NASCAR insider believes Shane van Gisbergen made mental mistake at Watkins Glen
In the closing laps of the Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, Shane van Gisbergen made one critical mistake and lost the race. Chris Buescher took full advantage and won his first race of the NASCAR season.
Shane van Gisbergen made contact with a wall through the essess, and from there, Chris Buescher was able to make a pass. Both drivers put the bumper to the other and it was a thrilling finish to the line.
After the race, on The Teardown, Jeff Gluck pointed out what he thought was the key moment of the race. The final restart in overtime. SVG made a decision to take the lead early. Then, he may have gotten into his own head a bit too much.
“To me, it was just really ultimately like, the final restart, right? Because there was a key decision there that SVG made to say, ‘I’m going to get the lead. I’m going to get the lead right here and I’m going to get a little physical to do it,'” Gluck said of Shane van Gisbergen. “We saw SVG in the Xfinity race when they were all battling for second there behind Connor Zilisch, you know, he basically said, ‘Everybody loses their crap at the end of these races so I’m going to do it too.’ I just think that he has sort of adapted that NASCAR mindset. He has embraced it all the way but I think he had it in the back of his head that, ‘If I don’t get away from this guy, he’s going to return the favor big time because that’s what people do here.'”
“Again, I get Chris Buescher, you know, he may, you know he said they might have rubbed a little bit. I don’t think Buescher was ever going to just clean him out or move him or do something. Chris Buescher doesn’t really race like that, right? So, I think that moment, that decision of like, ‘I’ve gotta go fast, I’ve gotta go so fast here, I’ve gotta get away from these guys.’ And he sort of almost forced himself into a mistake. Yeah, Chris Buescher was putting the pressure on, but I think it was almost like an unforced error in some [way].”
Shane van Gisbergen is the best road course racer in NASCAR. That doesn’t mean he can’t make mistakes. SVG was solid all day. He worked his way up. However, when he made his bump and run, he may have gotten too jazzed up.
Based on SVG’s run-ins with Austin Hill, I don’t blame him. A driver like Hill will make you pay, even if it costs you both a win. Buescher is a little more evenhanded. It is doubtful he would have just punted SVG. But that chance always exists, it is NASCAR, after all.