Second time was the charm for Shane Van Gisbergen at the Circuit of the Americas … in NASCAR’s second-tier series.
Van Gisbergen won the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Focused Health 250 to pick up his first NASCAR win at the Texas track. He had previously made one NOAPS start in 2024 (when it was called the Xfinity Series) and two Cup Series starts, with a best finish of sixth in the Cup Series last year.
The JR Motorsports driver led 31 of 65 laps on the day, but it all came down to a restart with five to go. He took the green flag in sixth position, but took advantage of COTA’s long front straight to go four-wide on the inside and outbreak everyone into Turn 1, which he exited with a lead he never gave up.
“I was a bit unsure there, starting sixth on the outside,” van Gisbergen said. “I kind of got to the inside, which was good, and nosed in on the 41 (Sam Mayer), and he reacted. When he reacted, I thought no way he’s stopping that, and he kind of pushed everyone wide, which was awesome, and it worked out for us.”
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Van Gisbergen will be looking to repeat the result in Sunday’s Cup Series race, which would tie him with Jeff Gordon at six straight road course wins. Van Gisbergen ran the table in the series last year following that sixth place COTA finish.
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