Featured Latest News NASCAR NASCAR Cup Series

Shane Van Gisbergen Put On A Clinic To Win At Watkins Glen International

by Hunter Thomas May 10, 2026 0 comments

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Shane Van Gisbergen made up a 29-second deficit in the final 18 laps to win the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday.

Gisbergen put on a clinic on Sunday in New York. He dominated the race, leading a race high of 74 of 90 laps; however, the most impressive performance of the race was when he pitted under green and drove his way all the way through the field in less than 20 laps to take the lead away from Ty Gibbs with eight laps to go.

“Thank you to Trackhouse,” Van Gisbergen said. “We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing. Good tweaks, and then today, so what a race car. Then Stephen (Doran, crew chief) made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Then to run them down, very, very special to do two in a row.”

The win marks his second in a row at Watkins Glen International and the seventh of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Although he started from the pole and dominated the race, he had to hold off hard challengers throughout the afternoon. With the win, he now sits 16^th in the standings, just six points ahead of Chase Briscoe for the final transfer spot in The Chase.

“Everyone is really good,” Van Gisbergen said. “There was a lot of pressure there, and I think McDowell was good, Connor was good. Tyler Reddick. There was a lot of good guys and a lot of pressure. Just stoked for these guys, you know, to execute every facet of our game. Speechless. This is so cool.”

Michael McDowell finished second in the Spire Motorsports No. 71 Go Bowling Chevrolet. The runner-up finish marked McDowell’s second top-five of the season, with the first coming at Circuit of the Americas back in March. On Sunday, McDowell was a top competitor all race long, earning a stage point in Stage 1 and running up front in the closing laps of the race.

 “Just not quite enough to run him down,” McDowell said. “Like I said, it’s just tough, man. Second is awesome. It’s great to get momentum back on our side. We needed it after a rough few weeks, but we wanted to get to victory lane. Proud of Spire. Proud of my guys. They worked really hard. Happy Mother’s Day to my wife and all the mothers out there. Great day. We’ll build on it and hopefully get ready for Charlotte 600. And I would have liked to make that All-Star race too. That would have been another plus to win.”

Ty Gibbs looked as if he was going to win the race, but with worn tires, he just wasn’t fast enough to keep pace at the end. He had to settle for a third-place finish, which is his best at Watkins Glen. The solid performance comes as a relief after crashing out at Talladega and Texas.

“Honestly just a little frustrating,” Gibbs said. “I wish we could keep racing, but unfortunately, just had to save some fuel there. Yeah, good to come home with a third-place finish. Obviously wish it was another win, but you know, had a lot of fun today. Always fun to come to Watkins Glen.”

Completing the top-five was Briscoe and Tyler Reddick. Rounding out the top-10 was Austin Dillon, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek.

Ross Chastain won Stage 1, and Van Gisbergen won Stage 2.

There were four cautions for 12 laps. No cautions were for accidents; however, the caution on Lap 41, was for a tent that blew onto the track. The final caution on Lap 61 was for a tire that came off Joey Logano’s car.

Reddick continues to lead the standings. He leads Denny Hamlin by 129 points.

The NASCAR Cup Series will now head to Dover International Speedway for the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday, May 17. Live coverage will broadcast on FS1 at 1 p.m. ET. The race will mark the first time in history that Dover has hosted the non-points event.

Photo Credit: Trish McCormack/TheFourthTurn.com