Shane van Gisbergen getting ever “better” at road courses after fourth NASCAR 2025 win

Shane van Gisbergen says he is performing even “better” at road courses after registering his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the year at Watkins Glen on Sunday.

The Kiwi has been the benchmark around road courses ever since he stunned the NASCAR paddock by winning on his debut in Chicago in 2023.

But now in his first full season in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen has extended that dominance, with Sunday’s result marking his fourth success on a road course in five attempts this year.

It also means he is now the first rookie in the series’ history to win four races, cementing his status as one of the most exciting talents to join the Cup grid in recent years.

Van Gisbergen’s success on such venues is down to his extensive experience in the Australian Supercars championship, where he won three titles with the GM-affiliated Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Much has been written about what NASCAR’s established drivers are doing to close the gap to van Gisbergen, but Sunday’s race suggested they still have work to do, after the 36-year-took the chequered flag with a dominant winning margin of 11 seconds.

Asked if he feels his rivals are improving, van Gisbergen pointed to his own progress since joining the Cup Series as a full-time driver this season after contesting a partial campaign in 2024.

“I just think they’re good anyway.

“I think the difference has been that I’m with the team full time this year and I’ve been able to develop a setup and fine tune it to the way I want. 

“Last year I kind of just jumped in and got the Trackhouse car delivered to Kaulig and then the Kaulig guys would run it, whereas this year I’m all involved in the setup, trying to learn every week, and I really feel like as a team we’ve been able to tailor the car to my needs.

“We have gotten better rather than anything else.. We turn up to the track, we know what our tools are, our tuning tools. I know what I want the car to feel like.

“Like this Monday was a really intense meeting trying to improve on what we had last year, and got here yesterday and the car felt night and day different. I think it’s just us as a team getting better.”

Van Gisbergen got to celebrate his latest NASCAR success with his father Robert, who joined him in the victory lane in upstate New York.

He revealed his father has endured a difficult period, which had prevented him from travelling to the United States earlier in the year.

“He came to Chicago and then he came two or three times last year,” said van Gisbergen.

“But yeah, it’s been pretty difficult. He lost his wife, my mother, and then his sister and then his mom a month or so ago. It’s been a really rough run for Dad. 

“It’s hard to support him when I’m on the other side of the world. That’s probably why I’m the most homesick. 

“Then my sister has moved away as well, so he’s kind of by himself all of a sudden. I try and talk to him every day.

“To have him here, and like he was almost in tears, too. It’s really special to share that, because we’re a long way from home.”