Shane van Gisbergen did it again. The New Zealander who came to NASCAR and immediately made road courses look easy won at Watkins Glen, his first Cup victory of 2026, and his seventh road course win in the series. That ties Chase Elliott for the most among active drivers. Meanwhile, Chevrolet dominated much of the afternoon, claiming five of the top eight spots.
Michael McDowell finished second, while Connor Zilisch looked like he might challenge SVG before a right-front tire ended that opportunity. Once the checkered flag fell, the garage quickly reacted. But what remained most unimaginable was SVG’s victory itself.
Shane van Gisbergen soaks in a special win
The 37-year-old won the race after pitting from the lead with 25 laps remaining. He emerged from pit road in 26th position and needed to make up a 30-second deficit while charging through the field. And that’s exactly what he did, reclaiming the lead with seven laps remaining as he carved through the competition on fresh tires. In the end, he won by 7.288 seconds.
Additionally, the driver was seen doing his victory burnout before half the field had even finished the race.
“Yeah, pretty unreal and just thankful for my No. 97 Superfile Chevrolet team. Just an unbelievable day,” the Kiwi remarked. “It was amazing in the strategies and how they worked out, but the car was just magic to be able to do that and push when I needed to. To back it up from last year is pretty unreal.
“I love being able to do that at the end and chase everyone down on a tire difference. Josh, my spotter, was excellent in giving me the lap times and what the gap was. I was trying to calculate it as I went and manage the tires so that I would still have some when I got there. It’s just so special and really cool.
“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. I have done it in the O’Reilly Series before, but not here. So it’s pretty awesome to represent that, and I’m proud to have it here in Victory Lane.”
Michael McDowell needed this one
McDowell has had a rough few weeks, and finishing second felt like oxygen.
“Like I said, it’s just tough, man. Second is awesome. It’s great to get momentum back on our side,” he said. “We needed it after a rough few weeks, but we wanted to get to victory lane. But proud of Spire, proud of my guys. They worked really hard. … We restarted on the 27th. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out. But we made pretty quick work to get near the top ten, and then it cycled around again, and then we got a little bit of track position.
“I don’t know even if we restarted right behind SVG if we had the pace for him. That last stop, we came out right with him, and he still had a bit of pace on us. So we got a little work to do, but it’s a good building block. Our road course program’s really, you know, come around. Top five at COTA, top five at Mexico. So I feel like we’re building on it. We just need a little bit more.
He was honest about the gap to SVG, too:
“We qualified second, and we finished second. Shane van Gisbergen was a couple tenths better than us in qualifying, and he was around a tenth better in the race. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but we still have work to do.”
Connor Zilisch was gutted
Zilisch was right there, genuinely on course for his best Cup finish, before the tire let go and dropped him to 20th.
“Yeah, I’m not sure, honestly, what actually cut the tire there at the end. We were running on those tires for a long time. Not surprised to see it happen, necessarily,” the 19-year-old said. “But yeah, just frustrating. I mean, we had a really good day going. At worst, we were going to get ourselves our first top five and walk out of here with something. But, you know, congrats to Shane, Trackhouse, ECR Engines, everybody who makes this happen.
“It’s really cool what we’ve built on these road courses and how fast our cars are. So cool to see him win. Had a good day in our Chevrolet. Yeah, didn’t quite end the way we wanted it to. I needed last year’s race length of about 92 laps, and I probably would have been a little better. But, yeah, it is what it is.”
Austin Dillon expresses gratitude
Dillon came home sixth and was in a generous mood afterward.
“Man, God is so good. We work really hard on these road races. I put a lot of effort into them to get better, and we didn’t qualify great, but Richard Boswell and everyone on the Bass Pro Shops team did a good job pushing the strategy early.”
He also laughed at Kyle Busch’s expense:
“He scared me into the bus stop with like two to go. He just gave up on saving fuel, and he ran out at the line. That was kind of fun getting him back by the line. Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, my wife. We’ll take this and move on.”
Kyle Busch ran dry but held on
Busch ran out of fuel at the line but still crossed eighth.
Las Vegas appt March 12 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing jgr Toyota Camry with A Cut ON His Face After Fighting with Driver Joey Logano 22 team Penske Ford Merger AT The End of The Cobalt 400 Nascar motor aviation USA Monster Energy Cup Series Race ON March 12 2017 AT Las Vegas Engine Speedway in Las Vegas appt Photo by Josh Holmberg Icon Sports Wire Car Mar 12 Nascar Monster Energy Cup Series Cobalt 400 PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxRUSxSWExNORxONLY Icon259170312002400
“Strong day for the No. 8 zone Jalapeño Lime Chevrolet. We made the adjustments and strategy calls we needed despite battling a car that trended tight throughout the race. We ran out of fuel at the end, but we’re still going home with our second Top-10 finish of the season,” said the 41-year-old.
AJ Allmendinger grinds to seventh
Allmendinger had to fight for everything he got on Sunday:
“That was a crazy race. After around 12-14 laps, it hits a cliff and gets loose. Trent made a really good call there; we had a good restart and started moving through the field. Despite being in a hole in strategy, Trent did a great job of getting us back in position. Obviously, you always want more, but it was a good day.”
Daniel Suarez takes the positives
Suarez finished 13th and left with something to build on:
“Our Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Chevy was decent at times today. I felt like it was a step in the right direction for our road course package. Our car was definitely better in the race than it was in practice and qualifying.”
Ty Gibbs comes in at third place
“Yeah, honestly, just a little frustrating because I wish we could keep racing. Unfortunately, just had to save some fuel there,” he said. “But, yeah, good to come home with a third-place finish. Obviously, wish it were another win. But I had a lot of fun today. Always fun to come to Watkins Glen. So I want to say thank you to my team. So it was a ton of fun today. We’ll just keep working hard, keep going for it.
“So a lot of positives from today. And thank you, Toyota… Obviously, a lot of things have changed since the last race here, and I think we’ve made some good changes, and I’ll just keep going forward and keep working hard. It was a very fun day, very blessed and fortunate to be in this position in this car, and we’ll keep working hard, we’ll keep going forward, and we’re excited to keep hammering down.”
Chase Briscoe had a fourth-place finish
“Yeah, just (crew chief) James (Small) did a really good job of putting ourselves in position to kind of just maximize our day with how the start of the day went,” the 31-year-old said. “So, yeah, it’s tough whenever you’re trying to save, and then you’re trying to run hard enough so all those guys that pitted don’t catch you. But I can see the leaders, so you want to go. So, yeah, it was tough there trying to manage all that.
“Plus, your tires are just all over the place. So, yeah, I felt like we had just a solid day for our Toyota. So hopefully we can build on this. And, yeah, just need a little bit more. We just weren’t very kind all day long. Just lacked a little bit. So, yeah, I need to go back to the drawing board and see if we can figure something out. But, yeah, overall, just a great day for us.”
Beyond the celebrations and reactions from fellow drivers, the biggest takeaway was simple: SVG continues to redefine what dominance on a road course looks like in modern NASCAR.
