Road Repeat: SVG wins ROVAL

Shane Van Gisbergen celebrates his win in Sunday's Bank of America 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. (Photo: Jared Bokanoski/TobyChristie.com)

Bank of America ROVAL 400: Shocking no one who has watched NASCAR Cup Series action in 2025, Shane Van Gisbergen won the 2025 Bank of America 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. SVG's win Sunday afternoon came in dominating fashion and was his fifth win of the 2025 campaign. SVG led 57 laps en route to his 15-second win over second-place finisher Kyle Larson. It was also SVG's fifth straight road course victory.

The race was dominated by tire conservation and pit strategy. There were only a handful of on-track incidents, and only one led to caution. The unfortunate caution-worthiness incident was Austin Dillon slamming the wall and messing up the tire barrier. Otherwise, all other beating and banging on track was quickly managed, and the race stayed green. Due to the tire conservation and pit strategy, the race featured 15 lead changes among six drivers, and it pumped up the intensity of the final playoff spot fighting between a few drivers, namely Ross Chastain and Joey Logano. Now, I will argue that it should have been Chastain's spot, but two brain farts on pit road and poor execution of Stage 3 opened the door for Logano and the 22 team to flip the script on the 1 car and throw caution to the wind late with another pit stop for fresher tires. That put the 22 car on offense and the 1 car on a slow, painful defensive strategy to hold onto just a few spots. Unfortunately for Chastain, he did lose those spots, and his final chicane heroics failed miserably and gloriously. This comfortably put the 22 car into the Round of 8 while the 1 car set just beyond the finish line, backwards and dejected. Props to race for the full send, however.

Now you may be asking: Alex, why aren't you talking about SVG and his win? Aside from a brief battle with Larson and Bell, SVG did what SVG did best. Made the rest of the field look like fools on the road course. It is a masterclass, and it should be respected and we should be in awe of what SVG is doing on road courses. It is truly mesmerizing and magical what the Kiwi can do behind the wheel of a stock car when we turn left and right. It does, however, not leave much to write about. And as much as I love the ROVAL and hope it stays around for at least a few more years (I desperately want to attend a race there), it does not produce the most action-packed racing beyond its handful of restarts. The ROVAL, and much of road racing with the current generation and its setup, does not produce much action. Top that off with the uber-talented and near-perfect SVG, not much to write about for the win. Still, hats off to SVG and the entire Trackhouse Racing 88 team because they have not slipped once on the road races which is uber impressive.

Next up we head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the Xfinity Series and Cup Series while the Craftsman Truck Series enjoys a weekend away from the track before rejoining the action at Talladega Superspeedway. The Xfinity Series will kick off the weeked on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. EST on The CW with the Focused Health 302. The Cup Series headlines the weekend on Sunday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. EST on USA with South Point 400.

Las Vegas Picks: Trucks = OFF

Xfinity = Sam Mayer

Cup = Ryan Blaney