By Mike FinneyDOVER — It promises to be a tall task for Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen to replicate at Dover Motor Speedway what he was able to accomplish on the Watkins Glen (N.Y.) road course in the Cup Series race last Sunday.
After all, a pit stop with 25 laps remaining placed the driver in 26th position and 29.2 seconds behind the leaders.
Van Gisbergen, a three-time champion of Australia’s Supercars, furiously managed to rally and retake the lead in only 18 laps, leading the final eight laps and winning by 7.3 seconds.
Incredibly, he cut the gap without the benefit of a caution flag bunching up the field.
It was his sixth victory out of the last seven road-course races in the Cup Series.
He will be riding that momentum into the All-Star Race at Dover this weekend.
“It’s really cool,” Van Gisbergen stated. “Believe it or not, I have not lost a race at Dover yet. I won the ARCA race there two years ago and then last year I won the O’Reilly race.
“I have two Monster trophies to my name and, hopefully, I can find a way to get to the front in the All-Star race and do that again. That would be really cool.”
The driver seemed to forget his last visit to Dover in the Cup Series in July 2025.
It’s easy to see why.
He suffered tire issues on just the seventh lap and used the rest of the event as a glorified test session, finishing in 30th place, seven laps off the pace.
“I had a flat tire in the race there last year,” Van Gisbergen pointed out. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep the air in them this year.
“I had periods of the race last year where we were a couple of laps down right from the start, but I still used it as practice. It was my first time there. The periods of just learning and getting up to speed and trying the keep that rhythm going … it’s an awesome place, but as soon as your car handling goes down a little bit it gets very difficult.”
Van Gisbergen is hoping to carry some of that road-course momentum onto the high banks of Dover’s one-mile speedway.
“It’s a tough track, like a big, fast Bristol with the (concrete) surface,” according to the 37-year-old New Zealander. “It’s a pretty cool place and, obviously this year with the change in format is going to be pretty good, as well.”
Van Gisbergen, commonly referred to as SVG, drives for Trackhouse Racing and is a teammate of Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch.
The driver is excited that NASCAR is going to be utilizing its short-track package in Sunday’s All-Star Race.
He believes it could lead to better racing at the “Monster Mile.”
“I think that package is going to change a lot. We lose a lot of downforce when we take that big diffuser off,” Van Gisbergen pointed out. “We’re all curious to see what it does. It’s certainly going to be a lot less grip“We’re going to be flying around and it’s going to be hotter this weekend. I think everybody is curious to see what happens.”
Longtime broadcaster to serve as honorary starter
Mike Joy, a long-time broadcaster for Fox Sports, will serve as the honorary starter at Sunday’s Cup Series All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway.
The moment carries special meaning for Joy, who grew up in the Northeast and has spent decades calling races at many of the region’s most historic tracks.
Despite more than five decades in motorsports broadcasting, Joy has never before served as the honorary starter for a NASCAR Cup Series race.
“It’s hard to imagine someone more connected to the history and growth of NASCAR broadcasting than Mike Joy,” stated Mike Tatoian, president and general manager of Dover Motor Speedway.
“For him to wave the green flag for the first time at Dover, while also calling the race for Fox Sports, makes this an incredibly fitting and memorable moment for both Mike and our fans.”
Joy will continue his normal role as Fox Sports’ play-by-play announcer during Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race broadcast after waving the green flag to officially start the event.
Staff writer Mike Finney can be reached at 302-741-8230 or mfinney@iniusa.org.
