Shane van Gisbergen: Still King of the Road

Well, this past weekend at COTA, history was going to be made one way or another.
Ultimately, the battle came down between the two drivers trying to continue historical
streaks. Tyler Reddick wanted to become the first driver ever to win the first three races
in a season. Meanwhile, Shane van Gisbergen returned to the one road course to scorn
him, COTA, trying to extend his road course wins streak to 6!

Tyler Reddick seemed to dominate the day and was pulling away in stage 3. If you
listened carefully though, you could almost hear the Jaws movie theme made popular
during Kevin Harvick’s days as “The Closer”. SVG started reeling Reddick in. For a
short time, it seemed inevitable, despite the dominance of Reddick. Unfortunately, the
King of the Road, Shane Van Gisbergen did something very non-SVG-like. He used up
his stuff trying to get around him cleanly.

One can hardly blame SVG, he has never needed to rough anyone up on a road course
before winning. I’m not sure if Team Trackhouse just doesn’t put together a car as good
at COTA as it is at other road courses or if there is something about COTA that doesn’t
vibe with SVG. SVG killed them in the technical sections, but the horsepower of the 45
Toyota was good where it was most important. Reddick was best at getting off the final
turn going into the long front straightaway.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Shane van Gisbergen is by far the most talented road racer in NASCAR. If I’m correct,
this season is going to see him as the most talented driver in all of NASCAR. He is fifth
in points right now after three races. Daytona, Atlanta, and COTA have all been
completed and the 97 car is fifth in points. Of course, we will have a better
understanding of SVG’s improved oval mastery after Phoenix. Daytona and Atlanta are
superspeedways.

Ultimately, I fully expect Shane van Gisbergen to win the next road course in dominating
fashion. Trackhouse and Shane will make sure of that. In fact, he is likely to win every
other road course this season. He nearly had his first top 5 on an oval at Atlanta,
finishing sixth. Of course, this means that the 2027 COTA race is circled on my
calendar. Unless, he lets Chase Elliott win a few road courses in a row, I doubt we will see NASCAR add anymore road courses. Still, I doubt they’ll get rid of COTA. If SVG is
going to surpass Jeff Gordon’s win streak on road courses, then the 97 is going to
eventually have to master COTA just like he has every other road course. Next time,
knock the little crap out of the way when you get close enough.

Johnathan Moore — Getty Images

SVG > Jeff Gordon (on Road Courses)

Yeah, Shane van Gisbergen and the 97 team couldn’t pull off the win to tie Jeff Gordon.
This does not mean that Jeff Gordon should automatically be considered the best road
course racer of all time in NASCAR. I’m sorry folks, but that honor still belongs to SVG.
Jeff Gordon had Ray Evernham machines and Hendrick money and clout behind him.
Trackhouse is still a new team. Furthermore, these cars today are meant to have no
differences. It’s all about parity, and I absolutely hate it. That’s why I love to see a race
where someone like SVG just comes out and embarrasses everyone on the track and
wins by 12 seconds in car meant to bring parity to the sport.

Say we hopped in a DeLorean modified by Doc Brown. Then let’s say we have it tow a
Next Gen car. If we were able to reach 88 MPH, go back in time to Gordon’s prime,
convince NASCAR to switch to this Next Gen car we brought with us, then I don’t think
Jeff Gordon would win more than 2 road courses in a row. Heck, if you took SVG back
in time and put him in Hendrick equipment, I bet he’d win over 10 road course races in a
row.

Ultimately, we shouldn’t really compare different eras. There’s never a clear victor in the
debate. Except for in this one case. This is the expectation to the rule. I don’t care which
era, which field, or which car. SVG is the best NASCAR road course racer, EVER! In all
honesty, I hope he sticks with NASCAR, because he could go win F1 races with the
right team, in my opinion.

King of the road (course)

Honestly, I think there is less debate on SVG being the king of road course racing in
NASCAR than there is on Richard Petty being the King of the whole sport. 200 wins is a
lot, but you’re looking at seasons in which there were sometimes way more races than
we race now. Kyle Busch has more wins across all three national series than Richard
Petty does. He is the only driver who has more than Petty, but you also have Kevin
Harvick not too far behind in third for all time wins. Hopefully, he can be convinced to
run some Truck races and some O’Reilly Auto Parts races. I believe Harvick could add
to that 121 total.

I’m not saying we should start calling Kyle Busch, “The King.” I am saying that there’s
more debate around that topic than there is on who is the all-time greatest road course racer in NASCAR. That debate has been settled, and easily. The title of King of the
Road in NASCAR belongs solely to Shane van Gisbergen.

I’m looking forward to the rest of this season, especially the road courses. They are the
one time where we get to witness pure talent overcoming enforced parity. What do you
think? Let us know in the comments! Thanks for reading!