We want more road courses. No, wait…now we don’t want more road courses. We like road courses, but one person can’t win them all.
Such seems to be the case right now with multi-winning and playoff-qualified NASCAR Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen dominating the non-oval tracks. Never, and that’s NEVER, has a driver roared on to the NASCAR scene like SVG and remained relevant.
Sure, there’s been a few Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt moments here and there who were big names before winning a NASCAR race. But, when a driver wins his first NASCAR Cup Series race and then follows it up with even more trips to Victory Lane, people take notice.
So much so that one person is calling to change the series’ schedule to avoid more SVG moments.
“In the moment right now, I want fewer road courses,” The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck said on the August 10 episode of “The Teardown.” “In fact, I’m revising my previous of ‘Hey, maybe only three or four a year is fine.’ I mean, I’m almost let’s get back to one or two at this point, and I don’t know what you cut, but this is horrible.”
SVG Isn’t Lucking Into His Success
The 36-year-old native was making headlines long before his debut and victory at the Chicago Street Course in 2003.
Growing up racing Motocross, Quarter Midgets and Karts in his native land, SVG moved into the V8 Supercar Championship Series, Toyota Racing Series and various GT Racing Series. In the V* Supercars, he won 80 races, earned 46 poles in 508 races and won three championships doing so in 2016, 2021 and 2022. Those stats place him fourth on the series’ all-time list.
Knocking It Out of the Park in NASCAR
He roared on to the NASCAR scene in 2023 becoming the first Cup driver to win his debut since Johnny Rutherford in 1963. The monumental win at the Chicago 2023 Grant Park 220 was well received and applauded by many.
The following year was a planned part-time schedule by Trackhouse Racing, where he ran 12 races with a mix of oval tracks and road courses.
This year, so far, SVG has coursed his way to three poles and four wins. Yes, they have all come at road courses, with the most recent being this past weekend’s Go Bowling at The Glen where he completely dominated crossing under the checkered flag 11 seconds in front of second-place Christopher Bell.
“Thank (you) everyone for coming out,” Shane van Gisbergen said after the win. “What an awesome race. The last stint was a bit cleared out, but the battle coming back through I had a lot of fun.
“Car was just amazing again. To get another win, and I definitely gave that Bus Stop wall another meter on that last lap, but yeah, awesome.”
Facts of Stats
Sure, SVG needs to improve his oval track results with hisbest being a 14-place finish at Charlotte in May. In the meantime, his stats and results on the road courses easily garner water cooler talk on Monday mornings.
- Won four-consecutive Road Course races, a record
- Qualified for the Cup Series playoffs, as a rookie
- Winningest non-American driver in NASCAR history
- Winningest Cup rookie driver ever in a single season
To Road Course, or Not to Road Course
While the debate continues whether the NASCAR schedule needs more twists and turns, or less, SVG and road courses are here to stay. Earlier this month, Trackhouse Racing announced a multi-year contract extension for it’s playoff-bound driver.
In the meantime, look for more dominate wins by Van Gisbergen and signed Rugy balls being kicked into the stands. His unique post-race celebration is new to him, as he explained on the “Stacking Pennies” podcast last year.
“That’s a Trackhouse thing,” van Gisbergen said. “Daniel (Suarez) has the piñata, Ross (Chastain) has the watermelon,” SVG said. “They’re like ‘You got to come up with something.’
“I didn’t really know what to do and someone suggested a rugby ball.”
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