the opening lap of the race, it appeared that SVG’s hopes of a solid run were over as he went down two laps in Stage 1 of the race. But the New Zealander kept his head in the game, and after receiving a free pass on Lap 91, he found himself back on the lead lap and back in the game.
As his team continued to adjust his car, van Gisbergen climbed the scoring pylon. First, he went from 35th to 20th. Then, he moved from 20th to inside the top-15. In the closing laps, van Gisbergen was in a position to do what earlier in the day seemed unthinkable.
The result: a hard-earned, emotional 10th-place finish, his best yet on an oval, and the clearest sign of progress for one of the most intriguing rookies in recent NASCAR history.
“I feel like we’re getting better and better at these tracks,” van Gisbergen said. “We had really good speed at points of the race, so I’m stoked to get a top-10. I’m over the moon with that.”
While the driver, who has picked up four wins this season on road courses, was officially eliminated from Playoff contention at the end of the Round of 16, the driver is starting to find something on oval tracks. Van Gisbergen recorded a solid top-15 result at Richmond Raceway just before the Playoffs kicked off. Two weeks ago at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, SVG ran inside the top-five for a decent chunk of the race, but was ultimately collected in a late-race crash, which dashed his good day.
After pointing the arrow in the right direction at ovals over the last couple of weeks, van Gisbergen now heads to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, a road course designed within the confines of the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway oval, with loads of momentum. And the 36-year-old, who has already set the all-time NASCAR Cup Series rookie record with four wins in 2025, will be a favorite to add another trophy to his trophy case in the Bank of America Roval 400 this weekend.
