Shane Van Gisbergen Notches First Oval Top-20 of 2025 at Darlington

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

With his very limited experience competing on the ovals, Shane Van Gisbergen was widely expected to have a substantial learning curve ahead of him this season, while battling Riley Herbst for Rookie of The Year honors in the NASCAR Cup Series.

It’s been a tough start to the season for the Auckland, New Zealand-native, who entering Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway had only recorded a single finish inside the top-20 in the first seven races of 2025 – a sixth-place result at Circuit of The Americas.

That left the three-time Supercars champion in a position that he isn’t accustomed to: sitting 34th (of 36 full-timers) in NASCAR Cup Series points.

Though, at Darlington Raceway, one of the most difficult racetracks on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, Van Gisbergen had a breakthrough, finishing 20th on the afternoon in the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet.

While the 35-year-old drier didn’t necessarily seem to be over-the-moon about the result, it’s a significant step forward in terms of his results on the ovals, with Sunday marking just the third top-20 finish on an oval in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“It’s not the best result, I guess, but for us with how it’s been going, it certainly is,” said Van Gisbergen. “We struggled a bit with balance, but speed was good and able to make some passes, but we’ll take a 20th, and it’s something to build on.”

“It’s been one of the toughest starts to any kind of racing I’ve ever had, just need to keep building on it with the team, and yeah, we’ll get better.”

Darlington Raceway was the site of one of Van Gisbergen’s best oval performances in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, finishing seventh for Kaulig Racing in the event last September.

After a season of running full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Van Gisbergen graduated into the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the newly formed third entry, the No. 88 Chevrolet, for Trackhouse Racing.

Now, with a solid oval run under his belt, Van Gisbergen is hopeful that the organization can get its luck turned around.

“It’s just something, like we’ve had one thing after another, whether it’s car failures, or somebody else’s crash, or I’ve just simply not been good enough, it’s just something to keep getting better at,” Van Gisbergen explained. “I was good at this track last year, and so that’s good that it’s continued on.”

“I feel like I can run with these guys, qualifying is still a struggle for me the way the car works, but my race pace is normally alright, I just get caught up in the shit early on.”

Next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway is bound to be a challenge for Van Gisbergen, who has never competed in a NASCAR Cup Series entry at the tight-knit half-mile racetrack.

“Next week’s going to be really, really tough, like Bristol, never been in a Cup car and limited practice, tracks like that, they’re insane how fast everyone is, so yeah, it’ll come with time, I just need time.”