While some NASCAR standouts have embraced road course racing with open arms, names like Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Shane van Gisbergen, and Connor Zilisch leading the charge, others remain firmly rooted in their belief that the sport’s soul lies in oval tracks. Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano sit squarely in that second camp. Yet with events like the Chicago Street Race and Watkins Glen etched into the calendar, even the purists know there’s no sidestepping it. Adapt or fall behind.
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As for Logano, he doesn’t mince words when it comes to racing against SVG on a street course. The Kiwi is in a league of his own. Addressing whether he feels like it’s an exercise to drive on a track like Chicago, Logano said, “Yeah, it’s easy to say that until Shane is out there a second faster than you and you have to go put yourself in some uncomfortable situations.”
In his view, the Next Gen car only adds to the difficulty. With reduced horsepower and extreme parity across the field, the margin for error is extremely thin. Speed no longer lives in the comfort zone.
For drivers like Logano, who cut their teeth on ovals, these courses are unfamiliar territory. “We’re not road racers to speak of. There’s only one out there that really is, and so all of us are, in a way, playing catch-up,” he said.
SVG, never one to back down, responded in kind, echoing Logano’s words with a flip of the script: “Yeah, I can just flip what he says, and that’s what I feel on ovals. You know, that’s the reason why I’m doing Summer Shootout and stuff, just trying to get experience on ovals.”
“These guys have been doing left-handers since they were 10 years old. You know, they’re two completely different sports, and although there has been road racing in NASCAR forever, it’s not that much. So yeah, just the experience levels are different in what we do. And I feel like, yes, they’ve definitely gotten a lot better since the first one on this track, for sure,” SVG added.
Is Michael McDowell eyeing the Chicago battle with SVG?
SVG left the Cup field in the dust at Mexico’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez last month, storming to Victory Lane with a 16-second gap over the second finisher. While the Australian racer continues to find his footing on ovals, his road course mastery keeps him in lockstep with NASCAR’s top-tier talent. That dominance, however, has painted a target on his back, and Michael McDowell is among those eager to knock him off his perch.
Ahead of the Chicago Street Race, McDowell didn’t pull any punches. “I think he has had some standout races. There’s no doubt he is an amazing talent. But he is beatable. He is not unbeatable,” McDowell said, unfazed by SVG’s growing road course legend.
Confident in his own pace, McDowell even argued that both he and Ty Gibbs could have given SVG a serious run for his money, had the breaks gone their way. “I restarted 18th on that last restart and drove up into the top five. I think had I started next to him, he would have had a challenge,” he recalled.
Last year’s Cup race in Chicago left unfinished business for SVG. After winning Stage 1, his charge came to a halt following a crash that relegated him to 40th. This time around, with entries in both the Xfinity and Cup races, SVG will be gunning to settle the score and write the ending he couldn’t finish last season.
