After Shane van Gisbergen’s historic victory in Chicago this Sunday, there was an unfortunate undertone among the NASCAR faithful. Many were left wondering – Are NASCAR drivers actually at the level they are thought to be? What certainly did not help the matter were comments made after the race by Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, albeit made in a non-serious tone.
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NASCAR veteran and insider Kenny Wallace certainly had a lot to say. Wallace unleashed on those doubting the quality and level of America’s premier racing series in his recent video on YouTube.
Kenny Wallace tears into NASCAR fans questioning the quality of drivers
After the race, Wallace congratulated the Kiwi on his impressive drive and questioned the NASCAR fans who took this as an opportunity to degrade their drivers and series. Wallace said, “So we have this wonderful Chicago Street Course race and a New Zealander won. SVG won, from New Zealand. He’s a three-time champion in the Super V8 Car Series and I hear this undertone, you start looking on social media, ‘Oh, how embarrassing NASCAR drivers get beat, NASCAR drivers aren’t the best.'”
“I don’t know what’s going on lately, but for some reason, there are some Americans that want to make fun of Americans, ‘America sucks’, what’s wrong with all of you people? What’s going on with you? What is this undertone I’m seeing? I mean it’s a reverse psychology deal where a lot of you don’t like NASCAR drivers because it’s the big series.”
These comments came after several fans on social media platforms questioned if the NASCAR drivers were even good enough compared to drivers from other series around the world. Many believe that fans misinterpreted the post-race comments made by Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.
What did Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott say after the Chicago race?
At the post-race presser, Kyle Larson sang van Gisbergen’s praises, thinking whether the Grant Park 220 winner actually thought “we all sucked”, saying, “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.”
2020 Cup Series champion Elliott, who finished third, felt humbled by van Gisbergen’s performance, commenting, “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.”
With due fairness to the Hendrick duo, their comments were far from an indictment on NASCAR drivers and were meant as compliments to the three-time Supercars champion.
