Shane van Gisbergen celebrates winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen.
This year, NASCAR has done away with its win-and-you’re-in play-off format. Instead, the top 16 knock-out will be set on points.
By virtue of his win at Watkins Glen, he was propelled to the front of the field at Charlotte when qualifying was abandoned.
That’s thanks entirely to the performance metric that sets the qualifying order and the grid when qualifying is rained out.
Van Gisbergen was mightily impressive across the first three stages at Charlotte, scoring points en route to a somewhat disappointing 11th place finish.
The same circumstances were true a week later at Nashville, where his performance in the race at Charlotte gave him a good draw when qualifying was rained out for a second week in a row.
He put together his top performance in the Cup Series on an oval, finishing fifth.
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In three weeks, van Gisbergen went from below to cut line in 19th to be sitting pretty in 12th.
However, the brutal reality of Trackhouse Racing’s qualifying trauma was back at the forefront of everyone’s mind at Michigan when van Gisbergen was only 30th.
His teammates Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch were even worse off in 32nd and 34th respectively.
Van Gisbergen flirted with a top 20 finish but was stung with two penalties, one for a safety violation and another for speeding, before he was wrecked out of the race through no fault of his own inside the final 50 laps.
That result has dropped van Gisbergen two positions back to 14th in the standing and dangerously close to the cut-off line..
“Unfortunate day for our SafetyCulture team,” said van Gisbergen.
“Just struggled with the balance of the car all day. It’s a shame to have this kind of day after building such great momentum the last couple of weeks.
“But we’ll continue to learn from this and be ready for Pocono.”
Before the lacklustre Michigan showing, NASCAR legend and commentator Dale Earnhardt Jr. said van Gisbergen wasn’t “a lock” for The Chase.
“It’s tight. He could have a couple of bad days and be in a bad spot, but he’s also got the road courses,” he said on the Dale Jr Download.
“If he gets another win or two at a road course, that’s going to put him 50 points up – if not more.
“If he gets another win at a road course, yes. That’s what’s going to lock him in. He should smoke their ass at San Diego. He should.”
NASCAR Cup Series points after Michigan International Speedway
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Poins
Diff
Gap
Gain/Loss
Race Wins
Stage Wins
1
45
Tyler Reddick
23XI Racing
669
0
0
0
5
1
2
11
Denny Hamlin
Joe Gibbs Racing
618
-51
51
0
3
4
3
12
Ryan Blaney
Team Penske
512
-157
106
0
1
1
4
9
Chase Elliott
Hendrick Motorsports
482
-187
30
0
2
2
5
54
Ty Gibbs
Joe Gibbs Racing
470
-199
12
0
1
1
6
5
Kyle Larson
Hendrick Motorsports
453
-216
17
0
0
4
7
77
Carson Hocevar
Spire Motorsports
428
-241
25
2
1
0
8
17
Chris Buescher
RFK Racing
424
-245
4
0
0
0
9
7
Daniel Suarez
Spire Motorsports
418
-251
6
1
1
1
10
20
Christopher Bell
Joe Gibbs Racing
410
-259
8
-3
0
3
11
23
Bubba Wallace
23XI Racing
378
-291
32
4
0
2
12
24
William Byron
Hendrick Motorsports
377
-292
1
-1
0
1
13
19
Chase Briscoe
Joe Gibbs Racing
370
-299
7
1
0
0
14
97
Shane Van Gisbergen
Trackhouse Racing
355
-314
15
-2
1
1
15
6
Brad Keselowski
RFK Racing
350
-319
5
-2
0
2
16
2
Austin Cindric
Team Penske
332
-337
18
0
0
1
17
22
Joey Logano
Team Penske
329
-340
3
1
0
0
18
43
Erik Jones
Legacy Motor Club
314
-355
15
3
0
1
19
60
Ryan Preece
RFK Racing
313
-356
1
-2
0
1
20
71
Michael McDowell
Spire Motorsports
286
-383
27
-1
0
0
21
16
AJ Allmendinger
Kaulig Racing
286
-383
0
1
0
1
22
38
Zane Smith
Front Row Motorsports
282
-387
4
-2
0
1
23
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Hyak Motorsports
271
-398
11
0
0
0
24
1
Ross Chastain
Trackhouse Racing
260
-409
11
2
0
3
25
34
Todd Gilliland
Front Row Motorsports
255
-414
5
0
0
0
26
35
Riley Herbst
23XI Racing
250
-419
5
1
0
0
27
3
Austin Dillon
Richard Childress Racing
245
-424
5
-3
0
0
28
42
John Hunter Nemechek
Legacy Motor Club
236
-433
9
0
0
0
29
4
Noah Gragson
Front Row Motorsports
212
-457
24
0
0
0
30
21
Josh Berry
Wood Brothers Racing
196
-473
16
1
0
0
31
10
Ty Dillon
Kaulig Racing
190
-479
6
-1
0
0
32
48
Alex Bowman
Hendrick Motorsports
178
-491
12
0
0
0
33
41
Cole Custer
Haas Factory Team
175
-494
3
0
0
0
34
88
Connor Zilisch #
Trackhouse Racing
148
-521
27
0
0
0
35
51
Cody Ware
Rick Ware Racing
131
-538
17
0
0
0
San Diego isn’t far away for SVG.
He has to get through Pocono on June 15 then he’ll have back-to-back opportunities at San Diego and Sonoma to really stamp his authority on the standings.
Thereafter, it’s an eight-race run to The Chase where he’ll have to hope there are improvements across the board, but particularly in qualifying.
In this weeks poll presented by Michelin, we ask you — will Shane van Gisbergen make The Chase?
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