Shane van Gisbergen made an unforgettable late-race recovery from 24th to claim his first 2026 NASCAR Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen.
The No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet driver closed a 29-second deficit in 17 laps and cruised to win Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen by 7.288 seconds over Michael McDowell in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports chevy.
The New Zealand road course maestro started from pole position and proceeded to lead 75 of the 100 laps on the challenging 2.45-mile layout, demonstrating why he remains NASCAR’s undisputed king of the twisties.
“Unbelievable to win with No. 97,” van Gisbergen said after snagging his seventh career Cup victory. “The 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 led the way from pole position, followed by McDowell, while Connor Zilisch moved up to third in the No. 88 Trackhouse Chevrolet as Austin Cindric dropped to fourth.
By Lap 10, van Gisbergen had eked a 2-second gap over McDowell with third-placed Zilisch another six seconds back. Ross Chastain, meanwhile, climbed to fourth in the No. 1 Trackhouse chevy.
However, the Kiwi driver short-pitted from the lead on Lap 18 as Chastain elected to stay out and take the Stage 1 win ahead of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.
Van Gisbergen cycled back to the lead on Stage 2 when those who elected not to pit during Stage 1 finally came to the lane.
On Lap 27, Zilisch made it a Trackhouse one-two with a pass into Turn 1 on McDowell and set about piling pressure on his teammate for the lead.
Full 2026 NASCAR Cup Watkins Glen Race Results
New 2026 NASCAR Cup Series points standings after Watkins Glen
Van Gisbergen pitted from the lead on Lap 41 under a bizarre caution caused by a tent blowing onto the track from the camping area. Most of the field followed suit, but McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Riley Herbst and John Hunter Nemechek stayed out.
The restart turned into chaos as Herbst spun at Turn 1. William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports chevy followed suit moments later at the Bus Stop chicane and Blaney slammed into him, damaging both cars.
Byron was forced to pit with a broken toe link and lost several laps, while Christopher Bell missed the bus stop and had to stop, denying him a shot at any stage points.
Van Gisbergen easily reclaimed the lead from McDowell on Lap 47, and proceeded to win Stage 2 over Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher.
Stage 3 started on Lap 55 with van Gisbergen still in command over Reddick, but Joey Logano punctured his left front tire to shreds, triggering a caution for debris on Lap 60.
Gibbs led most of the field to the pits, leaving just 12 cars on track including van Gisbergen and Reddick as teams opted for alternate strategies.
Gisbergen led the Lap 64 restart and immediately pulled a 2-second gap over Reddick, before the No. 97 went for a final pit stop on Lap 76, dropping to 24th and nearly 30 seconds behind new leader Ty Gibbs, who stayed out longer on older tires alongside Connor Zilisch.
What followed was pure motorsport magic: van Gisbergen unleashed a ferocious charge, carving through the field like a scalpel, making up over a second per lap on fresh rubber while Gibbs and Zilisch battled for the point.
By lap 83, he had clawed back to the top three, and later took second after Zilisch punctured his right front tire and was forced to pit.
Shane van Gisbergen ultimately made the decisive pass for the lead with eight laps remaining and powered away to a 7.288-second victory over Michael McDowell, while Ty Gibbs held onto third.
