Watkins Glen’s incredible closing run Sunday by Shane van Gisbergen and the NASCAR All-Star Race this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway represent the complete opposite ends of certainty in the Cup Series.
After winning for the sixth time in seven road races, van Gisbergen has established himself as perhaps the greatest road-course driver in NASCAR history, though Fox Sports announcer Mike Joy mentioned Dan Gurney — a five-time winner in the 1960s.
That’s good company for van Gisbergen to keep, though the New Zealander has won seven of his 14 starts (50%) compared to Gurney’s five of 16 (31.3%).
If van Gisbergen shows up in adequate equipment at the next two road courses, he will be the prohibitive favorite at San Diego and Sonoma in consecutive weekends to end June.
Folks may have thought his Chicago Street Race win in 2023 was a one-off fluke, but the masterful pedal work and curvy asphalt ownership by the veteran driver has been obvious from Race 1.
The 37-year-old No. 97 pilot just has a driving style that is a cut above — far better, really — anyone else’s when it comes to his heel-toe technique.
“I just don’t see anyone coming up the ranks who are volunteering to learn that style and stick with it,” Denny Hamlin said on his podcast, adding that there’s a “large likelihood” that van Gisbergen wins the remaining two road events.
A successful future isn’t as guaranteed on Sunday in Delaware at the Monster Mile, which is hosting its first All-Star Race in a 350-lapper — a race length as out of sorts and odd as the concrete track’s situation.
What lies ahead for the one-mile track, a high-banked, Bristol-on-steroids oval that challenges drivers from the first green flag, is completely up in the air for now.
Dover’s future grew cloudy when NASCAR put a refurbished North Wilkesboro Speedway back on the schedule in 2023 for the past three All-Star Races.
The joy in Wilkes County, N.C., multiplied when it received its first points race since 1996 with the scheduled 450-lapper on July 19 — another odd distance.
The feeling around NASCAR is that North Wilkesboro is heading up the elevator toward the penthouse.
However, that’s not the popular opinion regarding Dover, as NASCAR removed a points race for an exhibition one in the daytime.
Unlike North Wilkesboro, has Dover taken the elevator to the ground floor, awaiting a ding, a door opening and an exit from the building?
Track president and general manager Mike Tatoian doesn’t think so and is excited about Sunday’s first All-Star Race in the Northeast.
“The reason why we like it is because we’ve never had it before,” he told the Delaware News Journal. “Any time you get a new product, I think it’s good for the fans. … We’ll get a points race back.
“But as it relates to what happens in 2027 and 2028 and beyond, I really don’t know what is in store. I know we’ll have a race. I don’t know if it’ll be a points race or an All-Star Race.”
The drivers want one major change: a bigger All-Star champion’s check than $1 million, the same amount of the winning purse since 2003.
“I would like to see the prize money go up, to match the inflation for the past two years,” RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski said. “I know the TV money (for NASCAR) has.”
It may not go as far it did, but a seven-figure payday is still worth it.
Dover is certainly banking on it.
