Driving the #88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro, SVG controlled proceedings for his fourth Cup Series win this year.
So dominant was the Kiwi that he cleared out to a 10-second lead over Chris Buescher in the #17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang.
Van Gisbergen won with his father Robert van Gisbergen trackside for the first time.
“Oh yeah, good to have him here,” said van Gisbergen over the radio.
It’s the first time a driver has won four NASCAR Cup Series races in their rookie season. His Watkins Glen win adds to triumphs at Mexico City, Chicago, and Sonoma.
From pole position, Blaney led van Gisbergen into Turn 1 and controlled the first stanza of the race.
The first few laps were incident-free until Kyle Larson in the #5 Camaro spun on his own with a brake issue.
With three laps to go in Stage 1, Blaney and van Gisbergen pitted for tyres and fuel. That gifted RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher in the #17 Mustang the stage win on Lap 20 ahead of Alex Bowman (#48 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro) and Ryan Preece (#60 RFK Racing Mustang).
Buescher, Preece, and Chase Elliott in the #9 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro elected not to pit. Van Gisbergen restarted fifth behind Blaney.
Van Gisbergen made quick work of Eliott and passed Buescher and Blaney in one foul swoop going three-wide into the Bus Stop Chicane. Preece almost led a lap until van Gisbergen passed him at the penultimate turn on Lap 25.
After a relatively sedate Stage 1, the second stage was a much more frenetic affair. While van Gisbergen controlled proceedings at the front, there was drama behind.
The caution came out on Lap 28 when Josh Berry in the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Mustang got loose out of the Loop thanks to contact from Ty Dillon (#10 Kaulig Racing Camaro) and spun.
The race resumed on Lap 32 with van Gisbergen at the head of the field. Like Stage 1, van Gisbergen elected to pit just shy of the end of Stage 2 with three laps to go on Lap 38. Blaney elected to go off-strategy and take the stage win.
Just before Stage 2 ended, Legacy Motor Club teammates Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek rubbed doors through the Esses. Jones in the #43 was forced to take to the grass. Moments later, Hunter Nemechek found himself in strife at the Carousel after he was tipped into a spin by the #54 Camry of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs.
On the Lap 45 race restart, van Gisbergen started just outside the top 10 and made immediate headway, scything through the cars on older tyres.
There was drama behind him on the same lap as Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin int he #11 Toyota got into the side of Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, tipping the #8 Camaro into a half-spin. Subsequent contact from Hamlin got Busch pointed in the right direction and they continued, albeit with some wounds.
There was an awkward moment between Spire Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar when the #71 tipped the #77 into a spin at the first turn, dumping Hocevar to the back end of the top 30.
With 37 laps to go, van Gisbergen made the decisive move for the lead on Blaney. The Kiwi ran long and made his final pit stop inside of 30 laps to go. Once the pit stops were completed, van Gisbergen shot back to the lead with just over 15 laps to go ahead of Buescher and the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro of William Byron.
Nemechek threatened to bring out the yellow when he got sideways coming out of the esses down the back stretch. He managed to get his car pointing the right way and avoided hitting anything.
Van Gisbergen’s lead after the pit stops stood at just two under two seconds but ballooned out to 10 seconds by the time he took the chequered flag.
This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.
