Another road course race, another dominant win for Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen on Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen International, giving the New Zealander a total of four victories, tied for the most in the NASCAR Cup Series, through the first 24 races of the 2025 regular season.
With his Go Bowling at The Glen win, van Gisbergen has now won four consecutive non-oval races, starting with the June race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He also won at the Chicago Street Course and Sonoma Raceway. He is now tied for the series lead in wins and sits third in playoff points.
His only non-win on a road course this season came all the way back in March at Circuit of the Americas, where he finished in sixth place.
SVG not Watkins Glen's biggest winner
Of the 13 drivers to win at least one race so far this season, van Gisbergen is still the lowest in the point standings, down in 25th place. But because he entered Watkins Glen having already won multiple races this year, he faced no risk of missing the 16-driver playoffs, even in the event that there were 16 or more regular season winners.
The 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion, even if he isn't a winner, and the multi-race winners, with all remaining spots going to the single-race winners. If there are more single-race winners than available spots, the tiebreaker to determine who's in and who's out becomes points.
If there aren't enough winners to fill the field, the top non-winners in points get in.
Entering Watkins Glen, there was still a possibility that the Cup Series could see 16 different regular season race winners and a winless regular season champion. Specifically, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick was leading the way among non-winners in the standings.
Even though he was 97 points behind leader William Byron, it was still mathematically possible, and six other drivers not named Reddick who won last year were also still winless in 2025.
But with van Gisbergen winning again, there can now be no more than 15 different regular season races winners this year. Additionally, Reddick is now 111 points out of the points lead, all but slamming the door on the possibility of a winless regular season champion.
At any rate, all drivers who have won this season are now officially locked into the playoffs, something that had not been true until van Gisbergen's most recent win.
That includes Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry, who has spent much of the regular season as the lowest-placed single-race winner in the point standings. He hasn't finished a race in the top 10 since mid-May and sits in 24th place, but the March winner from Las Vegas Motor Speedway is now officially locked into the postseason.
The other single-race winners outside of the top 10 in the point standings include 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace (11th), Team Penske teammates Joey Logano (13th) and Austin Cindric (16th), and Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain (14th).
Single-race winners who never had much to worry about include Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott (2nd), Team Penske's Ryan Blaney (6th), and Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe (8th).
Aside from van Gisbergen, this year's multi-race winners include Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin (four wins) and Christopher Bell (three wins) and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson (three wins) and William Byron (two wins).
The Cook Out 400 is set to be shown live on USA Network from Richmond Raceway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 16. If you have not yet had a chance to start a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss any of the action!