Many NASCAR experts have van Gisbergen among the four drivers to bomb out after the Round of 16.
That’s despite a 16-point buffer to the cut-off line thanks to earning 22 bonus points by virtue of wins at Chicago, Mexico City, Sonoma, and Watkins Glen.
“It doesn’t worry us,” said van Gisbergen of the commentary.
“It puts no pressure on us, right? If we have a good week this week, it makes the next few harder. But if we have a tough week, it puts us in a hole and it’s going to be hard to get out of it.
“Hopefully it will be nice to prove people wrong, too.
“It’s always fun to have your back against the wall and have to push hard. I don’t use it for motivation or anything, but it’s cool being the underdog.”
Van Gisbergen has one previous Playoffs experience. In 2024, he made it into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs but was bundled out of the Round of 12.
Then driving for Kaulig Racing, van Gisbergen was thought to be a shoe-in to get through to the Round of 8 with the Charlotte ROVAL in the first elimination round.
However, a strategy fumble cost them victory and with it an automatic entry into the next round.
“I remember last year, the way it was approached was different to the rest of the season,” van Gisbergen explained.
“We got caught up in the moment a little bit too much. We did a silly strategy at the ROVAL. It was an unexplained mistake really.
“I think this year it’s been good… just trying to stay level-headed, take it week by week. We’re in an amazing spot to be here and we have no expectation to make it through the second round.
“No one knows what we’re going to do. If we go and perform, we can surprise some people.”
The three races that make up the Round of 16 this year are Darlington, Gateway, and Bristol.
As far as his mindset goes, the Trackhouse Racing driver said he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel and change how he approaches the regular season versus the Playoffs.
“I’ve tried to keep it the same, but you just know that you can’t make the mistakes because it would be hard to dig ourselves out of that,” he said.
“We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing, but it’s so hard in a NASCAR race, I feel like every race you have a storyline of how the day goes.
“It’s never free-flowing really, so we just have to eliminate or minimize what we do wrong, and just try to get it right every week, and that comes with preparation.”
Van Gisbergen is conscious that he’ll need to be consistent over the course of the Round of 16 to have any chance of a Round of 12 berth.
On the whole, van Gisbergen’s average finish is 21.1 but that blows out to 25.6 when you take away his five road course results.
However, if you split van Gisbergen’s most ovals results to date it makes for better reading. He averaged 28.2 through the first 11 races, but has improved his average to 22.2 in the most recent 10.
“I think it’s just going to be law of averages for us, right? We’ve got to be above average and that’s the shot we’re going to have to get through,” said van Gisbergen.
“We’ve got to have three decent finishes and we’ll be able to get through the round, right? But I don’t know about the points total, how many certain points is the average to get through.
“But I know I need to get better to make it work.”
The NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington Raceway takes place on Monday, September 1 from 8am AEST.
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