That race lasted just 100 laps of the scheduled 312-lap distance after his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro got caught up in an awkward accident.
That really was the story of van Gisbergen’s debut Cup Series season. Qualifying outside of the top 20 often meant he was mired in someone else’s trouble.
A year later, van Gisbergen and Trackhouse have made massive steps forward.
Returning to Phoenix, it was arguably an even more chaotic race, but this time SVG could recover with strategy and pure pace to finish an impressive 11th.
It’s only early days in the 2026 season, but four races into the championship and van Gisbergen sits fifth in the points.
With that come bonuses for the #97 team, notably being one of the first cars to go through technical inspections.
“At this time last season, we were at a completely different end of the garage, so the guys enjoy it much more being early in tech,” van Gisbergen explained.
“It would be amazing to stay up here, but there is a long way to go.
“We really need to keep having good runs and results, be consistent with scoring points. But it’s certainly very encouraging and a cool spot to be in.
“It’s been an awesome progression, and I feel like we are getting better and learning a lot.
“It’s good going through two races of data from the same track now and coming up with a trend and set up we need, that’s been awesome.
“Hopefully we keep showing that progress.”
Helping his progression initially was stock car racing legend Kevin Harvick, who won the 2007 Daytona 500 and 2014 NASCAR Cup Series.
Van Gisbergen said he’s at the point where he is less reliant on external support.
“It was Kevin Harvick for the last couple of years, which has been awesome,” van Gisbergen explained.
“But now, really, it’s just working within my own team. Josh Williams, my spotter, is an amazing coach and my crew chief, Stephen (Doran), we’ve been working hard.
“They come up with a list of things to work on or improve every week. It’s been really cool.”
Van Gisbergen will continue his season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a race he failed to finish last year.
The Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway takes place on Monday, March 16 at 7am AEDT.
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