SVG-TRACKHOUSE RACING ADVANCE – WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL

May 8, 2026
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MEDIA RELEASE/Trackhouse Racing – Photos: supplied

Shane Van Gisbergen will make his first attempt at a Triple-Duty weekend, at arguably one of his best tracks, Watkins Glen International, below is Trackhouse Racing buildup report.

Previous Watkins Winner: Shane van Gisbergen will make his third NASCAR Cup Series start at Watkins Glen International in Upstate New York. Last season at Watkins Glen, van Gisbergen claimed his fourth Cup Series victory of the season. He showcased a dominate performance, starting on the front row, leading 38 of the 90 laps and taking the checkered flag by a 11.116 second margin of victory. Van Gisbergen’s average finish in the Cup Series at Watkins Glen is 1.5.
Triple Duty: Van Gisbergen will make his first attempt at a Triple-Duty weekend, at arguably one of his best tracks. On Friday, van Gisbergen will pilot the No. 4 Chevrole Silverado for Niece Motorsports. This will be his second career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. In 2023, van Gisbergen drove the No. 41 for Niece Motorsports at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) prior to his second career Cup Series start at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. On Saturday, van Gisbergen will be back in the No. 9 Kubota Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. This marks his second start with JRM this season. In February, he piloted the No. 9 Chevrolet to victory lane at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. That victory marked van Gisbergen’s fifth O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career win.
50th Start for Trackhouse Racing: Van Gisbergen will make his 50th start for Trackhouse Racing this weekend at Watkins Glen. Van Gisbergen has been a full-time Trackhouse driver since 2025, securing six victories, three pole positions, seven top-5’s, 11 top-10’s and 328 laps led. The three-time Supercars champion came to America through Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 program and won his debut Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Race in July 2023, becoming one of six foreign-born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start.
Road Course Stats: Van Gisbergen has taken NASCAR’s circuit racing to the next level with six Cup Series Road Course victories in 13 road course starts. Van Gisbergen also has five O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Road Course wins and five pole positions.
Point Standings: Van Gisbergen enters this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen 19th in the Cup Series driver standings. He is just 27 points behind 16th-place, the last spot in The Chase.
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Texas Result: Van Gisbergen started 30th for the 400-mile race and saw stready progression all day. He took the checkered flag in 17th-place, his best at the 1.50-mile track.
Runaway Kiwi: SafetyCulture has partnered with NASCAR and Trackhouse Racing to produce a new documentary spotlighting van Gisbergen’s rise to the top levels of international motorsport. Runaway Kiwi follows van Gisbergen’s journey from his home in Manukau, New Zealand, to capturing five consecutive road course victories in his NASCAR rookie season. More than a racing story, it explores the discipline, preparation and teamwork required to compete at the highest level – values that sit at the heart of SafetyCulture’s mission to improve the way the world works. The documentary is available to watch on the official NASCAR YouTube channel and The NASCAR Channel.
Meet SVG: On Sunday, van Gisbergen will sign autographs at 11:20 a.m. local time at the Trackhouse Racing merchandise hauler in the Fan Zone – wristband required.

Are you excited to be racing all three series this weekend?

“Yeah, I want to race everything! I would love to do it on ovals as well, especially at tracks like Texas. I would love to do more on ovals to get better, but obviously it’s easier for me to get sponsorship on road courses (laughs). Hopefully, if I have good races with these teams, it will lead to more on ovals. All three series should be awesome racing.”

Does your team feel any extra pressure this weekend?

“Yeah, of course but I think it’s an expectation you have to manage. We can’t go there and just expect to win, but hopefully we are good and competitive and competing for the win at the end.”

How do you think the cooler temperatures will affect the race this weekend?

“It was hard on tires there last year. When we went to the different compound than the year before and you definitely felt a lot of fall off. So, the cooler temps will help with that. But I don’t know the climate there, how much cooler it will be. But I think it will affect all classes, even the O’Reilly Series, the tires blister and get pretty hot there, the left rear. So, it will probably be the same for them too.”

The forecast is supposed to be wet, does that excite you?

“No, I hate racing in the rain (laughs). But I’m good at it. I’ll adapt if it happens, but I hope it’s dry for all three races. It’s just no fun racing in the rain. You can’t be precise, you got to just wing it, stuff goes wrong, I’ve just never enjoyed it.”