It was 1999 when a 28-year-old Tony Stewart won three races in his rookie year. When ‘Smoke’ did it just before the turn of the millennium, few believed that such a feat would be eclipsed again. After all, the Cup Series was the pinnacle of stock car racing, and securing wins at Richmond, Phoenix, and Homestead was no easy feat. Yet, Shane van Gisbergen did it, securing four wins on road courses with 12 remaining before the season ends. Could he be the greatest road course racer NASCAR has ever seen?
Denny Hamlin certainly seems to think so. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has won four times this season, being the only driver apart from SVG to do so. And he couldn’t help but sing praises for the No. 88 Chevy driver, claiming he has already outdone some of NASCAR’s all-time greats.
Has Tony Stewart’s road course legacy been surpassed?
Shane van Gisbergen is having quite a season, isn’t he? After a slow start to his rookie year, where he struggled to break into the top five for the opening 15 races, the 36-year-old turned his fortunes around in Mexico City, winning the race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez by more than a 16-second margin. What followed was consecutive triumphs in Chicago and Sonoma, before redeeming himself at Watkins Glen by claiming his fifth career Cup victory. To say he’s a road course specialist would be a bit of an understatement.
And Denny Hamlin couldn’t help but make a bold claim on the Actions Detrimental podcast. Sharing his thoughts on Shane van Gisbergen, the 44-year-old said, “There’s no doubt the guy can go through traffic, zero doubt in my mind. Is he the best road course racer I’ve ever seen? Absolutely. I’ve competed against the Tony Stewarts, Jeff Gordon, all those guys. He’s better than them. But the only thing you have to mix this up to keep him winning every road course race it’s going to take something wacky, or else you could just go ahead and write the script for the next foreseeable future.”
A quick look at the stats backs up Hamlin’s claim. Tony Stewart has eight road course victories in the Cup Series, including five at Watkins Glen and three at Sonoma. ‘Smoke’ is second only to Jeff Gordon (9 wins) on the all-time list of road course winners. While both the NASCAR legends have more triumphs than SVG, the Auckland-native has five wins on road or street courses, four of which have come this year alone, joining Dan Gurney as the only other driver whose first five wins came on road courses.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 16: Shane Van Gisbergen 88 TrackHouse Racing WeatherTech Chevrolet shakes hands prior to the running of the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Daytona 500 on February 16, 2025 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 16 NASCAR Cup Series DAYTONA 500 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon25021616042500
And if that trajectory is followed, there’s no reason why Shane van Gisbergen couldn’t surpass both Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon by next year. He recently signed a multi-year contract extension with Trackhouse Racing, ensuring his long-term future in the Cup Series is secure with the No. 88 Chevrolet. And with road courses here to stay, the 36-year-old will fancy his chances on those venues, even if Connor Zilisch makes his way to the highest level. As things stand, it feels like a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’, SVG will become NASCAR’s most successful road course driver in history.
Team owner predicts deep playoff run for SVG
It’s no secret that Shane van Gisbergen is rewriting the record books. But it also helps that his arrival in NASCAR coincided with the calendar having three times as many road course races as there were a decade ago. Call it luck, or simply a smart decision by Trackhouse Racing, but the 36-year-old has been able to rack up wins like no other rookie has managed to in the modern era, breaking a longstanding tie between Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson for the most Cup wins in the first season.
And Trackhouse owner Justin Marks isn’t ruling out a deep playoff run. With just two races remaining before the postseason, he said, “Shane just continues to go showcase why we’ve made a long-term commitment to him, why we brought him over here from New Zealand, and built this team around him. Because in a sport like this, where winning is so important and so hard to do, if you can catch some lightning in a bottle like we’ve got with SVG, you’ve got to really lean into it. That’s what we’ve done. It’s like seeing a plan come together.”
However, standing in his way in the first round of 16 are three oval tracks, Shane van Gisbergen’s kryptonite. But the Auckland-native has a sizeable 22-point cushion to overcome a 26.9 average finish on ovals. And if he can manage to reach the Round of 12, the second round features a road course at the Charlotte Roval, where he’ll be the favorite. “He’s in a really good position,” Marks said. “I think we have a real opportunity to get to the Round of 8.” However, any chance of a championship run will require a significant improvement on ovals, an aspect of SVG’s racecraft that might take more time to develop.
According to Denny Hamlin, Shane van Gisbergen might be a better road course racer than Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, but unless he becomes a more rounded driver, ‘SVG’ will remain a road course specialist. And in a sport still dominated by ovals, that can make all the difference at the end of the year.
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