When you think of road course racing in NASCAR’s storied history, several drivers stand out above the rest, including Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, with a combined 17 victories between them on road courses.
Additionally, Chase Elliott has had quite the resume on road courses himself, winning four races in a row between the 2019 and 2020 seasons, with active drivers Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick also visiting victory lane on multiple occasions.
However, one driver has stood head and shoulders above the competition when NASCAR embarks on its annual road course trek, and perhaps will go down in NASCAR history as the best road course racer of all time: Shane van Gisbergen.
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The Auckland, New Zealand, native burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2023, taking the checkered flag in his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the inaugural race at the Chicago street course. That day, the entire field was put on notice that van Gisbergen was going to be a force to be reckoned with anytime NASCAR went road course racing.
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No matter whether it was a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series car for Kaulig Racing or a Cup car for Trackhouse Racing, van Gisbergen quickly adapted to NASCAR racing on road courses, thanks in large part to his Supercars racing background.
Entering the 2026 Cup season, his second full-time year competing for Trackhouse, van Gisbergen is on the verge of making history by tying the mark for most consecutive road course wins in a row. The record currently stands at six, achieved by Gordon between the 1997 and 2000 seasons.
What makes van Gisbergen’s situation more unique compared to Gordon’s run is that the Cup schedule today features more road courses than there were when Gordon embarked on his dominant stretch.
During the 2000 season, the Cup Series only raced at two road courses, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International. Over the last few seasons, NASCAR has taken bold steps in making one of the most diverse schedules in its history with the addition of more road courses, leading to this dominant stretch from van Gisbergen that the series hasn’t seen since Gordon.
The 2026 schedule sees the Cup Series competing at five road courses, including the first-ever race on an active military base at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
No longer on the schedule for 2026 is Chicago, where van Gisbergen won twice in his career, along with Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, where he took the checkered flag last year by a whopping 16 seconds.
Aside from Coronado, at which no current Cup driver has turned a single lap, victory lane at Circuit of the Americas has eluded van Gisbergen. Despite only two appearances at the 3.41-mile, 20-turn road course with a best finish of sixth last year, he will still be the overwhelming favorite due to his remarkable run during the 2025 campaign.
Looking at his individual numbers from last season, van Gisbergen paced the entire Cup field, boasting an average finish of 1.83 on road courses. Additionally, he has won exactly half of his 12 total road course starts in his Cup career, with six wins to his name in only one full-time season.
Of his five victories a season ago, van Gisbergen unloaded with speed often, winning three consecutive road course races after qualifying from the pole. The numbers speak for themselves, and van Gisbergen’s strength during his time in NASCAR has always been road courses, which will continue to proceed as his career in NASCAR progresses.
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Similar to the days when Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated at Talladega Superspeedway driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc, winning four races in a row at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, van Gisbergen has truly been in a league of his own on the road courses, with the rest of the field playing catchup.
A once-in-a-generation talent behind the wheel of a stock car in terms of road course racing, van Gisbergen seems likely to cement his place in NASCAR history by winning a sixth-consecutive road course race, not only tying Gordon’s record but also putting him at the top of the list of NASCAR’s best road course racers.
