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After Openly Admitting He Made NASCAR Drivers “Look Bad”, Chase Elliott Looks Forward to NASCAR Return of Shane van Gisbergen

Srijan Mandal
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Shane van Gisbergen Joins Chase Elliott & William Byron on Elite NASCAR List

A couple of weeks ago when NASCAR headed down to the Chicago Street Course for the very first time, no one anticipated a non-NASCAR driver winning that race. Well, that is exactly what happened. While the regular NASCAR drivers struggled to stay out of the walls, V8 Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen picked up his very first Cup Series win right on his debut.

Speaking about this win, Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott mentioned how SVG had made the other drivers look bad. Interestingly, as we head down to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a couple of weeks for the road course race, Gisbergen will make his second appearance in the Cup Series. When asked about that, Elliott took an appreciative tone and welcomed the Kiwi driver back to NASCAR.

Chase Elliott talks about SVG’s return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway

While speaking at the driver’s press conference at Pocono, Elliott stated, “Yeah, I didn’t know he was coming back, so that’s awesome. I hope all of those guys come and run more races because I think it’ll make us better at the end of the day. That’s super cool and I’m glad to hear that he got another opportunity. I mean the guy went and won the race. He deserves to race however much he wants. But I think that’s great and I’m looking forward to having him and looking forward to racing with him again. As I alluded to up in Chicago, I thought his drive was not only impressive but very classy.”

“You didn’t see him running over people. He didn’t run over people to go win the race. I thought he did it the right way and that is very admirable, and I think people like that deserve great opportunities. Looking forward to having him back and racing against both of those guys.”

What did Elliott exactly say at Chicago when SVG won the race?

Following the race, Elliott and his teammate Larson were all highly impressed by the Kiwi’s win. Larson said, “It was cool to see, and I think when a guy like that can come in and kick your ass at your own game, it shows that we all have room to improve.

Meanwhile, his teammate, Elliott said, “I don’t want to speak for everybody else, but he made me look bad, and I kind of think the rest of us, too. He’s going to go home and tell all of his friends how bad we are.”

Interestingly, fellow driver Denny Hamlin had countered Elliott’s claims about making them look bad. The JGR driver expressed that the NASCAR drivers had stepped into SVG’s world considering that none of the NASCAR drivers had driven at street courses before. Meanwhile, the V8 Supercars series ran several street courses in its regular schedule.

About the author

Srijan Mandal

Srijan Mandal

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Srijan Mandal is the Lead NASCAR Editor and Strategist at The Sportsrush with a wealth of experience and expertise in the world of motorsports. With several thousand articles under his belt over the years, he has established himself as a leading authority on all things racing. His passion for motorsports started at a young age, and he has dedicated his career to covering the sport in all its forms. He is an expert in various disciplines, including stock car racing, American motorsports, Formula 1, IndyCar, NHRA, MotoGP, WRC, WEC, and several more. But Srijan's love for racing goes beyond his writing. He actively competes in professional open-wheel sim racing, using '88' as his racing number. While he mostly participates in GT Endurance classes, he also ventures into Stock Car racing from time to time. In case, you wish to contact Srijan, kindly send an email to him at srijan.mandal@sportsrush.com or just DM him on Twitter.

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