There were several impressive things Shane van Gisbergen accomplished after he took the checkered flag in Chicago. Of course, he became the first driver in over half a century to win on his Cup debut. But he also won the first-ever Cup Street Course race in history too. And that isn’t even touching on the way he did it. But there was one other aspect about the driver from New Zealand with his NASCAR feat that left Denny Hamlin quite stunned.
Advertisement
Hamlin, who recently spoke about Gisbergen’s win on his podcast show, learned of the fact that he drives from the other side of the car normally. This means that along with adjusting to the Next Gen Cup car, the format, the racetrack, the type of racing, and so much more, the Kiwi also had to switch to the other side of the car.
This is precisely what left the 23XI Racing co-owner stunned as he dished out a pretty hilarious compliment.
Denny Hamlin left stunned after learning Gisbergen drives from the other side
As Hamlin and his co-host Jared Allen were discussing the importance of Gisbergen’s win in Chicago, the host of the podcast learned, during the podcast, that Gisbergen had to drive on the other side of the car than what he’s used to. And this clearly increased the respect Hamlin had for Gisbergen significantly as he recalled his own experience with this subject.
“Do you know what? Crown him. The greatest f**king athlete in the history of sports,” Hamlin said.
“I mean, he went from the one side of the car to the other. I did that when I went to Japan for Toyota, and I ran a GT3 car. It took me forever to get comfortable driving from the other side of the car. It’s just different. It’s just way different. Holy cow! We’re trying to make a point one way or another here.”
“It’s like, everywhere you turn, it’s pretty amazing what he did.”
With that said, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver posed an interesting question on his podcast.
Hamlin asks an important question after Gisbergen’s Chicago win
Having established the enormity and the significance of the Kiwi’s win in Chicago, Hamlin asked his co-host, “Does van Gisbergen’s winning tarnish the Cup driver’s reputation or is it good for the sport? Which one’s bigger?”
Answering Hamlin’s question, his co-host, Jared Allen, claimed, “I don’t think it tarnishes Cup drivers; I think it’s also good for the sport.” Travis Rockhold, the producer of Hamlin’s podcast, also pointed to the great positives Gisbergen’s win brought to NASCAR.
“Think about all the fans in Australia and New Zealand that were tuning in. You were trying to get a fanbase in Chicago to come to it. You now have two countries that were tuning into a race because of one driver,” Rockhold added to which Allen added another crucial point about the Kiwi’s win. He clarified that Gisbergen’s win doesn’t tarnish the ability of the Cup drivers.
“However, if I’m a random V8 supercar fan from New Zealand, and this guy came over here, like, if LeBron James went to play basketball and just demolished the competition in a premier league in another country, we’d be saying, ‘Wow, that league stinks. Our guy went over there and crushed them,'” Allen described.
But only time will tell what Gisbergen’s win means and does for the reputation of Cup drivers and their abilities in the long run and in a bigger sense. For now, the biggest takeaway from Chicago and Shane van Gisbergen’s win is that they’ve done NASCAR a world of good.
And that’s always a good thing anyway, isn’t it?
