The Trackhouse Racing driver has racked up three wins across Mexico City, Chicago, and Sonoma. With that, the #88 has banked a bunch of bonus Playoff points.
As it stands, van Gisbergen has the third-most Playoff points of any driver with 17 to his name behind Kyle Larson (23) and Hamlin (19).
It bodes well for the Kiwi, who could find himself at the pointy end in the Round of 16.
Speaking on the latest Actions Detrimental episode, Hamlin said van Gisbergen will likely make it through the Round of 16 despite there being no road courses.
With the ‘win and you’re in’ element, Hamlin tipped van Gisbergen to go well at the Charlotte ROVAL in the Round of 12 and potentially book his place in the Round of 8.
“He could go through the first round just by not messing up,” Hamlin explained.
“We’ve said this a million times. The first round, the four guys that exit after Round 16 are just… usually they have major issues in races. Could be mechanicals, could be wrecks, but they have those 30-plus worse finishes.
“You avoid that, especially with him having – I don’t know how many bonus points he has now – he could go by the first round. Then he’s got the ROVAL in the second round.”
Van Gisbergen has spoken about the balancing act of wanting to win road course races and banking Stage points.
After his Sonoma win, the 36-year-old admitted there was a bit of apprehension heading into the Round of 16, which is made up entirely of ovals.
“It’s a crazy first round for me,” he said.
“We go to Darlington, which is my favourite oval. Then I think it’s Gateway, which I’ve never been to. Then Bristol, I might as well be going the other way.
“Hopefully we get better at tracks like that. We’ll see how Gateway is.”
While van Gisbergen remained coy about his chances, his Trackhouse Racing crew chief Stephen Doran suggests the Kiwi could get as far as reaching the championship-deciding race.
“We started preparing after Mexico,” said Doran.
“Just need to keep improving on the ovals, get to the point where we can maintain and advance in some of these early rounds, and like you said, the Round of 4 is not out of the question.
“Obviously a lot of the recent prep has been road courses because it’s been stacked with them the last month. But we don’t prep for any race any differently.
“We prep for the ovals just like we do the road courses. Our team approaches every race the same. So the prep for the ovals hasn’t changed. It’s max effort for every race.”
Van Gisbergen will have at least one more opportunity for a road course win this year before the Playoffs.
That will come in just a few weeks at Watkins Glen on August 11 where he came up agonisingly short of victory a year ago in a one-on-one fight with RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher.
Hamlin hailed van Gisbergen’s road course prowess, suggesting he has established himself as the greatest of all time.
“There’s certainly a discussion to be had on the best road course racer that NASCAR has seen,” said Hamlin.
“I saw Mike Joy (NASCAR commentator) mention Dan Gurney, that’s all he did — and the other guys, they didn’t run but a couple of road courses a year.
“These guys are all in the same cars now. Anything from ‘90s and earlier, the advantages you have with your car far exceeded anything talent level that you could bring to the race track.
“I just feel it’s apples and oranges trying to compare what someone did 40-something years ago, because there were not that many competitive cars.
“Then, yes, if you had someone that specifically was in road racing, yeah they could come out here and win Riverside five of nine times or whatever it might be, but not someone that’s coming in with spec cars, more competitive drivers. I don’t think the two are the same.”
NASCAR continues at Dover on July 21.
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