Shane van Gisbergen is in a tricky spot heading into the 2026 Cup Series season. He was able to make it to the playoffs last year through the courtesy of his extraordinary road course racing skill. But that alone will not cut it this time. The playoff format has been reverted to the Chase system, and this means that he will have to step up his game on other track types as well.
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Sure, he has been showcasing good improvement levels on them. But he recognizes that it is going to be a while before he can match his competitors on them. He joined the KTM Summer Grill a few weeks back to discuss his stock car racing career and detailed how challenging superspeedway racing, in particular, is. His words were a raw admission about where he stands.
Superspeedway racing, in many ways, is a game built on trust. Your teammates and other drivers need to trust you enough to stick close to you and build speed. Van Gisbergen doesn’t believe that he has earned that from his fellow men yet.
He said, “We do need to find some speed to genuinely be able to win and manage those races as a team. The Trackhouse cars, we really struggle to work together because we can’t stay attached to each other with the way we work. So, yeah, the dynamic of those races is so different, and that sort of stuff is going to take me years to get better at.”
It is a hard thing to learn how to place yourself and get others to trust you. Although he has made friends with many drivers, they still leave him the first chance they get. He hopes to change that in the coming seasons. He went on to awe that there is no other racing dynamic like this in the world. Since making his debut in 2023, he has driven ten superspeedway races.
His best finish of 11th place came at Talladega last year. He only has two other top-20 finishes apart from that. It is quite evident that he will still rake in multiple wins in the upcoming season. The only reason for worry is that they will all be on road courses. Furthermore, NASCAR has decided to remove every single road course from the schedule for the final 10-race Chase.
So, even if he makes it to the Chase, he will find it hard to progress through its ranks. The Kiwi has no choice but to work on improving himself on every other track, including the superspeedways. Confidence-inspiring is his self-awareness and desire to work on himself.
