Is Shane van Gisbergen the greatest road racer in NASCAR history?
Shane van Gisbergen’s dominance on NASCAR road courses is unprecedented.
There was little doubt the 36-year-old Cup Series rookie, a legendary racer born in New Zealand who earned his stripes in Australia, wouldn’t be in Victory Lane by the end of Sunday’s postseason race at the Charlotte Roval.
The driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevy started on the front row, led more than half the race and maintained his lead over Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell late. There were 15.16 seconds separating van Gisbergen from Larson’s second-place finish.
Enough time that he said his eyes were on the Charlotte Motor Speedway video board while behind the wheel.
“I was a bit of a race fan for those last 10 laps or so,” van Gisbergen said with a smile. “Trying to see what was happening on the big screen. And that took my mind to hoping a caution wasn’t going to come out. I was trying to just watch the race.”
SVG ranks alongside Jeff Gordon with success on road courses
Van Gisbergen’s win at Charlotte puts him in elite NASCAR company.
He is now the second driver since Jeff Gordon, who earned nine victories on road courses, to win at least five of such races consecutively. Gordon won six road-course races in a row between 1997 and 2000, at Sonoma and Watkins Glen.
Van Gisbergen becomes first driver since Bobby Allison in 1982 to record multiple wins of at least 15 seconds. In addition to Sunday’s win, the driver’s Mexico City triumph in June came with a 16.567-second margin against Christopher Bell.
“It’s kind of interesting to look at our year because in many ways, there’s a lot of things we felt like we really need to do a lot better with this race team,” Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said. “I was just talking about getting more week-in, week-out speed, unloading with more speed every seven days. That’s been a theme inside the building is that we just have to get better. We have to understand these cars better. We have to unload better on Saturdays and qualify better.
“The fact this is the winningest season in the history of the company has a lot to do with this incredible 88 team. Shane is a world-class racer. But it’s not just Shane. It takes everybody.”
‘(Van Gisbergen) was flying’
While Larson wasn’t near van Gisbergen when he crossed the finish line in second place, the two battled late.
Larson led for much of the final stage, and van Gisbergen made contact with him as he took the lead on Lap 96 of 109. The No. 5 car got under the No. 88 on the ensuing lap as both Larson and Bell got past, but not for long, and the competitors again made contact as van Gisbergen pulled away in the lead.
But even Larson — who led the second-most laps Sunday at the Roval he won a year ago — didn’t feel anywhere near the leader.
Van Gisbergen, who also earned an 11.116-second win in August at Watkins Glen, isn’t just winning road-course races. His mastery is unprecedented. On top of joining Gordon’s historic ranks with his number of victories, van Gisbergen becomes the only driver with three victories of at least 10 seconds in the same season since NASCAR began its electronic timing and scoring in 1993.
“For the most part of the whole race, he was really far ahead of me,” Larson said. “Just wanted when had an opportunity to try and just race, see if something could happen, get him out of the rhythm that he was in, get him in some traffic, maybe have something happen to him. Just pressure him. ... It worked for about 30 minutes, and then he was flying.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2025 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Is Shane van Gisbergen the greatest road racer in NASCAR history?."
