This is becoming repetitive at this point, but Shane van Gisbergen continues to impress as he rapidly progresses his craft on ovals in NASCAR.
The three-time Supercars champion keeps adding milestone after milestone. In September, 2025, he earned his first oval top ten in Cup. In May, 2026, he earned his first top five. And this past weekend at North Wilkesboro, he was less than a car length away from his first oval stage win.
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But even still, Van Gisbergen spent more laps inside the top ten than any other driver in the field on Sunday. He led 49 laps, obliterating his previous record on an oval (which was 12).
When he first got the lead, passing Denny Hamlin on a Stage 1 restart, Van Gisbergen also gave us the radio comment of the night.
“I’m leading, what the f*** do I do know,” he radioed to the team. “I don’t know, go straight!” the team replied.
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Later in the stage, Gibbs crept pass on the outside to snatch the Stage 1 win away. “F***, sorry, I tried,” said Van Gisbergen over the radio. “I just ran out of rears.”
He snatched the lead away once again on the Stage 2 restart, passing eventual race winner Joey Logano.
You can read SVG’s post-race comments HERE, where he noted how much ‘calmer’ it is at the front of the field. SVG also revealed that he switched between left-foot braking and right-front braking in the middle of the race.
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Van Gisbergen entered the race +31pts above the Chase cut-line, but leaves it +54 above with five races left in the regular season. NASCAR now heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.
Read Also:
NASCAR Cup Series Wilkesboro takeaways: Hamlin vs. Logano, SVG impresses
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after North Wilkesboro 2026
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