
Eckert walks out of press conference after 'spygate' questions
Southampton's Tonda Eckert walks out of press conference after 'spygate' questions
Shane Van Gisbergen arrives at Watkins Glen after finishing second at Circuit of the Americas, but he doubts his chances due to Trackhouse Racing's struggles. He feels his car performance is lacking compared to last year.
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Shane Van Gisbergen finished second to Tyler Reddick in the first road course race of the NASCAR Cup Series season at Circuit of the Americas but also had to work way harder for it than any of his five wins in 2025.
To wit, the three-time Supercars champion turned Cup Series contender isnât sure he is automatically this favorite for this weekend at Watkins Glen either. His road course prowess isnât enough to compensate for the reality that Trackhouse Racing is struggling everywhere right now.
âThatâs a hard one,â said Van Gisbergen last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. âWe canât magically go have amazing cars next week, right? So, I definitely think we felt it a bit as early as COTA that I definitely felt like I didnât have a good car in comparison to last year compared to everyone else.
âSo, weâre not going to magically show up at Watkins Glen and have the best cars; we need to definitely get better. Itâs been a difficult season, especially the last few weeks for everyone, but I also enjoy the grind of trying to get better.
âItâs frustrating not being fast and we do need to get better.â
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Shane Van Gisbergen is uncertain about his performance at Watkins Glen because he feels his car is not competitive compared to last year and Trackhouse Racing is struggling overall.
Shane Van Gisbergen finished second to Tyler Reddick at the Circuit of the Americas in the first road course race of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
Shane Van Gisbergen has five wins in the 2025 NASCAR season.

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There are positives too, of course, that SVG is 19th in the standings, which is a far improvement from last year now that heâs gotten fully acclimated to racing on ovals at the highest level. He is also only 16 points behind veteran teammate Ross Chastain.
But thatâs the problem -- Chastain is 18th in the standings with only two superspeedway top-10s on his 2026 resume. Thatâs not the driver. Itâs the cars at Trackhouse year-over-year.
Again, itâs not like âSVGâ was bad at Circuit of the Americas but he said he just lacked everything in the car he had last year that did not allow him to flawlessly take or retain the lead.
âIt was just everything,â Van Gisbergen said. âI didnât have turn, drive or power, and those are the three things you need. It made it difficult at COTA and we struggled in qualifying so thatâs frustrating.â
For Van Gisbergen to make the Chase for the Championship, he will need to take advantage of these road courses and win to the level he did last year. This playoff format no longer features and the win and you are in component, so there is extra pressure for âSVGâ to score max points this weekend and at the other tracks where he turns right.
âYeah, of course, but I think it's that expectation you have to manage,â said Van Gisbergen. âAs I said, we're not going to turn up and have magically the fastest cars, you know, that comes through hard work, not just putting good road course drivers in it. So yeah, we arenât just showing up and expecting to win, but hopefully weâre good.â
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