Shane van Gisbergen has flagged a fresh safety concern at Watkins Glen International ahead of this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series round, warning that a newly installed tyre barrier on the exit of the carousel could push cars back into the racing line at high speed.
NASCAR has reworked two of the most contentious run-off zones at the New York road course before this year's Go Bowling at The Glen, adding a long tyre barrier off the exit of the carousel and tyre packs in the runoff at the exit of Turn 1. The work is aimed at policing track limits and reducing the temptation for drivers to use the gravel and asphalt run-off as an unofficial extension of the corner.
Van Gisbergen, the three-time Supercars champion who has dominated NASCAR road courses since switching full-time, said the Turn 1 fix looked like a solid piece of work but expressed clear unease about the carousel layout.
"I think Turn 1 is a really good solution," van Gisbergen said in comments to Speedcafe. "What they've done with the tyre packs there and having the gaps in the walls is going to work okay."
It was the second installation that drew his attention. The carousel is one of the fastest sweepers on the calendar, and the new barrier — set close to the racing line on the exit — is designed to physically limit how wide cars can run.
"The exit of the carousel is a bit of a worry," van Gisbergen said. "The angle that it comes back on. My experience with those tyre walls is they grab cars and spit them out. I don't like the look of that, but smarter people have come up with those things."
NASCAR's senior director of competition development, Amanda Ellis, defended the carousel addition as a deliberate safety measure, not a punishment.
"Ultimately, that one is in place from a safety perspective because we want to help control that as much as we can," Ellis said.
Van Gisbergen's experience with tyre walls comes mostly from his Supercars and GT racing background, where high-speed contact with packs of bundled tyres can produce unpredictable rebounds. NASCAR's heavier Next Gen cars carry significantly more momentum into a barrier than a Supercar, and the racing line through the carousel rarely sees drivers lift unless track conditions force it.
The Trackhouse Racing driver heads into the weekend as the betting favourite, having won three of the last four NASCAR road course races and led 38 laps at Watkins Glen on his way to victory in 2024. Connor Zilisch, the Trackhouse Xfinity star who broke his collarbone celebrating last year's Glen win, is back in action and gunning for a second consecutive triumph at the circuit. Chris Buescher, who has a near-religious relationship with the team simulator before any road course, is among the chasers expected to take the fight to van Gisbergen.
Whether the new tyre barrier becomes a talking point on Sunday will depend on whether anyone is unlucky enough to find it.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/van-gisbergen-watkins-glen-tire-barrier-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
