Plus: Herbst disqualified, Knaus get awarded.
After overcoming stiff challenges from Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell in the Bank of America Roval 400, Shane van Gisbergen walked off with his fifth-straight road course victory, putting him one race closer to tying Jeff Gordon’s record for consecutive road course wins.
Gordon won a record six straight road course races from August 1997 at Watkins Glen to June 2000 at Sonoma. After finishing sixth at the Circuit of the Americas in the season’s third race, van Gisbergen reeled off five consecutive road/street course victories, starting at Mexico City in June. However, the New Zealand native said he doesn’t care “about that stuff.”
“It might be a weird thing to say, but yeah, I just try and do my best,” Van Gisbergen said. “When I retire, I guess I’ll look at that stuff and be pretty stoked, but at the moment, I just want to keep doing the best I can and try and add to that stuff.”
In Sunday’s race on the 2.32-mile, 17-turn road course, Van Gisbergen received a stiff challenge from Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, exchanging sheet metal with Larson at one point. However, van Gisbergen eventually enjoyed a 15.160-second victory over Larson with Bell placing third.
Van Gisbergen admitted that when he had the large lead in the closing laps he watched the big screen TV on the backstretch, trying to see how Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain was doing in the event.
“I was a bit of a race fan for the last 10 laps or so trying to see what was happening on the big screen,” Van Gisbergen said about the large screen TV on the track’s backstretch. “That took my mind, hoping a caution wasn’t going to come out. I was trying to just watch the race.”
Even though van Gisbergen owned a large advantage at the race’s conclusion, he said he felt he was struggling and didn’t have the pace at the beginning of the final 53 laps. That’s when Larson and Bell drove away from van Gisbergen, but then everything changed as the race moved into its later stages.
“Every other stint and every other set of tires I felt like we were fine,” van Gisbergen said. “Not sure if we made a bad adjustment or bad set of tires.
“It was a cool feeling when I matched them (Larson and Bell) at the end. As soon as I got the second set of tires on that last Stage I was like, OK, there was something wrong in the last one. Just drove back to them, which was a pretty cool feeling as well.”
NASCAR Disqualifies Herbst
For the second-straight year, NASCAR has disqualified a car for failing weight requirements in post-race inspection after the Bank of America Roval 400.
NASCAR announced that Riley Herbst was disqualified, moving him from the 30th to the 37th finishing position. His 23XI Racing Toyota will be taken to the NASCAR R&D Center. Herbst’s car was a random selection for post-race inspection. Cole Custer’s Haas Factory Team Ford also will be going to the R&D Center. He finished 22nd.
Herbst’s disqualification didn’t change the playoff drivers who advanced into the Round of 8.
Last year, Alex Bowman was disqualified for failing post-race weight inspection. His disqualification removed him from the Round of 8 and reinserted Joey Logano, who went on to win the championship.
Knaus Receives Smokey Yunick Award
Hendrick Motorsports Vice President of Competition Chad Knaus, who won seven NASCAR Cup championships as a crew chief for driver Jimmie Johnson, was honored by Charlotte Motor Speedway with the 2025 Smokey Yunick Award.
Named after the legendary mechanic and innovator Henry “Smokey” Yunick, the annual award was instituted in 1997 to recognize an individual who came from humble beginnings to demonstrate exceptional innovation and make a major impact in motorsports. Yunick passed away in 2001. The speedway has continued the award in his memory.
Knaus, who was introduced to racing in Rockford, Illinois, eventually moved to the Charlotte area, slept on couches, and took an entry-level job at Hendrick Motorsports when Ray Evernham was crew chief for Jeff Gordon. During his 20-year crew chief career, Knaus earned 82 victories, 81 with Johnson and one with William Byron. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2024.
Others who have received the award include Ralph Moody, Evernham, Dale Inman, Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Waddell Wilson, Larry McReynolds, Ernie Elliott, and Harry Hyde.
Category: General Sports
