WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — With an impressive late-race charge, Shane van Gisbergen remained NASCAR’s king of the road courses Sunday at Watkins Glen International.
Starting from the pole position, the Trackhouse Racing driver scored his seventh Cup Series victory — all on road or street courses — by leading 75 of 100 laps in his No. 97 Chevrolet on the 2.45-mile track.
Pitting from the lead under green with 24 laps remaining, van Gisbergen emerged in 24th and was nearly 30 seconds behind leader Ty Gibbs.
The New Zealand native needed only 17 laps to retake the lead from Gibbs, winning by 7.288 seconds over Michael McDowell. Gibbs finished third, followed by Chase Briscoe and points leader Tyler Reddick.
Dating to Mexico City last June, van Gisbergen has now won six of the past seven races on road or street courses in Cup.
Stumping for uncle
Chase Elliott is known for avoiding public stances on NASCAR topics, but the eight-time Most Popular Driver concluded a Saturday media availability by volunteering a strong opinion.
With the vote on the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2027 set for May 19, Elliott made an impassioned plea to elect his uncle Ernie Elliott, who built engines for Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, Chase’s father. Ernie Elliott is on the ballot for the first time this year.
“I don’t talk about this stuff a lot, but you don’t have to dig very far into the Elliott racing story to recognize how much of a family effort it was,” Chase Elliott said. “I don’t think the story has the same ending, throughout the course of the 1980s and even leading into my career, without Uncle Ernie and what he meant to all of us. He’s meant a lot to my career. There are a lot of very, very deserving names on the list, but he is one of the very deserving that doesn’t get talked about enough for the credit that he deserves.”
One and done
The first May race at Watkins Glen might mark the only time that NASCAR runs the road course in the spring. NASCAR has already announced a September 2027 return to the Glen on a date to be determined. The 2024 race was held Sept. 15, and the other 42 Cup races at Watkins Glen were held in July or August.
NASCAR won’t unveil next year’s schedule for a few more months, but new CEO Steve O’Donnell reaffirmed on the Fox prerace show that Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will take over from Phoenix Raceway as this season’s finale, likely will be the final race in 2027.
Up next
The All-Star Race will make its debut May 17 at Dover Motor Speedway. Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the exhibition event, which was held the past three years at North Wilkesboro (North Carolina) Speedway.
