The future is bright for NASCAR's latest Rookie of the Year

Few rookies in sports find themselves consistently competing with, let alone dominating at certain points, the best of the best in their respective sport. 

But most rookies aren't Shane van Gisbergen, who put together a rookie campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series that featured five wins, a playoff appearance and culminated with the Cup Series Rookie of the Year award. 

All of five of those wins, of course, came on road courses, the track style where van Gisbergen turned himself into a Supercars legend in Australia and New Zealand before the Auckland native made his way to the United States. 

After winning his NASCAR debut at the Chicago Street Course in 2023 and three races in his rookie season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024, his five Cup Series wins on road courses in 2025 weren't shocking. How he achieved them was. 

Shane van Gisbergen dominated Cup Series field on road courses

Against the best race drivers in the world and those with much more experience driving stock cars than himself, van Gisbergen decimated the field in all five of his road course victories this season. 

He led 60 laps in Mexico City, 26 in Chicago, 97 at Sonoma, 38 at Watkins Glen and 57 at the Charlotte Roval. His victory in Mexico City came by over 16.5 seconds. It's safe to say that SVG will be a force in NASCAR road course racing for as long as he chooses to race. 

"I think it's been awesome," van Gisbergen said during media availability on Tuesday. "I've really enjoyed it. The wins have been great; that's more than we probably ever hoped for. Getting competitive on the ovals has been a plus."

Indeed, van Gisbergen did see marked improvement on the ovals throughout the season. That included his first top 10 finish on an oval in Cup Series competition at Kansas Speedway in September, when he finished 10th. After struggling at ovals over the first quarter of the season, van Gisbergen had 14 top-25 finishes over the final 22 oval races of the season.

That's momentum that is likely to carry into 2026 for van Gisbergen and the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team — a group van Gisbergen said won't change much from now to the beginning of the 2026 season in February. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.