Shane van Gisbergen Secures “Unbelievable Win” at Watkins Glen

The NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday at Watkins Glen saw Shane van Gisbergen producing another road course racing masterclass, to secure his second straight win at the track. He started the event on pole, led race-high 74 laps and went onto finish ahead of Michael McDowell to mark his 7^th career win in the premier division.

Though he had an advantage early in the race, things went south for SVG later, as with 18 laps left, he exited the pit-stop at P24, 29.2 seconds behind the leader. Then the Chevy driver entered beast mode and it only took him just four laps to cut the deficit down to 15 seconds. He took the lead from Ty Gibbs (who finished P3) with eight laps left and secured in his own wors an unbelievable win.

Unbelievable to win with [No.] 97/ 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 and Stephen [Doran] made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, and then to run them down like that. It’s very, very special to do two in a row [here].

Shane van Gisbergen said after Glen win.

The driver and his crew deserve a lot of credit for the success, considering his team Trackhouse Racing has not been in race winning form. Their hard work behind the scenes played off and helped the Shane van Gisbergen to keep the challenge from the likes of Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick and Connor Zilisch at bay.

Oh, for sure, but it’s not easy. Everyone is really good. There was a lot of pressure there. McDowell was good. Connor was good. Tyler Reddick. There were some really good guys and a lot of pressure. I’m just stoked for these guys to execute every facet of our game.

Shane van Gisbergen added via RACER.

Connor Zilisch laments defeat to Shane van Gisbergen at Glen

While the Kiwi is celebrating the win, his rookie teammate Connor Zilisch is sulking. He came into weekend hoping for redemption, with momentum on his side following the NOAPS win at the track. He didn’t everything he could, but wasn’t good enough to beat the elite drivers unlike in the second division.

I mean, I don’t really know. Just kind of su**s. I feel like I did almost everything right today that I could, but yeah, it just goes like that sometimes. So yeah, I’ll keep my head up. We’ve got a couple more road courses to go to, a couple good tracks coming up for Trackhouse. So, yeah, keep my head down and keep digging.

Connor Zilisch said.

"Just upset."@ConnorZilisch had a good run going until a tire went down late in the race at Watkins Glen.#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/kWO3nD3Eg4

— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) May 10, 2026

The youngster is upset because the right left tire failure with eight laps left ruined his day and denied him a top-5 finish, which would’ve been the worst result he could’ve had if things went right. He admitted that overall, it was a frustrating day that wants to move on immediately.

Just upset. I mean, at the worst, I was going to finish inside the top five probably and have my best day in the series by far. I don’t think I could have beaten Shane, but yeah, it’s just frustrating when you’re so close. It su**s.

Connor Zilisch added.

The comments from the star driver are on point and shows how tough the road course racing, as well as facing the mighty SVG. It would be intresting to see how everything is going to playout for the Trackhouse duo in the coming races.

Also Read: Jesse Love is “Embarrassed” After Losing to Connor Zilisch at Watkins Glen