Shane van Gisbergen seemed destined to conquer NASCAR's San Diego race weekend. He was on pole, and his road course prowess set him up for an easy potential victory. But an unfortunate crash prematurely ended the Trackhouse Racing driver's race on a restart on lap 32 of 70.

Kevin Harvick assessed SVG's situation on the "Speed" podcast co-hosted by him and Will Buxton. Talking about the impact of the DNF on SVG's playoff hopes, Harvick said:

"I think this weekend put him in a position where it's going to be a challenge to make the Chase. I think he needed to have a very successful weekend to have the ability to make that Chase. I think that this is one of those races that he obviously had circled."

However, Harvick didn't entirely rule SVG out of the playoff picture.

"The hard part about SVG, you never know what's left in the bank, he added. "He's always got something left in the bank."

The 2013 Cup Series champion acknowledged that the Trackhouse Chevrolets weren't the dominant force in San Diego, but SVG "would have still been in the mix off of his ability and talent."

After the DNF, SVG fell to 17th in the standings, trailing Ryan Preece by five points after Race 17 at Naval Base Coronado.

With the race at Sonoma coming up, SVG will have to consider Harvick’s comments. Let’s look at how the weekend at Sonoma could play out for SVG.

Sonoma needs to be SVG’s turning point

Sonoma could provide SVG the much-needed promise that he is lacking. The evidence points to exactly that.

In 2025, he won the Sonoma race from pole after a 74.594-second qualifying lap, 0.25 seconds quicker than Chase Briscoe in second. In the race, he led a massive 97 of the 110 laps in the race. Sonoma also saw him post one of the strongest long-run averages in practice before converting that speed into victory.

After his San Diego wreck on Sunday, SVG explained how he would rebound at Sonoma. In a video interview shared by reporter Matt Weaver on X, he said:

"Luckily, we got a good next week, but unfortunately, we'll be in Group 1 again (in qualifying), which makes it tougher. Yeah, just gotta go and execute."

SVG's road course prowess in NASCAR is currently unparalleled. In fact, his sole win this year has come at Watkins Glen, where he won after leading 74 of 100 laps and showcased the type of road-course dominance that has become his trademark.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Yash Kotak