AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Shane van Gisbergen was so dominant on road courses last season than many had looked at NASCARs first road race of 2026 like it was already settled: SVG in a runaway.
Hold on. Tyler Reddicks pursuit of racing history may yet have a say in that.
Reddick earned pole position for Sundays race at the Circuit of the Americas as the winner of the Daytona 500 and again last week at Atlanta looks to become the first driver to win the first three races of the season.
Van Gisbergen won five of six road races last season, and Sundays race has been teed up as a fight between New Zealands road wizard and his 19-year-old Trackhouse rookie teammate, Connor Zilisch.
But Reddick has history at COTA he won a triple-overtime crash-fest here in 2023 and has the confidence of a driver who has no plans to surrender races to anyone for now. His win here in 2023 was his first with Michael Jordans 23XI Racing.
It helps the chances certainly, Reddick said of Sundays pole position. Starting up front is huge.
But that was earned with speed over one lap. Beating van Gisbergens road course mastery over the 95 laps of a full race is something else indeed.
I just need to get as much of a head start on him as I can and try to stay ahead of him all day, Reddick said.
Van Gisbergen will start from 13th and hes chasing his own history. A sixth consecutive road course win would tie Jeff Gordons record set from 1997 to 2000 and leave him two shy of Gordons career record of nine.
As dominant as he was on road courses last season, van Gisbergen didnt win at COTA, a racetrack originally built for Formula 1. Hed been expected to fight for pole but was well off the pace Saturday.
Zilisch will start 25th and still figures to contend for the victory despite a difficult qualifying session. He made an impressive and fiery Cup Series debut at COTA last year when he charged through the field in the second stage before a late wreck knocked him out.
With Connor, its exciting. (Hes) a pretty cool talent coming into this level now, in the same equipment, van Gisbergen said. Its going to be good.
Zilisch said he learned a lot from racing last year against SVG in the second-tier OReilly series, where he won four road course races last season. Zilisch won pole position for Saturdays undercard race with van Gisbergen right next to him.
Van Gisbergen won a head-to-head battle between the drivers in the OReilly series in Chicago last year when he pushed Zilisch into the wall on the final restart. A week later, Zilisch got the best of SVG in another tussle to win at Sonoma.
I feel like Ive been able to run with him in those, Zilisch said. I feel like personally I can do it. But putting an entire race together, being consistent and not making mistakes ... I feel like I have the speed to do, it but I feel like I have to run a perfect race to be able to beat him. I think everybodys realized how difficult that is.
Keselowski keeping Hand on hand
Brad Keselowski plans to race Sunday as he continues recovery from a broken right leg. He raced in Daytona and Atlanta, but the road course in Austin is a different physical strain. Hell have sports-car ace Joey Hand available to step in if needed.
Its going to take a lot for that to happen, Keselowski said. Ill have to be either really slow, or really in pain ... Im a race car driver, thats what I do.
Odds and ends
Van Gisbergen is the betting favorite (+100) to win the race, according to BetMGM Sportsbook ... Sunday will be the debut of the new horsepower boost for road courses this season, a bump from 670 to 750, a change several drivers said should create more passing.
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AP auto racing:
得克萨斯州奥斯汀（美联社）——谢恩·范·吉斯伯根在上赛季的公路赛道上表现如此强势，以至于许多人认为2026年NASCAR的首场公路赛已经毫无悬念：范·吉斯伯根将轻松夺冠。
别急。泰勒·雷迪克（Tyler Reddick）对赛车历史的追求或许还能对此产生影响。
作为戴通纳500大赛的冠军得主，雷迪克（Reddick）上周在亚特兰大再次夺冠后，如今又在美国赛道（Circuit of the Americas）斩获周日正赛的杆位，有望成为本赛季首位实现开局三连冠的车手。
范吉斯伯根在上赛季六场公路赛中赢得了五场胜利，而周日的比赛被设定为新西兰公路赛魔法师与他19岁的Trackhouse车队新秀队友康纳·齐利施之间的对决。
但雷迪克（Reddick）在美洲赛道（COTA）有着辉煌历史——他曾在2023年这里赢得了一场三加时的撞车混战，并展现出车手独有的自信，目前尚无向任何人让出比赛的打算。2023年这场胜利是他在迈克尔·乔丹（Michael Jordan）旗下23XI车队获得的首冠。
“这当然增加了机会，”雷迪克在谈到周日的杆位时说道，“从前面发车非常重要。”
但这只是单圈速度的胜利。要想在长达95圈的正赛中击败范吉斯伯根对赛道无与伦比的掌控力，那完全是另一回事。
雷迪克表示：“我只需要尽可能抢占先机，并努力保持一整天的领先优势。”
范吉斯伯根将从第13位发车，他正在追逐自己的历史。若能在公路赛道实现六连胜，他将追平杰夫·戈登1997至2000年间创下的纪录，并距离戈登生涯九胜的纪录仅差两场。
尽管范吉斯伯根在上赛季的公路赛道上表现强势，但他并未在专为一级方程式建造的奥斯汀赛道上夺冠。周六的排位赛中，他原本被寄予厚望争夺杆位，却最终远远落后于领先车手。
齐利希（Zilisch）将从第25位发车，尽管排位赛表现不佳，他仍有望争夺冠军。去年在美洲赛道（COTA）的杯赛首秀中，他表现惊艳且充满激情——在第二阶段比赛中一路超车，可惜最后阶段因撞车事故退赛。
范吉斯伯根表示：“与康纳合作令人振奋。他以同样的装备晋升到这个级别，是个相当出色的天才车手。未来会非常精彩。”
齐利施表示，去年他在二级赛事奥莱利系列赛中与SVG（范吉斯伯根）同场竞技时获益良多，并在上个赛季赢得了四场公路赛道比赛。本周六的垫场赛中，齐利施夺得杆位发车资格，范吉斯伯根紧随其后。
去年在芝加哥举行的O'Reilly系列赛中，范吉斯伯根在最后一圈重启时将齐利希逼至墙边，赢得了这场车手间的正面较量。一周后，齐利希在索诺玛的另一场激战中反败为胜，击败了范吉斯伯根。
齐利希（Zilisch）表示："我觉得在这些比赛中，我有能力与他并驾齐驱。从个人角度而言，我认为自己能做到。但要将整场比赛完美串联起来，保持稳定且不犯错误......我确实具备所需的速度，但必须跑出一场毫无瑕疵的比赛才能战胜他。我想大家都已经意识到这有多困难。"
凯瑟劳斯基与汉德携手合作
布拉德·凯瑟洛夫斯基计划在本周日参赛，目前他仍在从右腿骨折中恢复。尽管他已参加了代托纳和亚特兰大站的比赛，但奥斯汀的公路赛道对身体的要求截然不同。如有需要，他将有赛车好手乔伊·汉德作为替补人选。
“要让这种情况发生可不容易，”凯瑟洛夫斯基说道。“除非我开得特别慢，或者疼得受不了……我可是赛车手，这就是我的工作。”
零碎物品
据BetMGM博彩公司数据显示，范吉斯伯根（Van Gisbergen）以+100赔率成为本场比赛的投注热门……周日赛事将首次启用本赛季新增的公路赛道马力提升方案，动力输出从670匹增至750匹，多位车手表示这一改动有望增加超车机会。
美联社赛车新闻：股票场内配资
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