SHANE van Gisbergen remains proud of his progress despite missing The Chase, and feels freed up to take more risk through the remainder of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series.
SVG was brutally bumped from the final playoffs spot by Ryan Preece in the last race of the regular season, leaving him out of the hunt as the show now rolls on to Darlington Raceway.
“The reality is that we have struggled a bit, but I’m happy on the #97 side, personally, to have matched Ross (Chastain, teammate),” said Trackhouse Racing’s Kiwi star.
“We know how good he is on the ovals, and I think I’ve made a big jump this year to be able to match him most weeks. And obviously Connor (Zilisch), as well, is a huge talent, so to be comparable to those guys has been really cool for me this year.
“There’s a lot of hard work going on, but we definitely need to improve if we want to have that opportunity at making it (The Chase) next season.
“The season is not over yet, but I’m proud that I’m closer to my teammates on ovals,” he reiterated.
“I’ve managed to have a pretty good year. Obviously, I want us to do better as a team, and as team we aren’t quite there yet. But we’ve made good improvement on the ovals, which is important.”
Asked about his approach to the 10 races still to come this year, van Gisbergen said: “I guess we can try things now, take a bit more risk and just have some fun, low stress.
“But also work to do the best we can and learn more about what we need out of the car at certain tracks and prepare for next season.”
Before the weekend at Darlington, the 37-year-old will race Friday night (US time) in the CARS Tour Series late model stock car class at nearby Florence Motor Speedway.
The Undercut – Ford’s best Bathurst chance?
THE Undercut returns, breaking down the latest news in the world of Supercars racing!