SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — NASCAR might sometimes seem like an endless series of left turns, but Shane van Gisbergen can attest that oval racing is filled with variables.
The 22 circular tracks on the Cup Series schedule feature different lengths, banking and shapes. For a New Zealand native who raced exclusively on road and street courses until three years ago, it’s been a slog to figure out.
“Some weeks, I can run 10th to 15th pretty easily, and other
weeks it’s a battle to run 30th,” he said. “As a team we definitely need to be better and prepare as well as we can. I just need to keep getting better and make no mistakes. I’m still the weak link as a driver, but I’ve got good teammates in the other cars, and they’re struggling as well.”
With eight races remaining in the regular season, van Gisbergen is the highest-ranked Trackhouse Racing driver at 14th in the standings — ahead of teammates Ross Chastain (22nd) and Connor Zilisch (34th) — and in a provisional spot for the Chase.
But to make the 10-race title run that is contested among the top 16 drivers, van Gisbergen knows he’ll need to shore up his results on the left-turn circuit. Sunday at Sonoma Raceway marked his eighth win in 15 career starts on road and street courses, but the final 18 races in 2026 will be held only on ovals.
During his second full season in Cup, van Gisbergen is improving. In 14 oval starts this year, he has an average finish of 20.9, up from 24.8 in 30 oval races last year. He earned his first top-five oval finish with a fifth at Nashville Superspeedway on May 31.
Noting that van Gisbergen has finished in the top 15 the past three races when he started in the top 10, crew chief Stephen Doran said the team is focused on qualifying well with the No. 97 Chevrolet.
“If we can qualify up there, we can stay up there all day,” Doran said. “That’s just the last piece of the puzzle with the ovals is to qualify good. I feel like we have the speed to maintain that.”
Because stage points are awarded to the top 10 twice during each race, it’s also easier to build a Chase cushion by starting toward the front and increasing the chances of a clean race.
Mistakes that led to crashes have factored into van Gisbergen’s six finishes outside the top 30 on ovals this season.
“I’ve still got a long way up the hill to go,” he said. “I’m getting there, and I see the glimpses, and I feel them, and I know it’s coming, but I still need to get a lot better, and I still have a lot to learn.”
For the first time in seven years, NASCAR will return this weekend to Chicagoland Speedway, and Kyle Larson has runner-up finishes in the two most recent races at the 1.5-mile track in Joliet, Illinois.
The defending Cup Series champion, who lost a bruising last-lap battle to Kyle Busch in 2018, finished fourth at Sonoma to earn his fourth consecutive top-five finish — his longest streak in more than a year.
“It’s definitely the best we’ve been all year,” said Larson, whose winless streak stands at 42 races, the longest since he joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021.
NASCAR held a test session in April at Chicagoland and has spent more than $5 million to refurbish the facility, which has been dormant since the pandemic aside from a SuperMotocross event in 2023.
There were 38 drivers in the June 30, 2019, race at Chicagoland. Of those 38, there are 18 who will be in Sunday’s race at a track that still has its original 2001 asphalt surface. Cody Ware, who will be making his Cup debut at Chicagoland, will be one of many relying on driving simulators to navigate the layout.
“The sim tells us where the bumps are and how to attack the track,” the Rick Ware Racing driver said. “Every little angle of your steering, your arc on corner entry and how aggressively you’re picking up the throttle, all those things matter.”
Team Penske’s Austin Cindric holds the 16th and final provisional spot in the Chase, 12 points in front of Erik Jones and 25 ahead of 2012 champion Brad Keselowski. Three-time champion Joey Logano is 31 points behind in 20th and in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
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