A quick glance at the current regular season points standings will show you that Trackhouse Racing’s Chase hopes all come down to SVG and six ovals. These six ovals that Shane van Gisbergen must maximize his points on are North Wilkesboro Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Daytona International Speedway. SVG is fresh off a strong finish at EchoPark Speedway. The 97 Trackhouse Chevy has raced at the new Atlanta configuration twice in the 2026 Cup season. They’ve rolled a pair of sixes. Now it all comes down to the final six regular season ovals.

SVG and six ovals are scheduled to do battle. Believe me, this will be the most interesting battle of all on the Chase bubble. We, SVG fans know if we had just one more road course, then we’d feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, we don’t. So let’s focus in on SVG and these six ovals.

The Most Recent Oval Performance

For every Cup series race, I follow the 97 car in-car camera and radio communications. My older flat screen hooked up to my PS4 runs the 97 in-car via the HBOMAX app on the Playstation. My newer Smart TV (also Vizio) runs the race coverage on whatever streaming service or old school tv channel is carrying the race. Furthermore, I plug my headphones into my PS4 conttroller to listen to team communications. Finally, I “live-tweet/X-post” SVG race updates. I thoroughly enjoy it.

Ultimately, my point here is that I have watched a lot of live footage of the 97 in-car on ovals. This past weekend was rough. The TNT analysts and drivers were not joking when they talk about the difference between Daytona/Talladega and Atlanta aka EchoPark Speedway. Simply, the difference is that everything happens so much quicker. The spotter has to be quicker on the radio. The driver has to be quicker on the track. To be clear, quicker means responding to sensory stimuli much faster. Ergo, I had to be quicker. Honestly, it was much more difficult to provide live updates on X/Twitter for Atlanta than any other track this season.

Truthfully, Shane van Gisbergen looked quite comfortable at Atlanta. First, he would run the top lane. On the next lap, he would run the bottom lane. More often than not, he didn’t mind putting the 97 in the middle lane. Realistically, most drivers on the cutline bubble would see Atlanta as a wild card. Given SVG’s performance at Atlanta this year, I honestly thing he wouldn’t mind if they raced there six more times to finish out the regular season.

The Final Six Ovals of the 2026 Cup Series Regular Season

I can see how it would be easy to write off Shane van Gisbergen making the Chase this year. Many fans want to think of him as “just another” “road course ringer.” In fact, the same could be said for many NASCAR analysts. Kyle Petty doesn’t think SVG will ever be a top level oval driver. Kevin Harvick thinks its only a matter of time before SVG wins an oval race. Yet, in his Happy Hour Podcast he kind of put SVG into the category of hit or miss, as far as making the Chase is concerned.

It does appear that Trackhouse is lacking the same speed they had last year. Still, it’s not like we’re looking at a lot of 1.5 mile intermediate “cookie-cutter” style tracks in these last six ovals. We’re looking at some of Shane van Gisbergen’s stronger oval tracks. Unfortunately, it is true that SVG can’t have a throw-away race, if he for sure wants to make the Chase. Ultimately, that’s all due to the DNFs at San Diego and even Pocono to some degree (both caused by the “Gruntin’ Spud”).

The Flatter Short Tracks: Richmond, Iowa, North Wilkesboro

Above you’ll see the best hype man in all of NASCAR, Mamba Smith, introducing SVG at Richmond in 2025. I was lucky enough to win tickets to that race last season through Sheetz. This is where I first noticed SVG looking really comfortable on an oval. By comfortable, I mean he didn’t mind searching for speed on the track. SVG looked just as comfortable running the Kyle Larson line (against the wall) as he did the Kevin Harvick line (right on the line). Richmond is a good track for him. He got a top 15 last year and some stage points.

This weekend’s race is a bit of an unknown. North Wilkesboro will host its first points race in quite some time. All the data we have to go on is the 2025 All-Star Race. We know that Shane van Gisbergen qualified on the pole for the All-Star Open.  Qualifying won’t include a pit stop for a points race though. He ran all 100 laps in the open but only finished 13th and did not make the All-Star Race. Thankfully, thanks to his great run at Atlanta, the 97 will be in the better qualifying group this weekend. At 0.625 miles in length and 13 degrees of banking at its highest, North Wilkesboro is a flatter short track. SVG has been good at those.

