With four races left in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Shane van Gisbergen sits 15th in the standings, but 57 points above the Chase cut line.
The 37-year-old road course ace has won two road course races this year and improved greatly on ovals, but the question is whether or not he’s improved enough to hold onto a Chase spot over a four-race stretch of Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire and Daytona.
Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks thinks he can.
Justin Marks thinks SVG can make Chase
“When you look at Iowa and Richmond, I think that they’re similar enough to North Wilkesboro that we can feel pretty confident with Shane’s performance that he had at North Wilkesboro to go into these smaller tracks with a lot of confidence,” Marks said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, referencing van Gisbergen’s fifth-place finish at North Wilkesboro Speedway on July 19.
“Shane being able to have the race he did at North Wilkesboro I think gives him a lot of confidence going into those races,” Marks said. “I like where we’re going. He also did well at New Hampshire last year (finished seventh in Stage 1).
“I really think with the races coming up, they’re unique to NASCAR in the sense that they’re kind of those short track races… that are really specific to NASCAR Cup Series racing. Because he’s done so well at the short tracks and he’s seemed to find the groove and sort of how to get around those places and how to approach them, [that’s] got us feeling really good.”
Van Gisbergen will be looking to improve on his 2025 performance at Iowa, where he finished 31st last year.