SHANE van Gisbergen’s sweep in the NASCAR Cup Series and O’Reilly Series at Sonoma Raceway over the weekend has elevated New Zealand to the second-most-winning country in his NASCAR career across all three top tiers.

All told, van Gisbergen’s tally of eight Cup Series and six O’Reilly Series wins gives New Zealand 14 all-time wins, overtaking Canada’s 13.

“I’m not really a stats or numbers person but I did see that New Zealand became the second winningest country in (NASCAR), so that’s awesome,” said the 37-year-old.

“It’s so cool to be competing in this series and have a stat like that but also be so welcomed.”

SVG broke through in the Cup Series at Chicago in 2023, before winning five times in his rookie season last year at Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Roval, ahead of winning this year at Watkins Glen and Sonoma.

In the second-tier O’Reilly Series, he broke through at Portland in 2024, before winning Sonoma and Chicago, repeating the street circuit victory last year, before further successes at COTA and Sonoma this year.

He has raced in a total of 110 NASCAR races since first heading Stateside.

Canada’s 13 NASCAR wins, meanwhile, have been claimed by Ross Earl in Cup (1974 at Martinsville), Ron Fellows (four in O’Reilly and two in Trucks), Larry Pollard (O’Reilly in 1987 at Langley), plus Stewart Friesen (four times in Trucks), and Raphaël Lessard in 2020 in the Truck Series at Talladega.

Mexico rates third with Daniel Suárez’s eight wins (three Cup, four O’Reilly and one in Trucks), with Australia fourth via Marcos Ambrose’s seven successes.

He won twice in the Cup Series at Watkins Glen, four times there in the O’Reilly Series, and once at Montreal in 2011.

The remaining international NASCAR winners have featured F1 alumni, namely Juan Pablo Montoya from Colombia (two Cup, one O’Reilly), Nelson Piquet Jr from Brazil (one O’Reilly, two Trucks) and Mario Andretti, who won the 1967 Daytona 500 for Italy.

Van Gisbergen’s eight Cup wins are tied for 71st all-time with Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman and Kyle Petty, the son of the legendary Richard Petty.

His 14 wins across all series match the tally of his Trackhouse Racing stablemate Ross Chastain.

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