Shane van Gisbergen wins NASCAR race at Watkins Glen: Results, highlights

The NASCAR Cup Series produced its seventh winner in 12 races in the 2026 season, but the result at Watkins Glen International Sunday, May 10 was not at all unexpected.

Shane van Gisbergen, who turned 37 on Saturday, May 9, won the Go Bowling at The Glen for his seventh career Cup Series victory.

The road course ace from New Zealand was the defending race winner and the pole sitter on the seven-turn, 2.45-mile circuit in New York. All seven of van Gisbergen’s victories have come on either road or street courses or on the part-road course/part-oval Charlotte Motor Speedway roval.

Van Gisbergen dominated Sunday. He led 74 of 100 laps and won by 7.288 seconds over runner-up Michael McDowell, who qualified second. This came one year after van Gisbergen beat Christopher Bell at Watkins Glen by 11.116 seconds.

Ty Gibbs, who earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol Motor Speedway one month ago, finished third Sunday, followed by Chase Briscoe in fourth. Tyler Reddick, who has won a series-high five races this season, including the season-opening Daytona 500 and the first road course race of the year at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, finished fifth for his eighth top-five finish in 12 races.

While van Gisbergen made it seem easy at The Glen, at one point his victory was not a sure thing.

The Trackhouse Racing driver made a green-flag pit stop on Lap 76 after declining to come down pit road under caution on Lap 61 in a strategy play that varied from much of the field. When van Gisbergen re-entered the course, he was 29 seconds behind race leader Gibbs and Connor Zilisch, his Trackhouse teammate. But as other drivers went into fuel-saving mode to make it to the end of the race, van Gisbergen had no such worry, and he charged through the field on fresh tires, finally repassing Gibbs for the Lead on Lap 93 before pulling away.

“That’s the best feeling you can get when you have a tire advantage and an awesome car,” van Gisbergen said after the race. “Like, I was just carving everyone up. Some people were nice and laying over, which is cool. The people that didn’t, you had to put good moves on.

“Then especially when the gap started getting less seconds than how many laps to go, I sort of knew it was going to happen at that point. Yeah, that’s one of the best moments you can have as a driver.”

Here are the final results and highlights from the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International:

NASCAR at Watkins Glen 2026 highlights

NASCAR at Watkins Glen 2026 results

Here are the full results from the 2026 Go Bowling at the Glen with starting position in parentheses:

1. (1) Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 97 Chevrolet  — 74 laps led
2. (2) Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet  — 5 laps led
3. 10) Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota  — 17 laps led
4. (9) Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota
5. (15) Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
6. (25) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
7. (12) AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
8. (21) Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
9. (3) Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
10. (17) John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
11. (7) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
12. (14) Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
13. (16) Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Chevrolet
14. (30) Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford
15. (19) Cole Custer, No. 41 Chevrolet
16. (20) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
17. (22) Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford
18. (33) Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford
19. (24) Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
20. (5) Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Chevrolet
21. (8) Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
22. (35) Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford
23. (23) Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
24. (27) Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
25. (28) Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
26. (32) Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota
27. (4) Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet  — 4 laps led
28. 11) Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
29. (18) Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
30. (26) Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
31. (29) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet
32. (34) Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford
33. (31) Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet
34. (37) Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Ford
35. (38) Katherine Legge, No. 78 Chevrolet
36. (13) William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
37. (36) Cody Ware, No. 51 Chevrolet
38. (6) Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford

What time does the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen start?

The Go Bowling at The Glen starts at 3 p.m. ET at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.

What TV channel is the NASCAR Watkins Glen race on?

FS1 is broadcasting the Go Bowling at The Glen and has a pre-race show beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Is there live stream of the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen?

The Go Bowling at The Glen can be live streamed on the Fox Sports website (by signing in with your TV or satellite provider), Fox One (free seven day trial) and the Fox Sports app. Viewers can also stream the race on HBO Max and Fubo.

How many laps is the NASCAR Watkins Glen race?

The Go Bowling at The Glen features 100 laps around a 2.45-mile road course with seven turns for a total of 245 miles. The race will have three stages (laps per stage) — Stage 1: Lap 20 (20 laps); Stage 2: Lap 50 (30 laps); Stage 3: Lap 100 (50 laps).

What is the lineup for the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen?

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (97) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet
2. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet
3. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford
4. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet
5. (88) Connor Zilisch, Chevrolet
6. (22) Joey Logano, Ford
7. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford
8. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota
9. (19) Chase Briscoe, Toyota
10. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota
11. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet
12. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet
13. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet
14. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford
15. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota
16. (7) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet
17. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota
18. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota
19. (41) Cole Custer, Chevrolet
20. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota
21. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet
22. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford
23. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet
24. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota
25. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet
26. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford
27. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet
28. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet
29. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet
30. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford
31. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet
32. (35) Riley Herbst, Toyota
33. (38) Zane Smith, Ford
34. (21) Josh Berry, Ford
35. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford
36. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet
37. (66) Josh Bilicki, Ford
38. (78) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet