The deck was stacked against Shane Van Gisbergen and the Trackhouse No. 91 on Sunday at Watkins Glen but it simply didn’t matter.
A caution with 39 laps to go put ‘SVG’ and crew chief Stephen Doran into quite the predicament. If they stayed out, they faced long odds of making it to the finish line on fuel, especially if others came down and were chasing them down on fresher tires.
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So they pit, but that meant the No. 91 would need to make up almost 30 seconds in 18 laps around the venerable 2.45-mile road course in upstate New York. It wasn’t even close and ‘SVG’ ultimately won by over seven seconds ahead of Michael McDowell, whom combined were the front row when the race began.
“I think it was 27 seconds (in) 20 laps, so I was a bit worried,” Van Gisbergen said. “Then their tires weren’t going to get any newer, I guess. Once they fell off into the .75s (and) .76s, it was a pretty cool feeling.”
The likes of Ty Gibbs and Connor Zilisch, who stayed out during the caution for a Joey Logano tire carcass, were tasked with trying to race each other for the lead while also saving their tires and managing their fuels.
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“He likes to be on offense”
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing
‘SVG’ meanwhile was tasked with doing what he does best, go faster than everyone else on a road course, and Doran never had a doubt.
“He’s made it pretty clear, especially at these tracks, he likes to be on offense, so we put him there,” Doran said.
From his standpoint, staying out ahead of Zilisch and Gibbs was never even a consideration.
“It really wasn’t that tough,” Doran said. “Our guys were — our engineers were telling me we’re three laps short. And to save three laps at a road course was not something I was super interested in. I didn’t want to get beat by somebody who was aggressive and chased us down.”
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That very well could have been McDowell, who still finished second, but never had a chance to get track position over Van Gisbergen.
“He just gets through the bus stop better than everyone else, and we saw that in qualifying, and when I was behind him, I could see it,” McDowell said. “After qualifying, I just thought, man I need to get in deeper, so I followed him in there and my car didn’t recover over the curbs as well as his.
“So we just have to work on our package a little bit. He comes off that second curb with so much control and so much momentum. I feel like we have some work to do there but there were sections of the track we were better too, so we just have to keep working on it.
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“I’ve said this before, I don’t feel like he’s unbeatable but he is really hard to beat because he executes so well and manages his tires so well. And at a place like this, where this so much (tire) falloff, he’s a hard guy to beat.”
And that’s just it.
Van Gisbergen deserves all the praise for what he does on these tracks, because like McDowell, Cup Series drivers and teams have had over two years to study what he does with all the SMT data in the world and they still can’t replicate it.
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Not too bad for the just turned 37-year-old.
SVG’s best drive yet?
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing
“I feel like this is one of the best races I’ve driven,” Van Gisbergen said. “You know, not many mistakes, a pretty cool feeling. My mates were all giving me shit yesterday about how I’m getting too old for my birthday. You know, I don’t feel old. I felt like that’s the best I’ve driven. It was pretty cool.”
That says a lot for all the great drives he’s had en route to three REPCO Supercars championships and seven Cup Series wins.
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“I think just everything was good,” Van Gisbergen said. “My car was not very good in practice yesterday. Then they changed for qualifying, and it was a big step in the right direction.
“Then today it was even better. Then just everything was good. My restarts were good. My pit stops. The guys did a great job. Then the strategy as well. Like, it was a great team victory.
“Yeah, as I always say, you see how much it means to everyone, and it hasn’t been the easiest year for us. Pretty cool to get that result. It means a lot just to — you know, there is pressure or expectation from everyone on these days, but when you ignore that and just execute, it’s a really cool feeling.”
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