The drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series are beginning to have no choice but to accept that Shane van Gisbergen is simply better than them on road courses. They have had ample opportunities to defeat him since his debut at Chicago in 2023, but haven’t achieved anything of notable value. But Denny Hamlin has found a way to trump him after Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran’s strategy, which he proposed on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental, was a snarky idea spoken with awareness of van Gisbergen’s abilities. He said, “The only way [to defeat him] is when the field had a caution with 12 laps to go, everyone behind him needed to pit and he stays out. That was the only shot.
“I think you could get him then. That’s where he’s going to be vulnerable. You’re going to have to put him at a disadvantage on tires or strategy to, I believe, overtake him. If it’s a straight lap time, I don’t see anyone having enough.”
Hamlin detailed that a driver in a Next Gen car has to be at least half a second quicker per lap than a competitor to overtake on a road course. He just doesn’t see anyone being able to do that with van Gisbergen.
The New Zealander’s margin of victory in Mexico City was a massive 16 seconds. In Sonoma, he reached the checkered flag 1.128 seconds ahead of Chase Briscoe. He has repeatedly proven himself to outshine his fellow drivers and beat them with similar gaps. His dominance has been to such a level that icons like Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch have already acknowledged that they could never defeat him.
Is Shane van Gisbergen the greatest road racer of all time?
When a driver performs at such a high level, it is easy to place him along the same lines as the greatest to ever grace the sport. But van Gisbergen has only secured four road course victories in his career thus far. Jeff Gordon, a four-time Cup Series champion, reached Victory Lane at road courses 11 times. As things stand, he is the greatest of all time when it comes to road course racing, at least statistically.
But at the rate at which van Gisbergen is grabbing wins to his name, it won’t be long before he crosses this said bar. The 36-year-old driver is here on a mission, and while ovals remain a work in progress, the road courses will be enough to guarantee him a seat at the top level for years to come.
