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Van Gisbergen’s critics are missing the point

Shane van Gisbergen has a winning problem. Or – maybe because he’s 36 years old – the problem isn’t van Gisbergen himself, but the fact that it’s easy to forget that he is a NASCAR Cup Series rookie.

Regardless, the narrative around van Gisbergen has shifted after three wins in five races. He’s gone from being the coolest, shiny new thing, having left Australia for NASCAR stock car racing in the United States, to being criticized for only succeeding on one type of racetrack, and with that, not worthy of being in the postseason.

It’s possible that two things can be true at once.

Van Gisbergen is very good at road and street courses. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that he is exceptional at that style of racing, and his three victories have been impressive. It’s not only that van Gisbergen and the No. 88 team won, but also in how they have done so – with competitive race cars and a driver who does not make many mistakes, and is far quicker than the competition.

Justin Marks hired van Gisbergen for this very reason. There are six road and street courses on the schedule, and putting a driver behind the wheel who can win on those tracks is good business. It means the team is looking at one, if not multiple, NASCAR Cup Series wins, and that means a spot in the postseason. All of that equals return on investment and a charter that is worth good money at the end of the season.

So van G isbergen is doing what he should be doing. He is winning where he should be winning while going through the paces of learning on the racetracks that are not in his wheelhouse. As pointed out last week after his victory in Chicago, van Gisbergen started the year with an average finish of 30.4 on the oval tracks, but in recent weeks it has improved to 22nd.

The rookie is doing rookie things. It’s no different than his counterpart in the Xfinity Series, Conor Zilisch. The expectation for Zilisch was that he would be a contender on the road and street courses, but the bigger story would be his progression on the ovals from the start of the year to the end.

The Mexico City win vaulted the 88 team from oblivion into the playoffs. But accusations that van Gisbergen has ‘taken’ someone’s playoffs spot overlook the fact that every other driver has had the same opportunity to earn their way in. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

However, van Gisbergen isn’t getting the same grace as a typical rookie for some reason. Due to how far down in the standings his Trackhouse Racing team was before his first victory in Mexico City, what should have been a celebration of the accomplishment of a team and driver who managed to do something the garage says it hard (i.e. win a NASCAR race), the conversation immediately shifted to the spot he took in the postseason.

Van Gisbergen has not taken another driver’s spot. He earned his spot. Any other driver that one might try to argue is missing out because of van Gisbergen failed in their own opportunity to do so. The rules are the same for everyone: win and get in. Van Gisbergen has won three times, which is now tied for the most in the Cup Series this season.

So, who is he keeping out? If the argument is that the playoff grid cutline moved and now drivers like Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, and Ryan Preece have taken hits because van Gisbergen won, the harsh truth is that those drivers know they should be winning, too. There are only 16 spots. It’s been that way since 2014, and saying a driver who has three wins is less than drivers who have not and are sitting around 16, 17, and 18th in points is laughable.

But again, two things can be true at once. 

There is room to give van Gisbergen and his team their flowers while not liking the championship system. It’s a cliché, and it’s a funny expression, but it isn’t any less true to hear: don’t hate the player, hate the game. It’s no different from the fact that it wasn’t the fault of Harrison Burton and Wood Brothers Racing to play by the same rules in 2024 by winning their way into the postseason.

 

Winning should be celebrated on a weekly basis. All wins are hard to come by. Van Gisbergen is putting on a clinic, and that should be acknowledged. The displeasure over the system is a separate conversation from that around a driver.

So it’s time for a reset and the realization that van Gisbergen is a rookie, but he’s someone special, and NASCAR is getting to capitalize on that instead of another series. He has a long way still to go, there is no arguing that, but as a rookie, he has three wins and is looking at far better a season than some of his competition who have been here far longer and should be outperforming him and others.