Shane also had the #Fastest Lap at COTA
When Shane van Gisbergen took the checkered flag on Saturday at Circuit of the Americas, he earned JR Motorsports’ 10th straight NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series road-course victory and conquered another track in the process.
The New Zealander led 31 laps on the way to the victory, JRM’s first of the season. He also made crew chief Phillip Bell a winner in the No. 9 team’s first race of the season. The triumph was the 17th on a road course for JRM, second straight at COTA and van Gisbergen’s fifth in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
“It’s good to finally execute here,” van Gisbergen said following the race. “We had an awesome day, and thank you to SafetyCulture and everyone at JR Motorsports. The pit crew was awesome and the strategy worked out well. I wondered what was going to happen on the restart. I tricked the 41 and got the win. It’s great to finally win here and hopefully I’ll have some good luck tomorrow.”
Fifth O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win for @shanevg97! 🖐️ pic.twitter.com/vhOFlqPLU2
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) February 28, 2026
Sammy Smith had an excellent run in the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet, starting in the top 10 and playing strategy to earn a third-place finish for crew chief Cory Shea. Justin Allgaier battled at the front of the field for much of the race before encountering some issues, but rallied for eighth in the No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet.
Defending race champion Connor Zilisch was near the front of the field all day and led 13 laps before a combination of on-track events-including a late-race dustup while contending for the win–put his No. 1 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet 21st at the finish.
Rajah Caruth also had a solid day going in his No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet before being caught up in another on-track incident late. The damage saw the young driver 31st in the final rundown.
Awesome day to finally get a win at COTA! The #9 @SafetyCultureHQ Chevy was great, stoked to be in a @JRMotorsports car again! 😀 Cup Race tomorrow, hopefully we have a good one! pic.twitter.com/2XjPEAgeyl
— Shane van Gisbergen (@shanevg97) March 1, 2026
