On Monday, the Trackhouse Racing driver won his third Cup Series race at Sonoma.
That put him equal with Stewart (1999) and Johnson (2002) for the most wins in a rookie Cup Series campaign.
Van Gisbergen also became the first driver since Johnson in 2008 to win three races from pole position in a single season.
With his latest success, van Gisbergen also became the first driver since Jeff Gordon to win three road course races from pole position.
Despite the aforementioned Gordon record, the #88 Chevrolet Camaro driver distanced himself from those names.
The Kiwi said Trackhouse Racing’s express intent was always for him to succeed on road courses to earn he and the team a Playoffs berth, which comes with a handy prize packet.
Secure your spot today.
“Obviously it’s unreal to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys, but it’s not comparable with the ovals. I’m not an idiot about that,” van Gisbergen said.
“It’s amazing to have such success here and it’s what I was brought in to do here, right? Get in the Playoffs, try and get through. It’s just been amazing to do that.”
In the immediate aftermath of his race win, van Gisbergen said he was hoping to prove his doubters wrong on ovals.
Prodded further about that comment, the 36-year-old brushed it off.
“I meant nothing by it. Probably just in the moment,” he laughed.
“We’re definitely getting a lot better on the ovals. We’re still not great, but we’re in the 20 most weeks for speed and it’s a huge improvement from where we were at the start of the year.
“I like to take things slow and keep building up. I really feel like we’re building confidence.”
Asked about his four Cup Series wins relative to his 80 triumphs in Supercars, van Gisbergen said the stock car wins were just as special given how hard they are to come by.
“It’s still up there,” he said.
“These races are really hard and even though we had the fastest car today, it’s very rare in NASCAR that the fastest car wins the race.
“There’s so much stuff that happened, those late race restarts. Just to execute, make the most of it. Really, really cool. It ranks up there.
“These races are really hard to win. Luckily, great car, great team makes a difference.”
Van Gisbergen and Trackhouse Racing will continue their season at Dover on Monday, July 21.
That race is scheduled to get underway at 4am AEST with coverage live and exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports in Australia.
Discussion about this post