NASCAR CUP SERIES: GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN

May 10, 2026

Shane van Gisbergen

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're going to go ahead and conclude our media availabilities for this evening with our race winner, Shane van Gisbergen. Congratulations, Shane. We'll go ahead and open it right up to questions.

Q. Shane, how much info did you know when you came back out on the track you were 29 seconds back?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, they were kind of giving me lap times, which didn't mean much, so I asked for, like, the gap and then how many laps to go out of turn one every lap. Once Josh started giving me that info, it was awesome. Every lap I knew sort of how much I was gaining and how to manage my tires versus how many laps I had.

It was a pretty cool feeling, you know, at first. I think it was 27 seconds, 20 laps, so I was a bit worried. Then their tires weren't going to get any newer, I guess. Once they fell off into the 75, 76s, it was a pretty cool feeling.

Q. Yeah, what is that feeling when you are taking three-seconds chunks out of their time?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: It's definitely better than the end of the first stint in stage three. I felt like I didn't really know how the race was going to play out, thinking they might make it to the end and how much they were going to fall off, and my tires were starting to go off.

Yeah, it was a bit of uncertainty, but Stephen was always confident in his calls. It was really cool.

You know, I just drove what I did, didn't question, and just believed in everything they did. It was a good team strategy day. It was awesome.

Q. Kind of following up on that, it seemed on the radio there -- I don't want to say concerned, but it seemed like you guys maybe thought the race was getting away from you because of the strategy and everything. Is that accurate?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, the thought I had was when I think Tyler and I stayed out, and then it looked like the whole field pitted, I went, oh, (expletive). I think they were six or seven stayed out, but a few of them were on better tires than us. I think AJ was.

At that point I was worried. And then when I took off, I really pushed, and I think I did my fastest laps then. It was quite surprising. The tires were quite old. Then I started realizing we might have a chance.

Q. In that situation most everyone in front of you is on older tires. They're saving fuel. You are yourself. You have a great car, fresh tires. You don't have to worry about anything. Then you're just in that attack mode. What is that like?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: That's the best feeling you can get when you have a tire advantage and an awesome car. Like, I was just carving everyone up. Some people were nice and laying over, which is cool. The people that didn't, you had to put good moves on.

Yeah, that's the most fun. Then especially when the gap started getting less seconds than how many laps to go. I sort of knew it was going to happen at that point. Yeah, that's one of the best moments you can have as a driver.

Q. Out of all the wins you've now had in Cup, that moment of rallying back from as far back as you were, is that the best you've experienced?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: No, the feeling of -- I think we had to do that at Chicago too when I got buried in the pack. It's pretty similar to that. Coming back through on better tires and charging. Yeah, I felt like this is one of the best races I've driven. You know, not many mistakes. Yeah, it was a pretty cool feeling.

My mates were all giving me (expletive) yesterday about how I'm getting too old for my birthday. You know, I don't feel old. I felt like that's the best I've driven. It was pretty cool.

Q. What made it different this time to feel like it was the best you've ever done? You said no mistakes, but was there anything else that stood out to you?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I think just everything was good. My car was not very good in practice yesterday. Then they changed for qualifying, and it was a big step in the right direction.

Then today it was even better. Then just everything was good. My restarts were good. My pit stops. The guys did a great job. Then the strategy as well. Like, it was a great team victory.

Yeah, as I always say, you see how much it means to everyone, and it hasn't been the easiest year for us. Pretty cool to get that result. It means a lot just to -- you know, there is pressure or expectation from everyone on these days, but when you ignore that and just execute, it's a really cool feeling.

Q. I did a quick Google, but you can correct me if I'm wrong. I think they celebrate Mother's Day in New Zealand. What does it mean to you to win on Mother's Day here in the States?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, it's a hard one. I miss my mom, obviously. Yeah, pretty special day, but yeah, obviously cool to win with the family number on the car too for the first time. Yeah, really cool.

Q. Were you confident when you come out of the pits and you are 27 seconds behind?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Not at first, but once they -- I think quite shortly after that their lap times went into the 75s, and I was low 73s. Yeah, probably took about five laps to be, like, okay, we got a chance here.

Then I was just hoping I guess for not a yellow until I got to them. Yeah, but definitely not at first, but after a few laps I was. I came out of one, looked up at the TV, and they're going through the carousel. It seems like a long way away.

Q. It looked like a long way away. Were you concerned at all about just burning up your tires, or was that not going to be a factor there?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: In the last stint?

Q. Yeah.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: No, I knew their tires would be worse. That was the cool feeling. Like, I was starting to degrade a bit on my tires, but, you know, obviously theirs are going to be worse than mine. I knew I was going to be okay in that regard.

Q. Shane, we just talked to Stephen about how there's still work to do even though you're back above the cut line. For you in the seat knowing a win doesn't automatically lock you in anymore, how much does this result change the points racing pressure that you've been feeling during this tough run for the team?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I really want to earn my way in this year, and that's what you have to do. I felt like we've been hovering around that cut line even though the last few races haven't been good. We didn't have an amazing COTA. It's been cool to be majority ovals and still fighting to get into the chase.

It's been a pretty cool thing even to be struggling to be there, and I know that we need to get a lot better as a team, and myself, I still need to improve a lot as a driver. Still have so much to learn.

Yeah, it's cool to be in that fight knowing we can still improve so much, and hopefully we can do it.

Q. Shane, at times today Connor and -- Connor Zilisch and Michael McDowell were able to keep pace for you. Were you saving your stuff, or were they just at that time had really good pace themselves?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, hard to know. Definitely in that second stage Connor was really quick, but I was also kind of managing.

It would have been interesting. I just started to pull away, and then the caution came out. So it would have been interesting to see if he was just cooling off or he was degrading a bit. You never know.

But, yeah, I felt like, you know, I didn't really push to my maximum until stage three. That's sort of where our true pace was shown.

Q. Shane, I mean, we briefly touched on this earlier, but you were visibly emotional when you learned that you would be running your family number in the Cup series. This is your first win in the No. 97. How much sweeter does it make winning today?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: It's just cool. I've been lucky enough to drive for teams in professional series that let me run that number. And when Justin told me about it last year, you know, and he said Connor wants the 88, what do you think? The 99 felt like Daniel's number for the team. Yeah, it was really fitting.

It's pretty proud. You know, it means a lot to me. It's also the year I started racing too. So pretty cool to be representing it for, what's that, almost 30 years now. So, yeah, pretty amazing to get a win in the Cup Series with it.

Q. Shane, I know that Mike Joy not only called it one of the greatest road races of all time. He is also mentioning you as a contender for the best road racer of all time. What will it take to make that set in with you?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I mean, it's special for people to be saying stuff like that, but I live in the moment, and it's probably something I need to think about when I stop racing. You just got to keep adding to it.

It's been amazing to be able to keep winning races here and show that we can do it. But, yeah, words like that I'll probably think about when I retire, yeah.