Shane van Gisbergen remains confident that he can race his way into the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, but he believes the key to getting there is not taking unnecessary risks.

Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR about his approach to the remainder of the regular season, van Gisbergen admitted that he and his team closely monitor the championship standings each week.

While the engineering group analyzes the points scenarios and the projected cut line, his own focus is much simpler.

“Every week, we're looking at the points and our gap to the cut line and projected points we need. The engineering side of things gets a bit deep into it. For me, I just need to execute. I need to go there, do the best I can on the ovals, and stop making little mistakes. 

I had some painful days at Pocono, and I think I put myself in a bad spot and cost us quite a few points. I just need to stop doing things like that,” he said. SVG was running under top-20 before he was caught in a multi-car accident at Pocono and ended 31st.

Before that, at Michigan, SVG faced his first DNF of the season. He struggled with the car's handling and faced a pit-road penalty. Later, he was caught in a multi-car crash, finishing 30th.

"We need to get better than that and get to the point where we can score stage points on an oval regularly and run in that top ten, top five and we can do it when we get it right."

Instead of chasing unrealistic finishes, the 36-year-old believes regularly finishing between 15th and 20th would provide a solid foundation for his playoff campaign.

However, he also knows that to become a genuine contender, the team must eventually begin collecting stage points and competing consistently inside the top 10 on ovals.

But despite the steep learning curve, he is optimistic, since the speed is already there when everything is aligned together. 

Is the rest of the field finally catching up with SVG’s excellence at road courses? 

Denny Hamlin had this question on the Actions Detrimental podcast, and this was discussed in great detail along with his co-hosts.

Hamlin believes the rest of the field is beginning to understand SVG's approaches to specific corners and speed, which is helping them close the gap. 

This was seen the way Tyler Reddick has competed at road courses and beat SVG at COTA this year. Even his Trackhouse teammate Connor Zilisch has done well on road courses, and Chase Briscoe gave him some tough competition at Sonoma.

“What the field is starting to figure out is his approaches to speed in certain corners. I think that that’s where he’ll struggle to maintain the big advantage that he has over the field is that. 

"When I watch him approach, you know, 11 corners at Sonoma, there’s a few where it’s like, wow, I never thought to approach that corner that way. And, so I think the field sees that, and eventually they close it.”

At the same time, he also questioned whether other drivers can successfully replicate SVG’s driving techniques and the awareness he has of his car. He also feels that since SVG does not make too many mistakes, his competitors have to be near-perfect in their moves. 

Read more at Daytona Racing Digest 

Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason