Sports

Shane van Gisbergen's oval improvement becoming too hard to ignore

Beyond the Flag · Jul 22, 2026 12:00 · 3 min read

Shane van Gisbergen's oval improvement becoming too hard to ignore — Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing, NASCAR Cup Series | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The road course ace delivered his best oval performance to date at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday.

Sunday's long-awaited return to North Wilkesboro Speedway for a NASCAR Cup Series points race culminated with Joey Logano snapping his 45-race winless streak in dominant fashion.

While the race itself delivered more of an old-school feel with its long green-flag runs and a lack of cautions that led to Logano lapping all the way up through seventh place, it still did not win over a lot of the fanbase.

With that said, one driver who had nothing to complain about was Shane van Gisbergen, who equaled his previous best oval finish of fifth and even mixed it up with Denny Hamlin and Logano for the lead.

He still may be viewed as just a road course ace, and one short track race should not immediately overshadow the fact that he is still a work in progress on the larger ovals. But this is not the first time he has been near the front on an oval, and it's the latest reminder of the huge strides he continues to make.

Shane van Gisbergen makes a statement at North Wilkesboro

A two-tire call during the first caution of the race enabled van Gisbergen to improve his track position and maneuver his way around the frontrunners for the race lead in stage one. In addition to setting personal bests for laps run inside the top five (355) and top 10 (442), van Gisbergen also led his most laps ever on an oval (49), per NASCAR Insights.

Van Gisbergen's road course prowess is unmatched, as he's won each of his eight Cup Series races on those layouts. At the same time, his performance uptick on ovals cannot be ignored any longer as he continues to overachieve for a Trackhouse Racing organization that is clearly not as strong as it needs to be.

The New Zealander was even a little caught by surprise when he made the pass for the lead straight up, radioing to his team, "I'm leading. What the (expletive) do I do now?"

It may have been a surprise, given his overall room for improvement that still exists on ovals, but it was certainly a run that he made sure to savor on a humid night in North Wilkesboro.

Let's not forget, he finished third in the Craftsman Truck Series race the day before, outrunning Spire Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott (seventh) and Carson Hocevar (27th), who was plagued by tire issues after leading 74 laps.

On the Cup side, van Gisbergen was 11th in the Coca-Cola 600 after running inside the top 10 for most of the race and followed that up with a fifth place effort at Nashville Superspeedway after a strategy call gave him some track position.

His fifth place finish at North Wilkesboro was his second consecutive top six finish, as he placed sixth at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) one week prior, further proof that he continues to do exactly what NASCAR fans thought he couldn't and be competitive on the ovals.

As a result of his career night at North Wilkesboro, van Gisbergen improved his gap over the Chase cutline to 54 points ahead of Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones in 17th place with only five regular season races remaining on the 2026 schedule.

There is still some work to be done for van Gisbergen and the No. 97 team to feel comfortable about making the postseason, but the continued improvement on ovals suggests that he is going to have a fighting chance to make it in and put the elephant in the room behind him.

Logano dominated and Ty Gibbs had an impressive drive to overcome a speeding penalty and finish fourth in Sunday's race, but van Gisbergen once again put together a solid race on an oval and continued to showcase his improvement as the pressure to make the Chase intensifies.