It's been an impressive NASCAR season for Shane van Gisbergen.
After dominating on road courses but failing to contend on ovals during his first full season as a Cup Series driver, this year SVG has shown drastic improvements outside of his road-course specialty, and looks more and more like a contender to eventually win at an oval each week.
Ahead of NASCAR's regular season finale at Daytona on Saturday, van Gisbergen credited teammate Ross Chastain, who took pole during qualifying at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, for the help he has given him.
"I've certainly learned a lot from Ross on these types of tracks," van Gisbergen said. "Especially here at the start of the year, it was pretty awesome, we were sort of controlling both lanes for a period of the race in the 500 which was cool. If it does race like Atlanta, we've sort of led Atlanta a few times and managed that. The way Ross controls the lanes and moves his car around, and gives air to the following car, I think I've learned a lot. Hopefully we can work together well, especially at the end if we're under pressure."
There's a lot at stake for SVG on Saturday, as he currently sits on the bubble of the postseason at 16th in the points standings, good enough for the final spot in the Chase. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece is just 31 points behind him and looking to jump up with a strong finish and some bad breaks for SVG.
Trackhouse Racing had a strong qualifying performance at Daytona on Friday and enters Saturday's race in position to contend.
In addition to Chastain taking pole, SVG starts sixth and Connor Zilisch starts seventh, giving Trackhouse a stronger presence at the front of the pack than any other team to start the race.
Such advantages can be short-lived at Daytona, but as SVG explained, teamwork is extremely important at drafting tracks, and if the three Trackhouse cars can be in position to work together, it could make a difference.
