By David Morgan, Associate Editor
CONCORD, N.C. – The NASCAR Cup Series is back at a road course for the final time in 2025 and once again, all eyes are on the driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, Shane van Gisbergen, to be the driver to beat.
The 36-year-old New Zealander has been the Thanos of the Cup Series garage when it comes to the road course races this season, winning at all but one of the five road courses – Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma, and Watkins Glen.
A sixth-place finish at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas remains the only blemish on his road course resume this season.
Van Gisbergen will start on the outside of the front row in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, with nearly every driver in the field expecting the win to go through the No. 88 team once again.
“I think it’s a nice feeling,” said van Gisbergen. “I don’t feel any more pressure, but it’s nice people think so high of us now. It’s a cool feeling that everyone knows the 88’s going to be pretty good this weekend. I like that. You certainly feel a pretty good atmosphere in the shop on a road course week. My teammates are strong on road courses, as well.
“I don’t think it puts any more pressure or expectation from outside. I guess from other drivers and media, maybe. But yeah, I find it’s a nice feeling to have.”
He added that a win on Sunday is by no means a guarantee, but their past performance on road courses and the work they put in certainly make this weekend a lot more fun to just go out and race.
“I still have to work really hard to be good at it,” said van Gisbergen. “This track is nice because I’ve been here before. I’m not starting from a clean slate. I raced here last year in both classes and sort of know how the track races and what I needed to do better from last year, so that’s certainly a help.
“But yeah, I try and study as much as I can, but I feel like I study a lot more at ovals than road courses at the moment. These weeks are a bit of a holiday, as I always say. It’s pretty fun to come and do these.
“It is never easy, but it’s easier than ovals.”
As for what makes the ROVAL unique, van Gisbergen explained that drivers will still need to be precise, but the roughness of the ROVAL makes for a difference driving experience versus other road courses on the schedule.
“You still have to be precise. You have to hit [the curbs] with the right angle. You’re generally pretty aggressive on how you drive the car and how you treat the car,” van Gisbergen said.
“It feels pretty rough. The backstretch chicane, in particular, and the frontstretch lap this year I think will still be rough, but not as rough as last year. You can’t cut it as much with the [tire] bundle that they put. I think that’s a pretty good resolution they’ve come up with. It stops the question of cutting too much, but also, it’s quite violent on the car if you abuse it.
“I think it’s a pretty good thing they’ve done there. But, yeah, you still have to be precise here. It’s a hard track to get things right, but you can grab the car by the scruff of the neck, too, and send it pretty hard.”
Oval Elation
In addition to the being the favorite this weekend at Charlotte, van Gisbergen is also coming off his best career finish on an oval – a 10th place finish last weekend at Kansas.
He explained that finish has helped to boost the morale in the shop even further in the week between Kansas and Charlotte.
“It was awesome, especially after New Hampshire,” said van Gisbergen. “We probably should have had a great result there, and it didn’t work out. We had a little penalty for a mistake, and then, yeah, having to be a lap down, or two laps down, we ended up, and coming back was really cool. It was pretty genuine, the speed, as well. We were ahead of most of the crashes, and having a really good day. So, yeah, I was pretty excited.
“I’ve never been so excited for a top-10, but this series is tough on the ovals. Everyone’s so good, and it has taken all year for us to get up to speed. It’s just a good reward for everyone who’s helped me to get here, the spotters and crew chief. I think everyone was pretty stoked after that race. It was a cool atmosphere.”
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