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'He's on': Shane van Gisbergen is schooling to become a future NASCAR champion
Savannah Lendich Jonkers • July 8th, 2025 12:29 pm
Shane van Gisbergen with the trophy after winning the NASCAR Cup race in Chicago for a second time | Photo: AP
Once Shane van Gisbergen can learn the art of racing on oval tracks - he can dominate the competition - that is according to Speedcafe editor, Simon Chapman.
Despite van Gisbergen's so-called ‘advantage’ with experience in racing road courses, Chapman told Sport Nation’s Millsy & Guy that NASCAR “rules are the same for everyone.”
“It just so happens that Shane is an absolute jet on the road courses,” he said.
The Auckland-born racer won his second NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2025 season yesterday in Chicago, just weeks after winning the inaugural Mexico race by 16.5 seconds.
Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell each have had three wins this year while Van Gisbergen sits just behind with two, as all race winners look ahead to the play-offs.
SVG winning in Mexico City | Photo: AP
Chapman explained that because the qualifying order is based on championship standings and the highest point scorer goes last, SVG is usually one of the first to qualify.
However, due to the evolution of the track surface becoming faster with time and as van Gisbergen receives better results in road courses, he should have a greater advantage for oval races.
The 36-year-old Kiwi currently sits in 27th place out of 44 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
Chapman said other drivers who are “getting schooled” by van Gisbergen are turning to him for inspiration on how they can get better at road courses, and vice versa, SVG looks to the American drivers for ways to approach the oval tracks.
“Once he can get his head around the ovals, then he’s on,” said Chapman.
“We’ve gotta also be conscious of the fact this is his first year in the cup series full-time and he’s doing a pretty good job, he’s definitely making some headway.”
Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks said in a post-race press conference that van Gisbergen is the best road course stock car racer he's ever seen.
“We wouldn’t be doing this if we thought we could win road courses and then we just know we’re not gonna run good on the ovals because he’s never done it before.”
“For his level of intelligence and how he studies and how he adapts and how he learns, there's a real opportunity here for him to figure the ovals out, and get fast at the ovals and be a complete Cup driver,” said Marks.
Listen to the full interview below:
