But the triple Supercars champion knows he must continue to improve on ovals if he’s to be given a shot at the 16-driver title race this year.
Changes to the format in 2026 means a victory in the regular season no longer guarantees a spot in the rebranded Chase for the championship.
The ‘win and you’re in’ provision was dumped following criticism of drivers like van Gisbergen being elevated to the post-season from deep in the standings.
“I really want to earn my way in this year. That’s what you have to do,” he said of the Chase following Sunday’s sizzling victory.
“I felt like we’ve been hovering around that cut line even though the last few races haven’t been good and we didn’t have an amazing COTA (Circuit of the Americas).
“It’s been cool to be majority ovals and still be fighting to get into the Chase. It’s been a pretty cool thing even to be struggling to be there.
“I know we need to be a lot better as a team and myself. I still need to improve a lot as a driver. I still have so much to learn.”
NASCAR tempered the dumping of its ‘win and you’re in’ provision by increasing the weighting of points towards victories.
The changes are such that van Gisbergen would have scrapped into the post-season on points last year if the 2026 system had been applied.
Van Gisbergen’s best oval result of the season to date is a sixth place scored in the second race of the campaign at Atlanta.
He’s currently the leader in points of the three-car Trackhouse operation, with teammates Ross Chastain (19th) and rookie Connor Zilisch (32nd) finding it even tougher going.
SVG’s crew chief Stephen Doran said winning at Watkins Glen is still a significant moment for the team, despite not guaranteeing a Chase berth.
“It’s not as big as it would have been last year, but it’s still a good boost in points,” he said.
“We’ve still got to work on our oval program to get better.
“We started off fairly good, five or six races were really good, then the last three or four have been fairly rough for us.
“Texas was a step in the right direction at the ovals but we still have a long way to go.
“There’s a lot of work happening to get there and I feel like we can.”
Van Gisbergen is fully focused on improving on the ovals and not buying into claims he’s now the greatest road racer in the history of NASCAR.
“It’s special for people to be saying stuff like that, but I live in the moment,” he said.
“It’s probably something I’ll think about when I stop racing. You’ve just got to keep adding to it.
“It’s been amazing to be able to keep winning races here and show we can do it.
“Words like that, I’ll probably think about when I retire.”
Watkins Glen was the 12th points race of the campaign, with 14 remaining in the regular season before the 10-race Chase begins.
The calendar includes two more road races, consisting of the new San Diego air base race on June 21 and the annual trip to Sonoma on June 28.
NASCAR is back in action this weekend with the non-points paying All-Star race which is this year being held at Dover.
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