Iowa Speedway wasn’t very kind to Shane van Gisbergen last year. He finished p31 on the .875 mile short track with 12 to 14 degree banking in the turns. Then again Nashville wasn’t kind to SVG last season either, where he finished p25. This season he grabbed his first top 5 on an oval at Nashville. While it is true that track is 1.33 miles long and is concrete, the banking is similar. These flatter short tracks seem to be a strong suit for SVG. Bristol is another story, but it’s in the Chase.

SVG and Six Ovals

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

SVG and Six Ovals (Two of which are Monsters)

While SVG has done well on the flatter short tracks, there are two monster ovals sitting out there amongst the six remaining. Of course, I am talking of Daytona and Indianapolis. Both of these iconic 2.5 mile ovals must be survived. It could be argued that these are the two MOST iconic ovals in all of auto-racing.

While Daytona is very much a wild card race, especially given what NASCAR executives are cooking up to try and stop the fuel saving parades, Indianapolis is really just like a monster version of the type of oval SVG thrives on. With its 9.2 degrees of banking in four indentical turns and no banking on the straights, it’s a flat track. It is no surprise that last year SVG grabbed a top 20 finish here. I would expect a top 15 here. Qualifying will be very important.

If NASCAR executives and officals goal is to make this next Daytona race look more like the most recent Atlanta race, then that works in the 97 team’s favor. SVG led laps in the 500 earlier this year, but Atlanta seems to be his best drafting oval, if not his best oval.  In 2025, SVG finished p16 in the season finale at Daytona International Speedway. It appears that this year it will not be another Fuel Saver 400. That could be beneficial for SVG on this 2.5 mile drafting oval. It could also turn into 10 cars racing on the lead lap when the white flag waves.

SVG and Six Ovals

NASCAR.com

SVG and Six Ovals: There’s Something About New Hampshire

Yes, I could have just included New Hampshire in the flatter short track section. I don’t consider New Hampshire a short track. It’s a flat mile oval. New Hampshire is to Indy; what Dover is to Daytona. Yet, still, this is not why I’ve placed New Hampshire out on its own. New Hampshire is to Martinsville; what Dover is to Bristol. By now, I’m sure you, the readers, are probably tired of analogies. The former one was pure misdirection. The latter analogy is the important one for what we are covering here.

SVG somehow managed to finish p32 last season at New Hampshire. It was a difficult thing to do considering how fast his Trackhouse Chevy (then the 88) looked. It took a seasoned veteran to make a rookie mistake. Brad Keselowski, a champion-but-soon-to-be-elderly competitor bounced off the INSIDE wall at the bottom of something like 37 wide which took SVG out of the race. Still, SVG looked like he was going somewhere at New Hampshire.

This leads me back to Martinsville. His first finish at Martinsville was exactly what you would expect from any expert road course driver that suddenly finds themself being a rookie trying to apply their racecraft to Martinsville. After his strong, albeit short, performance at New Hampshire, Shane van Gisbergen has shone at Martinsville. He finished p14 last fall and p11 this past spring at Martinsville. SVG has this flat track thing down. I’m telling you, I wouldn’t be surprised if his first oval win comes at New Hampshire.

Grunts, Spuds, and Other Foregone Conclusions

Ultimately, in this epic battle between a V8 Supercars road/street legend and six stock car ovals, qualifying is what is going to be most important for the 97 team. I watch the in-car camera every week as I mentioned earlier. The 97 team has been able to climb their way up at a few tracks, but Shane van Gisbergen tends to do a lot better when he qualifies well. That Atlanta qualifying lap was a bit of a surprise, even to him.

This battle is what will determine whether or not SVG makes the Chase. In my opinion, it’s purely him versus these last six tracks. He needs to qualify top 20, grab stage points when possible, and finish these races. SVG cannot endure anymore potato related DNFs. Austin Hill could be biding his time, but he raced the 97 pretty respectfully at Atlanta. They were only really around each other for one pass on the track. Shave gave Austin plenty of room, and Austin returned the favor.

I think if Austin Hill is going to get the last laugh, I would imagine it will be during the Chase. Shane van Gisbergen is Trackhouse Racing’s best chance to make the Chase. Honestly, I don’t believe NASCAR would let “payback” occur prior to the Chase. During the Chase is another question. Thankfully, Shane van Gisbergen’s focus is going to be on the upcoming battle with these six ovals. Keep an eye on New Hampshire, my fellow SaVaGe 97 fans!