Shane van Gisbergen proved once again that he is the king of the road in the NASCAR Cup Series, winning Sunday’s (Aug. 10) Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International.
Van Gisbergen scored his fourth win of the season, tying him with Denny Hamlin for the most victories on the campaign.
SVG does it again! 🏁🏁🏁🏁 pic.twitter.com/fdLBETpDQQ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 10, 2025
In response to where the No. 88 team can go in this year’s playoffs van Gisbergen told USA’s Marty Snider, “it isn’t going to be easy, the first round has some really difficult left-handed tracks for me. … I’m getting better at it and I’m enjoying myself, and it’s a challenge, but that’s why we’re here.”
Runner-up Christopher Bell finished a distant 11 seconds back, holding off Chris Buescher, William Byron and Ryan Blaney.
Bell was pleased with his second place run but was frustrated with not being able to keep pace with race winner van Gisbergen.
“Happy, yeah, I mean I’m thrilled because we’ve been struggling a little bit to find our rhythm,” Bell told USA post-race. “Really awesome to have a good day, frustrated to get our butts kicked by the [No.] 88 car but overall it was a good day for our DeWalt Camry.”
Blaney, who seemed to be the only driver to keep van Gisbergen at bay, struggled in the second half of the final stage to regain lost track position.
“Just lost speed and handling,” Blaney told USA. “Lost where the track was at a bit, but overall a really good effort by our whole group, wish we could’ve finished a few spots better than that, but overall a really good weekend.”
Chase Briscoe finished sixth, followed by Daniel Suarez, who posted his first top 10 since Texas Motor Speedway in May.
Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.
Pole-sitter Blaney successfully fended off challenges from van Gisbergen to lead the opening 18 laps of the race until he pitted to set himself up for better track position to start stage two.
Many teams opted for a similar strategy, including van Gisbergen, Chastain and Briscoe.
Kyle Larson encountered brake issues after a solo car spin in turn 1, prompting the No. 5 to go behind the wall early on, losing multiple laps in the process.
Early trouble for the No. 5 as @KyleLarsonRacin reports brake issues. pic.twitter.com/QElLgoHVqj
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 10, 2025
Stage one winner Buescher, Alex Bowman and Ryan Preece, the drivers on the playoff cut line entering the day, took stage points as most of the field opted to pit before the stage break.
Buescher, Preece and Elliott restarted in the top three spots to begin stage two but were quickly overtaken by those who pitted before the end of stage one. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen muscled past Buescher as he and Preece began freefalling through the field with fast wearing tires.
The first caution for an on-track incident came on lap 30, when debris was spotted on course following a wreck by Josh Berry exiting turn 5. Differing pit strategies once again was the main storyline, as Blaney scored a playoff point with his stage two win, ahead of Byron, Bell, AJ Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski.
Blaney raced out to a comfortable advantage to begin the final stage, while his closest competition in van Gisbergen restarted outside the top 10 in 12th. The New Zealand native needed 10 laps to carve his way through traffic to retake the lead from the 2023 Cup champion.
A long green-flag pit stop cycle came to a close with van Gisbergen cycling back to the top spot on lap 74 as the No. 88 pulled way from the competition and never looked back.
Watkins Glen Cup Results
The NASCAR Cup Series makes its lone trip to Richmond Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 16. Coverage on USA Network begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.
