Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) is currently in the middle of his maiden full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series. He has secured one top-10 finish (at COTA) in the first three races of the year. His unimpressive results in Daytona and Atlanta have led a section of the community to wonder if he is a gold that shines no longer. Kyle Petty disagrees.
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When SVG made his debut in Chicago in 2023 and won the inaugural street race, he set the headlines ablaze. He was called the best rookie in history and given a full-time seat in the Xfinity Series. Two years have passed since, and he does not carry the same influence today. Petty stresses that he should not be seen from just a marketing lens.
The former driver said on GoPRNLive recently that the Supercars champion has improved the performances of his NASCAR competitors, and that makes him relevant still. In his words, “When you throw a better basketball player on the court, everybody has to up their game to play with that guy. They watch him, they pay attention, and they up their game.”
He added, “The water doesn’t get cooler. It gets hotter by him coming to the sport. We had great road course drivers, and I think he’s made our drivers better.” SVG is currently 18th in the driver standings. He finished the Xfinity Series in 12th place last year. In the time he has been here, he has proven that his road course skills are unmatched.
Joey Logano’s opinion about adding foreign drivers to NASCAR
While Petty views Shane van Gisbergen as a bar that NASCAR’s regulars must reach to prove themselves, the defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano doesn’t think so. He contended in an interview last month that the presence of drivers like SVG had a larger purpose.
He said, “It brings a different fan demographic to what we do. In a way, I don’t say it legitimizes what we do in any way because I think what we do, the talent pool that we have as far as drivers, they’re absolutely incredible.” He continued to note that such foreign drivers will bring fresh demographics to watch NASCAR.
Ultimately, the farther reach will benefit the sport and every driver in it. SVG needs to pick up his performances on tracks other than road courses to retain his full-time seat with Trackhouse Racing. He hasn’t spelled a whole lot of confidence thus far. His next race will be at Phoenix Raceway.
