Shane van Gisbergen started Martinsville in fifth place back in March and finished 11th. Sunday’s Xfinity 500 flipped that script: he rolled off 29th and still came home fifth. Yet the most interesting part of his weekend came after the checkered flag, when the Trackhouse driver hinted at something happening behind the scenes and admitted where his team still falls short.
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“Yeah, for sure. We’ve got some big team changes coming, so it’s good to still be experimenting and all three cars trying stuff. We’ve got to work forward as a team, and I think as a team we’re working quite well together at the moment,” SVG told FrontStretch when asked if Trackhouse was building for next year via X.
He did not say what those changes would be. For context, all three Trackhouse drivers are signed through 2027, though Connor Zilisch is set to move to Hendrick Motorsports in 2028. None of them made the Chase, and Van Gisbergen sits 17th in points with Chastain 18th.
Reshuffles are nothing new for the organization. Last November, Trackhouse Racing moved Phil Surgen, Chastain’s crew chief for five seasons, into another role and hired Brandon McSwain. Randall Burnett also arrived from Richard Childress Racing to lead Zilisch’s rookie year.
Other teams are heading into 2027 with similar upheaval. RCR is moving Richard Boswell into a competition leadership role, giving Austin Dillon a new crew chief. Legacy Motor Club is adding a third full-time car for Riley Herbst, with Jeremy Bullins as his crew chief.
Patience, not outright speed, drove Sunday’s recovery. Van Gisbergen was 20th at the end of Stage 1 and 14th after Stage 2, and he made most of his gains in long green-flag runs, not reaching the top 10 until the final stage. William Byron controlled the race, leading 362 laps for his fourth Martinsville win, and only seven cars finished on the lead lap.
It was SVG’s third top-five on an oval in the Cup Series, matching his fifth-place results at Nashville and North Wilkesboro. It also topped his previous Martinsville best of 11th. Before this weekend, his four starts there had produced finishes of 12th, 34th, 14th and 11th.
The damage, however, was done on Saturday. Asked what went wrong in qualifying, Van Gisbergen took the blame himself.
“I drove in about five car lengths too deep and almost spun out, so my fault,” he said.
Starting deep in the field meant a long fight through traffic. Teammates Ross Chastain, who finished 11th, and Zilisch both qualified ahead of him, and SVG believes his starting spot mattered.
“I think overall the team’s done a really good job, and Ross was up front most of the race, qualified well, and I’m sure if I qualified up front I could have raced those guys a bit better. By the time I got there, my thing was pretty beat up,” he explained.
Shane van Gisbergen admits Trackhouse is still lacking on downforce tracks
Despite the progress on short tracks, Van Gisbergen was candid that the same gains have not shown up everywhere.
“That seems to be where we’re strong. You know, on the short tracks, we can have some grip. The downforce tracks, we’re probably lacking a little bit. So, yeah, they’re certainly coming in the right way. Yeah, I feel like we’re getting stronger,” he said.
That gap matters because success at one type of oval does not automatically carry over to another. Part of SVG’s growth comes from familiarity. Returning to the same venues twice a year has helped him learn what he needs from the car and how to communicate it to his team.
“Yeah, I think that’s cool. Yeah, it’s just progression. There’s obviously still some tracks I’m weak at. Generally, these tracks where we’re going to twice a year, that’s kind of my strength tracks. I’m starting to know the tracks well, know what I want from a car, so yeah, that seems to be a trend,” he explained.
Short-track racing also demands a different technique than the road courses that built his reputation, but he sees extra tools to work with.
“Yes and no, it’s nothing like road course racing, you know, and I drive with a different technique, brake with a different foot, but certainly you’ve got more tools at your disposal with the bias and the gearing and how you can move around,” he said.
“Once your car is right, this track’s really, really fun,” he added.
Whatever Trackhouse has planned, SVG’s own assessment is clear: the short-track progress is real, but the downforce tracks remain unfinished business.