BY REID SPENCERNASCAR Wire Service
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Like a world-class hunter stalking defenseless prey, Shane van Gisbergen reasserted his claim to the status as the best road course racer NASCAR has ever seen.
It’s not just that the New Zealander beat runner-up Michael McDowell to the finish line to win Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen by 7.288 seconds. It was the way SVG ran down late-race leader Ty Gibbs to the tune of 29.2 seconds in 18 laps at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International Road Course.
The mythical shark “Jaws” couldn’t have been a more relentless or terrifying pursuer.
In defending last year’s win at The Glen, Trackhouse Racing’s van Gisbergen scored his seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory—all on road or street courses—and his first this season.
“Unbelievable to win with (the No.) 97,” van Gisbergen said. “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 (crew chief) Stephen (Doran) 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. Just stoked for these guys, you know, to execute every facet of our game. Speechless. This is so cool.”
Starting from the pole, van Gisbergen led the first 18 laps before short-pitting the first 20-lap stage. He pitted once again on Lap 41 under a bizarre caution caused by a tent blowing through the air from the camping area onto the race track.
After passing McDowell for the lead on Lap 47, van Gisbergen stayed on the track to win the second stage at Lap 50 and declined to pit on Lap 61 under caution for debris from Joey Logano’s left-front tire. That strategy was contrary to most of the rest of the field.
Van Gisbergen built a lead of more than six seconds before making a green-flag stop on Lap 76. That’s when the heroics began in earnest.
Leaving pit road more than 29 seconds behind Gibbs and Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch, van Gisbergen charged through the field in pursuit of the first- and second-place cars. Both Gibbs and Zilisch were saving fuel after pitting on Lap 61 and were racing on tires that were degrading rapidly.
Zilisch dropped from contention on Lap 92 with a flat right front tire. One lap later, van Gisbergen muscled past a helpless Gibbs into the lead and stretched his advantage until the finish.
McDowell, on a similar pit strategy to SVG’s, passed Gibbs for second on Lap 95. Gibbs held third, followed by Chase Briscoe and series leader Tyler Reddick, who leaves Watkins Glen with a 129-point lead over second place Denny Hamlin (16th on Sunday).
“Yeah, it's great. It's great to get this Chevrolet in the top five,” said McDowell, who had to settle for best-in-class in his No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. “There were moments where I thought, ‘Oh, maybe we can hang with SVG,’ and it felt like he was just pacing himself back off me, and he would take back off.
“In that second stage there, we got a little off strategy and then recovered well, which (crew chief) Travis (Peterson) did a great job of getting the track position when we needed it. Just not quite enough to run him down.
“Like I said, it's just tough, man. Second is awesome. It's great to get momentum back on our side. We needed it after a rough few weeks, but we wanted to get to Victory Lane.”
In fuel-saving mode over the last 39 laps, Gibbs couldn’t run the pace he needed to stay ahead of the race winner.
“Honestly, just a little frustrating,” said Gibbs, who picked up his first career Cup Series victory at Bristol in April. “I wish we could keep racing, but unfortunately, just had to save some fuel there.
“Yeah, good to come home with a third-place finish. Obviously, wish it was another win, but you know, had a lot of fun today. Always fun to come to Watkins Glen.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon finished sixth—his first top 10 of the season—followed by AJ Allmendinger, RCR teammate Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek.
In a race that featured six lead changes among four drivers, Van Gisbergen led 74 of 100 laps, followed by Gibbs with 17. There were four cautions for 12 total laps.
The Cup Series travels to Dover Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race (1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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NASCAR Cup Series Race - Go Bowling at The Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, New York
Sunday, May 10, 2026
1. (1) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 100.
2. (2) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 100.
3. (10) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 100.
4. (9) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 100.
5. (15) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 100.
6. (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 100.
7. (12) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 100.
8. (21) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 100.
9. (3) Austin Cindric, Ford, 100.
10. (17) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 100.
11. (7) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 100.
12. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 100.
13. (16) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 100.
14. (30) Ryan Preece, Ford, 100.
15. (19) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 100.
16. (20) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 100.
17. (22) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 100.
18. (33) Zane Smith, Ford, 100.
19. (24) Erik Jones, Toyota, 100.
20. (5) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 100.
21. (8) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 100.
22. (35) Noah Gragson, Ford, 100.
23. (23) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 100.
24. (27) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 100.
25. (28) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 100.
26. (32) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 100.
27. (4) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 100.
28. (11) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 100.
29. (18) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 100.
30. (26) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 100.
31. (29) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 100.
32. (34) Josh Berry, Ford, 100.
33. (31) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 99.
34. (37) Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, 99.
35. (38) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 99.
36. (13) William Byron, Chevrolet, 97.
37. (36) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, Accident, 90.
38. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, 85.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 98.536 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 29 Mins, 11 Secs. Margin of Victory: 7.288 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 12 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Van Gisbergen 1-18;R. Chastain 19-22;S. Van Gisbergen 23-41;M. McDowell 42-46;S. Van Gisbergen 47-75;T. Gibbs 76-92;S. Van Gisbergen 93-100.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Shane Van Gisbergen 4 times for 74 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 17 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 5 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 1,22,12,2,16,42,20,97,35,71
Stage #2 Top Ten: 97,45,54,3,8,17,2,88,19,23
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES, NICOLE FEES AND CHARLIE BERCH
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE RACE:
