SHANE van Gisbergen has claimed the fourth win of his NASCAR Cup Series season, with a commanding victory at Watkins Glen International.
The success breaks a tie with Hall of Famers Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart for the most wins ever by a rookie.
Additionally, the win equals Denny Hamlin for the lead in series wins for 2025, with two races remaining before the Playoffs.
“Good to get that one back!” Said van Gisbergen.
“What an awesome race, the last stint we cleared out, but the battle coming back through, I had a lot of fun.
“The car was just amazing again, to get another win – I definitely gave that bus stop wall another metre on the last lap!”
From the race start, van Gisbergen slotted into second behind polesitter Ryan Blaney, before cruising to a lap 19 of 90 pit stop, where after flipping the stage, he placed eighth at the break.
With the cars of Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece staying out under the caution, SVG restarted fifth, before advancing to the lead prior to the completion of the first racing lap.
A mad mid-field scrap resulted in Josh Berry spinning, with the race ultimately being slowed for debris on the circuit.
Leading away from the restart, with the threat of debris on the circuit, van Gisbergen pitted on lap 38.
The stage ended with John Hunter Nemechek crashing as Blaney claimed the green and white chequered flag. SVG was placed 22nd.
From 12th at the restart, van Gisbergen worked his way through the field to reclaim the lead on lap 54, as Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch tangled, then Michael McDowell spun out Carson Hocevar.
By the time of his final scheduled stop with 27 laps remaining, SVG had drawn out a 19.7sec advantage over the field. He found himself back in the lead when Brad Keselowski finally pitted 11 laps later.
Nemechek survived a lurid slide on the back straight as the race stayed green, with van Gisbergen ultimately drawing out an 11sec advantage at the finish.
One driver missing in action from the race was Connor Zilisch, who was sidelined with a broken collarbone following a victory lane celebration gone wrong yesterday.
In frightening scenes, the 19-year-old slipped off the top of his race car, falling headfirst onto the ground.
The Trackhouse Racing driver had qualified 25th for the Cup Series race.
NASCAR returns to short oval racing at Richmond Raceway next weekend, where last year, in his sixth start in the Xfinity Series, van Gisbergen placed 14th.