“Heading to the wall. Hoping an imaginary grip save you”: Shane van Gisbergen marvels at the ‘wild’ art of oval racing 

Shane van Gisbergen is nearing his first full season in the NASCAR Cup Series. 33 races into the season, the former Supercars icon has amassed five wins, besides five top-fives and seven top-10s. Safe to say that the Auckland native has learned a lot about oval racing.

A few days ago, a fan on X posted a clip of van Gisbergen riding the top lane of Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the South Point 400, the opening race of the Round of 8 of the 2025 playoffs. Gisbergen came across that post and reshared it along with his own comments.

“Still one of the craziest parts of oval racing to me,” Shane van Gisbergen wrote. “Send it in at 310kph/190mph, missing apex on purpose, heading to the wall hoping an imaginary grip strip/air pocket is going to save you from hitting it, then hearing the exhaust echo on the wall as it holds you off it. Wild.”

Shane van Gisbergen qualified for the playoffs this year, but he didn’t make it past the Round of 16. That being said, he can still contend for wins over the next few weeks. All five races he won this year were on road courses, so winning one on an oval is going to be a first for the Trackhouse Racing driver.

Trackhouse Racing is ahead of a major shakeup as Daniel Suarez, the driver of the No. 99 Chevy Camaro ZL,1 is expected to part ways with the team at the end of the 2025 season. Xfinity Series standout Connor Zilisch will replace Suarez, marking his maiden season in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The Trackhouse roster for the 2026 season will be Shane van Gisbergen, Ross Chastain, and Zilisch. For now, all eyes are on Talladega Superspeedway, which will host this coming Sunday’s (October 19) race, the YellaWood 500.

The 188-lap event will be televised on USA from 2 pm ET onwards. Fans can also listen to its exclusive radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Shane van Gisbergen reacts to Denny Hamlin’s comments about his road course prowess

There is no denying that Shane van Gisbergen is a master of road course racing. As a rookie, he won five races this year and, impressively, all of them were on road courses. His talent impressed Denny Hamlin, one of the winningest active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Hamlin said in a statement that even Jeff Gordon, who was known for winning road races left and right back in the day, wouldn’t have beaten Shane van Gisbergen in the NextGen era. Gisbergen was humbled by those comments. Reacting to Hamlin’s comments, SVG said,

“I don’t agree with it, but it’s pretty amazing that my peers think that of me, and I had some amazing races this year on the road course, and yeah, my car is obviously very good as well.” “So, thank you to Trackhouse. But yeah, I’d hopefully race these guys better on ovals and they start thinking of me as a serious competitor on ovals. But yeah, pretty humbling for them to say that,” he added.

Shane van Gisbergen’s entry into the Cup Series began with a dominant win. That was back in 2023, when he won the inaugural Chicago street race. Although NASCAR will not hold the Chicago street course race in 2026, the door remains open for a future return.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua