Beware Cup drivers, there’s an oval racer in the making. It’s taken him two years, but it feels like Shane van Gisbergen has finally arrived in NASCAR. Gone are the days when he was addressed just as a road-course specialist, as his sixth-place finish at Atlanta, his best on ovals, is proof of how rapidly he’s becoming a complete driver.

From spinning twice to finishing a career-best finish

During the race, there were multiple instances where Gisbergen ended up on the infield grass, for which he called himself a tractor, jokingly. Despite that, he finished the race in sixth place, taking his record up from his 10th-place finish last year at Kansas.

While speaking about his race in the post-race interview, SVG revealed that he is happy with his and the team’s progress in the Cup Series so far.

“Yeah, it was pretty wild. Started at the back, and then our car was really, really loose, so yeah, guys did a great job tuning it up.

“From the second stage onwards, I managed to get through to the front and still really lost a few trips through the grass, which wasn’t fun, but yeah, I just kept making it bigger and better and put on a bit of a show with the Red Bull Chevy.”

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When asked about his numerous trips to the infield grass, SVG accepts that he was unable to handle his car the way he wanted to. As such, he ended up losing control more than once.

“The second one, I just lost it. It just kept getting looser and looser and probably pushed too hard getting to the front, and then the race just got harder and harder, and I tried to get to the bottom to get out front, but yeah, it didn’t really work.

“We got some good adjustments to get it back but were still always on the free side. Probably some mistakes by me, putting my nose in the wrong spots.”

Nevertheless, SVG is proud of himself and his team for the progress they have shown so far. Even though Atlanta was not perfect, it still brought home a lot of good points for Trackhouse.

There are still some nuances of NASCAR that SVG needs to learn. Other than that, he is pretty much equal compared to the other veteran drivers in the series.

“Leaps and bounds, but I still may have made some mistakes. I get excited to go to the bottom or shoot to the middle when having my friends with me. It’s a lot about timing, so I need to be more patient at the right time.

“Then I was a bit too patient at the end there, and the 45 just ran through the bottom. I still need to learn the timing and flow of the race, but in the race I am still learning a lot. So, hopefully, I keep getting better.”

When NASCAR changed the championship format and removed the ‘win-and-in’ system, their team was affected in the worst possible manner.

SVG was their one-hit wonder and sure shot at the NASCAR playoffs owing to his expertise at winning the road courses. With the wild card system gone, the team is doing its best to scrape off any points it can. SVG knows the condition his team is going through and is supportive of the same.

“I guess it’s about points accumulation this year for us, and we need to restore points every week, and it’s good to get that underway now. We will be in the second group next week, which really helps to be in that good qualifying group for the road course.

“So, feeling good, it’s time to get some really good momentum. We were really promising last week too. Just a fun group of guys and girls to be racing with.”

Shane Van Gisbergen stormed to a career-best P6 finish on ovals with his latest outing. But what about his teammates? How did the other Trackhouse Racing drivers fare during the race?

Trackhouse Racing drivers’ antics raise alarm on the grid

Throughout the race, the Trackhouse Racing cars were looking pretty fast. All three of their drivers were able to land themselves in top-10 spots at various stages during the race. In the final standings, it was clear that Justin Marks’ team is not joking around this year.

Ross Chastain managed a P3 against his teammate’s P6. Even though their rookie, Connor Zilisch, was stuck at P30 in the final standings, he was able to rake in a top-10 during stage 2. While Trackhouse enjoys the spoils of its race, Logano is highly wary of its race.

“The Trackhouse cars are weapons, man,” Logano said during Stage 2. “The No. 97 and the purple one, they’re like… jeez. They’re going to crash all of us at some point.” His words were directed at their tendency to make contact with the other drivers.

At one point, Shane van Gisbergen also got involved in a wreck against Kyle Larson. However, it was not really his fault, as Larson attempted an unusual move from the top lane to the bottom. But kudos to Gisbergen. He was able to avoid a huge wreck and keep his car clean to finish the race in a favorable position.

Now that Circuit of the Americas is coming around, do you think that Trackhouse Racing is going to claim their first victory of the season with SVG?