Shane van Gisbergen does not want a repeat of last year’s Cup race at Watkins Glen.
Winning crew chief Scott Graves does not expect Sunday’s event to race the same way as a year ago.
After one year in the playoffs, Watkins Glen returns to a spot in the regular season, but the intensity will be similar to when Chris Buescher claimed a dramatic victory there last September.
Buescher passed van Gisbergen on the last lap after van Gisbergen didn’t get cleanly through the bus stop section of the 2.45-mile road course. It’s a moment that haunts van Gisbergen.
“When I make a personal mistake like that, it still makes me angry to think I threw that one away myself, especially after how good of a day it was and we had the fastest car all day and then to do that,” he told NBC Sports.
“I really want to go there and make no mistakes, have a fast car and try and execute all day, which we have been doing on the road courses.”
No one has been better than van Gisbergen on road courses this season.
He comes into Sunday’s race (coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on USA Network) having won the last three Cup road course races — Sonoma, Chicago Street Race and Mexico City. The Trackhouse Racing driver led 64.2% of the 285 laps in those races.
Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Cup race at Mexico City by 16.5 seconds in June. That was largest margin of victory for any Cup race since Kurt Busch’s victory in November 2009 at Texas and the largest margin of victory on a road course since Bobby Allison’s win at Riverside in June 1979.
“He’s so good,” Kyle Larson said last month at Sonoma about van Gisbergen, “and it’s rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is. You know, he’s way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff.
“And he’s got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own because the rest of the world does it – you know, right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks … like there’s zero chance I can learn how to do that. And even if I did, like there’s zero chance that I can have it be better than what I’m probably doing with left-foot braking. So yeah, he’s just so good.”
Even so, Buescher was there on that final lap and got by van Gisbergen.
But how last year’s race went may not be the same this year, Graves noted, because of where it is on the schedule.
Last year was the first time the Watkins Glen race was in the playoffs. It was the middle event of the three-race opening round. That race came after a chaotic playoff opener at Atlanta that saw six of the 16 playoff drivers finish 19th or worse. Four of those playoff drivers placed outside the top 30 that day.
That made stage points critical at Watkins Glen for some playoff drivers. Typically at a road course, those going for the win will pit before the end of the first stage — giving up those points for better track position in the second stage that can position them for the win.
The winner of the opening stage at Watkins Glen has finished 20th or worse the last four years.
But eight of the top 10 spots at the end of the first stage in last year’s race were taken by playoff drivers. Buescher, who did not qualify for the playoffs last year, didn’t have to worry about points and pitted ahead of the first stage. That strategy put him ahead of those who gained points in the first stage.
“I think you see this every year, whether it was Watkins Glen being in the playoffs last year or you get the (Charlotte) Roval, you’ll see the guys in the playoffs that need those points,” Graves said. “They go for the stage points and that … takes some of the guys out of contention in the final stage. I think it may not play out the same this year (as last year).”
If so, then there may not be as many playoff-caliber drivers staying out in the first stage to score points since Watkins Glen is back as a regular season race.
Buescher, though, holds the final playoff spot entering this race. He leads RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece by 23 points. Graves may have to decide if it is better for the team to score points in the opening stage because of where they are in the points or go for the win.
“(Watkins Glen) is likely to race more like the other road courses we’ve seen this year and you’ll see more of a split of people going for points vs. going for the win,” Graves said of what he expects in Sunday’s race.
If Sunday is like the other road course races, it could be another van Gisbergen win.
A victory would make him only the third to driver to win at least four consecutive Cup road course races, joining Jeff Gordon (six consecutive road course wins) and Chase Elliott (four).
That might make it easier for van Gisbergen to forget about how last year’s Watkins Glen race ended.
