Chastain has been a staple of Trackhouse since its inception in 2022 after it took ownership of Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series program.
For all intents and purposes, Chastain has been the de facto number one driver. He even carries #1 on his Chevrolet Camaro.
Van Gisbergen has been the driver to beat on road courses, but recent oval results have been better than that of his more experienced teammate, who has eight full-time Cup Series campaigns under his belt.
SVG has two top five finishes this season while Chastain has just one. They’re level on oval top 10 finishes with four apiece. The title-defining difference is the New Zealander’s two wins on road courses.
Van Gisbergen is firming for a Chase berth, sitting 14th with five races remaining in the regular season. Chastain, however, is below the cut-off in 21st.
Speaking on his Happy Hour podcast, Harvick hailed van Gisbergen’s constant oval improvement.
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Harvick was one of van Gisbergen’s mentors when he made the move from Supercars to NASCAR.
“SVG is the lead dog at Trackhouse and every time he gets better on these ovals it just becomes more and more apparent,” said Harvick.
“Shane has an extremely high racing IQ. He is a workhorse. He understands the data, but he really understands the data to be able to take himself out on the race track and apply it and change the things that he does in the car.
“You saw that in the Cup race, he was on the bottom of the race track. Traditionally this has been [a race run] up at the top of the race track. We saw it migrate to the top of the race track as the race went on later into the night.
“I think that Shane just keeps getting better and better and better. Right now, that #97 is the lead dog at Trackhouse.”
Van Gisbergen led 49 laps at North Wilkesboro, setting a new personal-best on ovals. His previous high was 12 laps lead at Nashville where he also finished fifth.
He made two passes for the lead at North Wilkesboro under green flag conditions on Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano – the first of which prompted a now viral radio remark.
For Trackhouse Racing boss Justin Marks, the latest result is a major boost in the team’s quest to continue its streak of Chase berths.
“It really is the highlight in a period of time for our company where there’s just frankly not a lot of highlights at the moment,” Marks told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“It’s really exciting to watch him. I told him after the race… I said ‘I think that’s the most impressive piece of work you’ve put in since you started working for me’.
“I say that knowing what he’s up against with his lack of experience on the ovals, how fast he was put into the Cup Series, how unique and proprietary these new Next Gen cars are on the oval track, how North Wilkesboro especially is an American short track traditionally the best of the best run well and win at these tyres of tracks because it’s so fundamentally native to stock car racing in America.
“We are trying to keep our streak alive of making the playoffs with at least one of our cars every single year. We’re not in the win-and-you’re-in era anymore, so it’s tough on a guy like this to make the playoffs.
“I’m also very encouraged that he had a performance like that at North Wilkesboro because we’ve got Iowa coming up and we’ve got Richmond coming up and we’ve got New Hampshire – some tracks you could draw some similarities to North Wilkesboro. His confidence is through the roof and I like our chances [of making the Chase].”
Van Gisbergen’s two best oval track results this season have come by way of qualifying being rained out.
A performance metric determines the grid, of which 70 percent takes into account the previous week’s result and the other 30 percent based on points.
In both instances, van Gisbergen started inside the top 10.
An outlier was Atlanta where he qualified inside the top 10 on merit for the just the second time this season.
“Really, the key for SVG is qualifying. When they qualify at the front on an oval, they perform at the front on the oval all night,” said Harvick.
“It’s fun to see that progression from Shane and being able to do that.
“To me, the key on the ovals for him is 100 percent qualifying and that leads to a good day because you don’t have to be in the middle of the storm as you go through the afternoon of trying to figure out getting by 15 or 20 cars.
“It’s really interesting the tracks that he runs well at. We saw him run well at Charlotte – bumpy, rough, at the top of the race track.
“I think every time he goes to the race track for a second or third time in the Cup car, he just applies something and does a little bit better. Qualifying is the key for them.”
The NASCAR Cup Series continues on July 27 (AEST) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
‘Shane’s trouble’: NASCAR legend lauds SVG on big points day
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