Shane van Gisbergen 2026 Report Card: Two Wins, a B-
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing 2026 Season Report Cards, where every full-time Cup Series driver gets a grade computed from all 36 races, not opinion. Next up: the number 97, the best road racer in the garage and the only full-time winner left out of the Chase.
The Short Version
Shane van Gisbergen's 2026 season was two different years in one car. On the four road and street courses he won twice, ran 2nd at COTA and started on the pole in San Diego. Everywhere else he averaged a 20.0 finish. He entered the regular-season finale at Daytona holding the last Chase spot, then Ryan Preece won the race and took it. Van Gisbergen finished 17th in points. His computed season grade is a B-, 17th of 35 full-time drivers.
Why the Shane van Gisbergen 2026 Grade Is a B-
Every HHR report card grade comes from the same math. After every race, each driver gets a score out of 100 based on where they finished in the field, how many spots they gained or lost from the start, how many laps they led, and a penalty for not finishing. The season grade is the average of all 36 race scores, curved against the 35 drivers who ran the full year.
Van Gisbergen's season score ranked 17th of 35, which lands at B-. The two wins carry real weight in that math, and so do his 270 laps led, 12th in the field. What holds the grade down is the rest of the schedule. His average finish of 18.9 ranked 18th, and his median finish was 20th. Nineteen of his 36 races ended 20th or worse.
His average start was 19.1 and his average finish was 18.9. He gained almost nothing over a race, 18th of 35 in positions gained, and he ranked 27th in finish spread. When the 97 was good it won. When it was not, it was often deep in the field.
Shane van Gisbergen by the Numbers
Here is where van Gisbergen ranked among the 35 full-time drivers in 14 stats. The bar and the circle show his rank (1 is best). The number on the right is the actual stat.
The top of the card is the win column. Two wins tied for 7th in the Cup Series. He was 11th in top 5s with six, and 12th in laps led and laps led per start (7.5).
The rest of the card sits in the middle and lower half. He ranked 15th in top 10s (10) and fastest laps (194), 17th in average driver rating (71.2), 18th in average running position (19.1) and 21st in percentage of laps in the top 15 (39%). Only 20 lead lap finishes put him 24th, the lowest rank on the card.
Four Road Courses, Two Wins
Van Gisbergen's four road and street course races produced the best stretch of anyone's season on that track type:
- COTA, March 1: started 13th, finished 2nd with a 117.2 driver rating.
- Watkins Glen, May 10: started on the pole, led 74 laps and won. The win moved him into the last provisional Chase spot.
- San Diego, June 21: won the pole for the first Cup race on the Naval Base Coronado street course and led 7 laps. He was collected in a multi-car crash on a Lap 32 restart and finished 38th.
- Sonoma, June 28: started 6th, led 74 laps and won.
That is a 10.5 average finish on road courses, with a crash in the middle of it. The 148 laps he led in his two wins are more than half of his 270 for the year.
The Ovals and the Daytona Miss
The ovals were a different story. In the spring he finished 36th at Las Vegas, 34th at Bristol and 36th at Kansas, three of his worst results of the year in a five-race span. He did have oval highlights: 5th at Nashville in May, 5th at North Wilkesboro in July after leading 49 laps, and 30 laps led at New Hampshire in August.
The regular season came down to Daytona on Aug. 29. Van Gisbergen came in 16th, 31 points ahead of Ryan Preece for the final spot. Preece won his first points-paying Cup race that night and took the spot, and van Gisbergen finished 28th. He was the only full-time race winner to miss the 16-driver Chase.
Over the final 10 races he averaged a 20.4 finish. The best of it came late: 9th at Las Vegas, 7th at Charlotte and 5th at Martinsville. He crashed at Talladega in October and finished 34th in the Homestead finale.
What 2027 Looks Like
Van Gisbergen stays in the number 97, but the box changes. Trackhouse announced on Nov. 9 that Blake Harris, who spent the last four seasons as Alex Bowman's crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports, will lead the 97 in 2027. Stephen Doran, his crew chief for all 36 races in 2026, returns to Spire Motorsports to call the shots for Michael McDowell. Track every move on our 2027 silly season tracker.
The 2027 Daytona 500 is Feb. 21. Start times and channels for every race are on our race TV guide, and every other driver's grade is on the 2026 report cards page.
The Bottom Line
On a road course in 2026, van Gisbergen was the man to beat. On an oval he was a mid-pack car, and the B- is the average of both. If Harris can find him even a few spots on the ovals, the two wins become a Chase spot instead of a near miss.
Gear Up for the 97
- Shane van Gisbergen 2026 Watkins Glen Winner T-Shirt
- Shane van Gisbergen 2025 Watkins Glen Winner T-Shirt
- Shane van Gisbergen Cup Series Schedule T-Shirt
- Shane van Gisbergen No. 97 Keychain
Sources: NASCAR official race results and loop data for all 36 2026 points races; Watkins Glen and Chase standing via FOX Sports and the Associated Press; San Diego via RACER and Velocity News; Daytona in August via NASCAR.com and Field Level Media; 2027 crew chief changes via Jayski.
