Shane van Gisbergen pulls off stunning comeback at Watkins Glen
- Last updated: May 11, 2026 | 10:43
NASCAR's road-racing superstar put on a comeback for the ages on Sunday afternoon.
After a pit stop with 24 laps to go at Watkins Glen International, Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen amazingly erased a 29-second deficit as he chased down leader Ty Gibbs and roared away to win the NASCAR Cup Series' Go Bowling At The Glen in Watkins Glen, New York.
The New Zealand-born driver fell to 22nd place after his last stop under green, but he set out to run down Gibbs and second-place teammate Connor Zilisch. He chopped off seconds each lap and passed Gibbs' No. 54 Toyota with eight laps left.
The No. 97 Chevrolet driver wound up beating runner-up Michael McDowell by a massive 7.288 seconds.
While leading 74 of the race's 100 laps, van Gisbergen notched his sixth victory in the past seven road races and secured his seventh career Cup win -- all on road courses -- in just 62 starts. He joined Tyler Reddick as the only drivers to win from the pole this season.
"We weren't very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing, good tweaks, and then today," said van Gisbergen, who moved to 16th in the point standings. "I wasn't sure how it was going to work, and then to run them down like that. Very special to do two (Glen wins) in a row."
The fourth-year road ace claimed he wasn't as dominant as it looked.
"It's not easy," he said. "Everyone's really good. There was a lot of pressure there. I think McDowell was good. Connor was good. Tyler Reddick. There were some really good guys and a lot of pressure.
"Just stoked for these guys in executing every facet of our game."
Gibbs, Chase Briscoe and Reddick rounded out the top five.
Chevrolet won for the seventh time in the past eight visits to the Finger Lakes region's road layout and for the fourth time in a dozen starts in 2026.
In 2026's second race on a road course, van Gisbergen started from the point after winning the pole Saturday on his 37th birthday. He sailed away from McDowell's Chevy by over two seconds after eight times around the layout.
As the only driver on pit road coming in after leading the first 18 laps, van Gisbergen managed to finish eighth and earn stage points. Trackhouse's Ross Chastain was first in the segment win followed by Team Penske's Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, but Chase Elliott decided not to pit and stayed out for points and ended up 12th.
In the 30-lap Stage 2, Trackhouse drivers van Gisbergen and Zilisch checked out entirely, taking a healthy five-second lead over McDowell by Lap 38. Meanwhile, Chastain's No. 1 fell back to 18th until flying debris -- a black tent -- landed on the track on Lap 40.
Spire Motorsports teammates McDowell and Daniel Suarez started 1-2 with seven laps left in the stage, but the two Chevy drivers faded with two laps to go. van Gisbergen beat Reddick by less than a second followed by Gibbs, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch to end Stage 2.
Caution 3 flew on Lap 60 when Logano's No. 22 Ford lost a left front tire. van Gisbergen and Reddick stayed out for track position, but the majority of the field pitted with the chance to make it to the end of fuel.
Reuters