An intermediate oval is considered to be anything above one mile long that is not a high-banked superspeedway like Daytona or Talladega.
Intermediate ovals make up the majority of the calendar, with 16 on the schedule – of which a handful are visited by the series twice.
The Cup Series tackles an intermediate oval this weekend in the form of the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Fifth place at Nashville earlier this year remains van Gisbergen’s best intermediate oval finish, which is also his equal-best oval result in the Cup Series with his most recent run at North Wilkesboro.
Nevertheless, van Gisbergen sees room for improvement between himself and his teammate Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch.
“I’m still weak on intermediates, I think,” said van Gisbergen.
Take the short survey.
“Those are probably my lowest ranked tracks. I’m definitely getting better at the drafting tracks, but on the intermediates I’m weak and we are weak as a team.
“We really need to improve as a team on those types of tracks.”
Van Gisbergen qualified 11th and finished 19th in last year’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.
He battled vibrations and an ill-handling Chevrolet Camaro, falling outside the top 30 before a late recovery mission.
A common theme for Trackhouse Racing has been its bad qualifying.
“It’s tough. You have to qualify well, which we did last year,” said van Gisbergen.
“It’s nearly impossible to pass there, so qualifying is a big focus.
“We had an issue last year that dropped us back during the race. So, we just need to get up front and stay there all day.
“ Indy is such a cool track, so I’m looking forward to it.
“We have a 50-minute practice session on Friday and that will help a lot in preparation for Sunday’s race.”
The NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway takes place on Monday at 4am AEST.
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