Shane van Gisbergen arrived at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) chasing a sixth consecutive road course victory in the Cup Series. And he had a great start to the weekend, winning the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at the track on Saturday.
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SVG entered Sunday carrying that momentum. However, Tyler Reddick pulled away in the closing laps and won by 3.944 seconds, bagging his third straight win of 2026. Van Gisbergen, who had qualified 13th, climbed up to second place. He had ended P2 in Stage 1 and P10 in Stage 2.
For a driver who has won road course events with margins as wide as 17 seconds (his Mexico win last season), the result was a setback. Everyone, including SVG himself, was expecting the New Zealander to bag his first Cup win of the season at COTA. The track demands precision through each section of the layout, SVG had noted. So did he falter?
Despite the race not ending the way he would have wanted, the Trackhouse Racing Driver maintained his grace while talking to reporters. “Yeah, it’s weird to be disappointed with second. But, yeah, this series is just at a high level. And I felt okay. We got our safety culture Chevy a lot better than yesterday,” said SVG.
“But just following Tyler, his driving was immaculate. And his car was very good, too. So I tried, but didn’t quite have enough. But still a great points day for the 97,” the New Zealander added.
“Just following Tyler, his driving was immaculate. His car was very good too.”- SVG talks with @ReganSmith after a P.2 at COTA pic.twitter.com/Oxrd5YSVfL
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 2, 2026
Van Gisbergen restarted in pursuit of Reddick with 16 laps remaining in the race. He was seeking to match Jeff Gordon’s mark of six consecutive road course wins. But Reddick maintained track position and extended the gap.
SVG had moved through traffic in the final laps of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday, too. But he triumphed on that occasion. He passed five cars with five laps to go and entered the shallow into Turn 1 as the other leaders pushed wide to take the win.
Sunday’s runner-up finish marked his second consecutive top-10 result in the season. He had a sixth-place finish at EchoPark Speedway, his strongest oval showing in the Cup Series.
After a 30th-place finish at Daytona, SVG has posted two creditable results, helping him surge in the points standings. The Trackhouse Racing driver is in fifth place right now. Reddick leads the standings with a 70-point advantage over Bubba Wallace.
