What happened in 2023 cannot be replicated in 2026. In July 2023, Shane van Gisbergen made his breakthrough in NASCAR with a victory at the Chicago Street Race. It meant volumes for the Kiwi driver’s chances in a format that gave all value to a race win. However, that format is no longer in operation. And SVG will need to shift his strategies to face the new 2026 season, which might expose his biggest challenge – oval tracks.

Shane van Gisbergen bites his nails ahead of new challenge

“It’s hard for me, like, the reason why I’m in this series is because of win-and-you’re-in, right? But I feel like gotten better at ovals where I don’t have to rely on it. Yet certainly gonna be an achievement to make that top sixteen, I think good target for us and something that is achievable. I think it rewards those top guys now, you know, they’re always winning. And they were the guys calling for it, I guess. But, yeah, to me that’s more of a pure racing championship,” Shane van Gisbergen said on a PRN Live interview.

In 2025, Trackhouse Racing’s Kiwi driver may have benefited most from the win-and-you’re-in system. While winning five of the six road course races, Shane van Gisbergen was only 25th in regular-season points. This was largely due to his 21.0 average finish and lack of success on ovals. Yet his road course prowess would have been enough to topple Ty Gibbs for the 16th spot if the Chase format were in place in 2025.

The new format, similar to the one used between 2004 and 2013, no longer qualifies race-winning drivers for the post-season. Instead, a greater emphasis is on consistency across the 26-race regular season. Winning races is still important, however, with victors to receive 55 points instead of 40. And Shane van Gisbergen has shown resilience on ovals, with a string of solid finishes topped by a 10th-place result in Kansas.

So SVG is banking on a combination of these factors to tackle his biggest weakness on ovals. “I felt so much more comfortable at the end of last year. I think we would’ve been near the top 16 or right in it. And you know we were 35th, 38-something points halfway through the year. We had a really bad start here and still made it. So maybe we can do the same this year. It’ll be really cool to start a lot stronger.”

While the Trackhouse driver sees the challenges, the bright factors are visible as well.

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En route to breaking a record

Despite facing a mammoth challenge in the Chase format, Shane van Gisbergen is also close to breaking a record. In 2025, the Kiwi star picked up five road course wins in a consecutive streak. The only win that eluded him was the 3.41-mile, 20-turn road course at Circuit of the Americas. This year, SVG is on the verge of extending the five-win streak to six, which would tie him with the best road course streak in NASCAR’s history.

Jeff Gordon set that record between the 1997 and 2000 seasons. What makes Shane van Gisbergen’s situation more unique than Gordon’s run is that the Cup schedule today features more road courses than it did during Gordon’s dominant stretch. And if SVG can get it done, he will spring to the top of the list of the finest road course racers in NASCAR. This list includes Tony Stewart and Gordon, both of whom boast a combined 17 wins; others are Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, etc.

Clearly, Shane van Gisbergen is on a mission, and he will not give it up despite the daunting format change. Let’s wait and see how the Kiwi fares this season.