New Zealand expatriate Shane Van Gisbergen has a new member of his fan club, namely, fellow NASCAR Cup driver Chris Buescher.
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Buescher recently told The Athletic that he’s not only impressed with SVG’s ability on the racetrack, but also as a person, particularly Shane’s professionalism and respect of fellow drivers.
Far too often, particularly the mayhem and unprofessionalism we witnessed in last Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway, drivers exhibit a “what’s in it for me” attitude, embarrassing themselves, their teams and the guys who foot the bill financially, namely, sponsors (and if there’s no one you want to tick off, it’s the sponsors).
But that’s not the case with Van Gisbergen, Buescher said. He appreciates the way the Kiwi approaches racing and interacting on-track with his fellow competitors.
When asked if there was any particular driver he’d go to victory lane to congratulate for running a good and clean race, Buescher didn’t even hesitate.
“Probably SVG (Shane van Gisbergen),” Buescher said. “I’ve been pretty impressed by him coming into this sport. We’ve been strong on road courses as well, so we’ve been around each other racing a lot.”
“I can certainly appreciate the style to be aggressive, but not out there just to flat-out dump people or send those huge door-slammers in the corners. We have (a) pretty similar style of driving, and I can appreciate that.”
Van Gisbergen showed a great deal of professionalism and good sportsmanship when he went to victory lane following last year’s race at Watkins Glen to congratulate the race-winning Buescher. Van Gisbergen finished runner-up to Buescher in that race.
“He came over and said, ‘Good race,’ and he apologized for hitting me in Turn 1,” Buescher said. “I was like, ‘Man, I wouldn’t expect you not to hit me. I appreciate you not just wiping us all out.’ I got into him crossing over later on the next lap, too.”
Buescher also appreciates SVG’s approach to restarts
Buescher also complimented SVG for his gentlemanly way of approaching restarts. Far too often, all hell can break loose when drivers get too far ahead of themselves or, as some might say, they run out of talent.
“At the Clash (in February), he moved me on the last lap,” Buescher said of SVG. “I was walking out of the track, and I ended up walking up next to him as he was signing some stuff, and he looked over and was like, ‘Man, I’m really sorry about that.’
“I was like, ‘Sorry for what? We were short-track racing. We’re in a bull ring. The way you did it is what I would have done to you in a similar situation.’ There’s a way to go about it without just knocking people up the hill all the time, and I appreciate that.”
