NASCAR star Shane van Gisbergen's secret to Cup Series success exposed

Shane van Gisbergen's NASCAR playoffs dream might be over for 2025, but the Trackhouse Racing star can add another Cup Series win to his record this weekend.

The Cup playoffs hit Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday and Sunday for road course action on the Roval layout, and van Gisbergen heads into the event as the heavy favorite.

That's totally understandable, too, given his utter domination on road courses so far this campaign.

Indeed, whilst he still has a lot to learn on the ovals - he is getting better and achieved his first top 10 at Kansas last weekend - the Kiwi has won four races on road tracks in 2025, putting the No. 88 Chevrolet in victory lane in Mexico City, Chicago, Watkins Glen, and Sonoma.

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What is SvG's secret?

Shane van Gisbergen's success and domination of his Cup Series rivals on road courses has been a huge talking point all season. Now, one of the Kiwis' former teammates has revealed the 36-year-old's secret to success.

AJ Allmendinger - who is no slouch on road courses himself - was previously SvG's teammate at Kaulig Racing, and whilst he believes van Gisbergen's raw speed plays a part, the secret lies in his management of the tires.

“He’s phenomenal, and I got to see this up close and personal last year as my teammate,” Allmendinger explained on the Door Bumper Clear podcast.

“It sounds simple, obviously it’s not, like timing the rolling speed through the middle of the corner and not asking too much of the tire, but still carrying lots of speed.

“All year, I go study his in-car (video). And if you just sit there and watch his in-car, you’d think he’s the slowest guy on the race track. He doesn’t ask too much of it.

"His raw speed, don’t get me wrong, is really good, but we’ve seen guys out-qualify him.”

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Supercars days key

Allmendinger continued, citing van Gisbergen's time in Supercars - where he won three championships - as key to his skill.

“He doesn’t abuse the tyre, and I think a lot of that comes from the Supercar series in general because you go watch those races and they leave pit road and they’re on tire conservation because they can’t abuse the tyre,” Allmendinger explained.

“The tires are so skinny there that they immediately overstep the tire, and the tire is done. And that’s how they race that series.

“He just kinda can go in there and roll the speed, but not overcharge it. He can get late on the brakes, but he’s not the latest braker. I always felt like I was always out-braking him. He just times that speed into the corner.

“And then because of that, it doesn’t make him panic to have to get back to throttle, so he gets his hands really straight off the corners and just gets that forward drive, and just over time, he doesn’t abuse the rear tires.

“And I think, to me at least, the thing I’ve struggled a little bit with this year is you overstep the tire a little bit and you heat it up and it doesn’t come back. It’s not like you can cool it down for a couple of laps and all of a sudden you get the speed back. It’s gone. He doesn’t really do that.”

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