Shane van Gisbergen has spoken about getting the chance to equal the record of a NASCAR legend at COTA this weekend.
Jeff Gordon holds the Cup Series record with six straight road course wins, a mark the Kiwi will tie if he takes the chequered flag first in Austin on Sunday afternoon.
Van Gisbergen will start down in 13th after a tricky qualifying session, but reminded everyone later in the day just what he can do when the steering wheel has to go right as well as left.
Driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports car in the O'Reilly Series on Saturday, a brilliant move at a late restart saw him go from sixth to first in a single corner to retake the lead and, ultimately, win the race.
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SVG: Gordon raced in a different time
Speaking to PRN about the potential of breaking Gordon's long-standing record, Van Gisbergen said: "It was a very different time! There was probably three (road course) races a year when he did it, and now we've got five or six [note: there are only four road courses on the Cup Series schedule in 2026].
"We had an amazing year last year and we're going to a place I haven't won before either, so that'd be cool to do it."
The popular Kiwi also talked after Saturday's O'Reilly Series race about his move, and his hope that getting a full race under his belt would help in the Cup race, saying: "Yeah, good to finally execute. We had an awesome day. Thank you to Safety Culture, JR Motorsports. Pit crew was awesome.
"You know, the strategy worked out well and I wondered what was going to happen on that last restart and I kind of sucked the No. 41 [Sam Mayer] in and he took everyone out for me. So, that was cool.
"Yeah, what an awesome day. Good to finally win here and hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow. I did learn a bit. I tried some things. I wasn't driving very good earlier today and we lacked in the car but also I can be better too. So, hopefully it's worthwhile doing these races and yeah, hopefully it helps tomorrow."
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