NASCAR Through the Gears: Will the plunder from Down Under end at Watkins Glen?
This plunder from Down Under might have run its (road) course after three straight poles and three straight wins.
And to think, they'll have to send a kid to do a man's job.
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That's right, the only guy in recent memory to beat Shane van Gisbergen on a road course is a teenager named Connor Zilisch, one of a few Next Big Things in NASCAR these days.
Connor Zilisch might be the new sheriff in town when NASCAR goes to Watkins Glen in four weeks.
Fresh-faced Connor Z, just 18, won a slugfest with SVG at Sonoma this past Saturday to win the Xfinity Series race. Go find yourself a replay of the final few laps and tell me that doesn't take you back to some epic battles among yesterday's heroes.
Or better yet, watch it here.
Like SVG, Connor Z learned to race on road courses. Unlike SVG, he's been a quick study on ovals. Along with three road-course wins in the Xfinity Series, he also won last month at Pocono, and four of his five ARCA wins last year were on ovals. He's also fourth in Xfinity points.
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SVG, at 36 with a long Aussie Supercars career behind him, has many more years of road-racin' on the odometer, and perhaps that's making it harder for him to get the knack of ovals. The proof is in the points: Despite three wins, he's down there in 26th in the current point standings.
And frankly, his road-course winning streak might be in danger. Trackhouse Racing, SVG's employer, also has Zilisch under contract and will presumably put him in the No. 99 seat next year, replacing Daniel Suarez. Looking ahead to that, Trackhouse is entering Zilisch in a few Cup races this year.
Yep, one of them is Watkins Glen, the next scheduled road course, in four weeks.
Coming soon to a right-hand turn near you: SVG versus Connor Z. Can't wait.
First Gear: SVG snagging plenty of roadside playoff points
You know the drill for the next three weeks: Go fast and turn left. So far, that's not Shane van Gisbergen's strength. Not even close.
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But let's say it again: He has a chance to stick around the playoffs when they start at the end of August, even though nine of the 10 races are on ovals or something resembling ovals.
His three dominant weeks over the past month have resulted in 17 playoff bonus points. Just two drivers have more — Kyle Larson with 23 and Denny Hamlin with 19. That could help him tremendously in navigating the three ovals in the Round of 16.
After that, the Round of 12 includes the Charlotte Roval and the Round of 8 includes the ultimate wildcard, Talladega.
In the midst of this recent run of road-course races, SVG has shown modest improvement on the ovals — very modest, yes, but improvement. Assuming that trajectory continues, he just might have some playoff staying power.
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And speaking of which, let's catch up with a guy who's possibly becoming another Next Big Thing right before our eyes.
Second Gear: Time to pay attention to The Other Chase
GIve it up for Chase Briscoe, who finished second at Sonoma and made SVG work like hell to keep him there on those late-race restarts.
He's never been competitive on road courses, and that's particularly true at Sonoma. Until Sunday.
'This is by far my worst racetrack. Kind of surprised myself, truthfully,' he said after the runner-up finish.
Briscoe has been good on Saturdays and has steadily improved on Sundays during his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing. He clinched a playoff spot with the win at Pocono last month, and is now eighth in points. Only three drivers have more top-fives than the seven he's posted.
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He turned a lot of heads five years ago when he won nine Xfinity races, but he faded into the background at the Cup level as his former team, Stewart Haas, lost its footing.
But now he's definitely looking like a keeper.
Third Gear: Bowman Gray stays, Chicago looks like a 'maybe'
On the scheduling front, we've been dealt a non-surprise and a mild possibility of a surprise since last week.
First, the predictable. NASCAR is taking the preseason Clash back to Bowman Gray Stadium next year. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it this past February, and not just because their man Chase Elliott won, though that never hurts.
It's one of those rare 'new venue' moves that was met with universal enthusiasm. Probably because this new venue is actually one of the oldest, though mostly familiar to folks targeted by those reverse-mortgage commercials. Nostalgia rules, and Bowman Gray definitely brings nostalgia.
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The mild surprise is the word out of Chicago, where we all assume NASCAR's three-year run has come and gone. NASCAR has a few months to decide on formally asking the city to pick up a two-year option, and though everyone assumes NASCAR is looking at other big-city options, Chicago might not be off the table.
But only if NASCAR moves the race off the Fourth of July weekend — a weekend that doesn't need help drawing crowds to Chicago.
If NASCAR decides to send the request for two more years, Shane van Gisbergen will gladly serve as courier.
Fourth Gear: In-Season Challenge not producing any Duke-Kentucky vibes
How's that bracket challenge working out?
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Yikes. We knew this could happen, but still …
We're down to a final four (not to be confused with the officially licensed Final Four), and next week at Dover we get Ty Dillon versus John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Gibbs versus Tyler Reddick. Gone after Sonoma are Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Zane Smith and Ryan Preece.
Nope, not exactly a Murderer's Row of heavyweights but not exactly shocking given how easy it is for the heavyweights to miss a gear in any given race.
After this coming weekend at Dover, it'll be whittled down to two battling at Indy in a race within the race, with a million bucks dangling with the checkers for whomever wins an intramural battle that might be back there in mid-pack.
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Given how Indianapolis can produce a thinned-out snoozer, at least there will be a wee bit of drama.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR news: Connor Zilisch slows the SVG roll for one race at Sonoma
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