Shane Van Gisbergen started Saturday's NASCAR Cup race at Richmond outside the top 30 in the running order. With Austin Cindric ended up having his best run of the 2026 season, it was looking as if the three-time Supercars champion was in for a rough night.
However, SVG actually left Richmond three points further up from the cut-line than he was at the start of the 400-lap race. While Cindric bested him and pushed SVG down onto the bubble, the Trackhouse driver actually outscored the driver sitting 17th in the standings -- Ryan Preece.
It was all thanks to strategy roll of the dice from crew chief Stephen Doran. At the start of the final stage, Van Gisbergen stayed out on much older tires, taking the wave-around. He was suddenly inside the top 15 and was hoping for a quick caution that never came. However, the No. 97 was now off-sequence and after the first round of green-flag pit stops, that yellow finally came right as SVG cycled back inside the top 15 on older tires again.
He maintained that track position for the rest of the night, finishing 14th and matching his Richmond finish from one year ago. Preece finished 17th and since neither scored any stage points, that's essentially hw SVG increased his buffer from 47 points to 50 over the RFK Racing driver (one point per position).
“We were better than what we qualified," said Van Gisbergen after the race. "We were making gains on our No. 97 Mitti Chevrolet throughout the race, similar to the front-half of the top-20, maybe better. And then, the strategy put us into the top-15 and gained us a lot, so that was great. The line I used during the Truck race seemed to work for us, especially when the tires wore out. I could roll the top and gain quite a few spots. Clean air, as well, seemed to work.”
With just two races left before the Chase reset, it will be a difficult ask (but not impossible) for Preece to make the 50-point leap to SVG. The final two races of the regular season take place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway.
Van Gisbergen also remains within striking distance of those ahead of him, so he's not on an island in 16th. Cindric is just seven points up on SVG, while Bubba Wallace is +20 points.
It was a decent end to a overall positive weekend for the Kiwi, who also earned his first-ever oval pole in the Truck race, ultimately finishing fourth in that event.
Decent truck race in P4, had a lot of fun! Just couldn’t quite run with those guys with the truck we had, then got a penalty but was pretty cool to recover from that. In Cup finished P14, made some gains then the strategy put us into the top-15 and gained us a lot. pic.twitter.com/qZ2VqlUmNH
— Shane van Gisbergen (@shanevg97) August 16, 2026
