“I didn’t think anything was dirty in the end, you know?” Watkins Glen Cup winner Chris Buescher was clear about the last-lap finish in Sunday’s race. The opponent he faced was a road course racing legend–Shane van Gisbergen looked ready to clinch his second Cup victory. However, the three-time Xfinity winner made a “driver error” that allowed Buescher to slip away with the lead. But that did not prompt SVG to resort to desperation, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lauds that.

When SVG came from his Supercars’ home ground, he brought an idealistic approach to racing. So NASCAR’s hot-headed on-track incidents surprised him—as drivers aggressively shoved to have their way. Dale Jr. thinks this needs to change while praising SVG’s clean attitude.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. exemplifies SVG’s racing

All hell can break loose in Xfinity and Craftsman Truck, and Gisbergen found himself in the thick of it this year. From Carson Hocevar wrecking Corey Heim out in the Truck championship to Austin Hill roughing it up with SVG at Xfinity COTA, things in NASCAR can tip over easily. Compare that with Supercars—a rule change in 2021 penalized drivers for dragging dirt onto the track, even if it was careless rather than malicious—and you will see the challenge SVG is tackling. That is what Dale Earnhardt Jr. pointed out recently.

In a Dale Jr Download episode, Dale Earnhardt Jr observed that Gisbergen controlled himself at Watkins Glen despite knowing the heartbreak Chris Buescher was delivering to him. “He was like, ‘I’m gonna do all I’m willing to do,’ but that was it! That was all he was willing to do in terms of being physically aggressive.” He cited SVG’s home ground, which is not lenient. “They have such strict rules in Supercars, he got to Cup racing and he’s like, ‘Damn, these boys run through you. They bump you and push you around. We can’t do that in Supercars. We’re not allowed to touch each other…gotta find out how to get around the guy literally without f-cking up.'” 

So Dale Earnhardt Jr. is eager to see Supercars inspiring NASCAR a little bit. Restraining rowdy drivers like Carson Hocevar or Austin Hill is the need of the hour. “I think I would love to see the younger guys that are coming up through the lower levels be held more accountable and NASCAR really say, hey. We’re gonna be over-aggressive in penalizing for what we see as dirty driving. So maybe they adopt a different style of racing and racecraft.”

Despite Dale Earnhardt Jr and Chris Buescher appreciating SVG’s restraint, the latter is familiar with trading paint. In fact, he represented the turning point in Supercars regarding aggressive driving.

SVG’s perception differs back home

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Supercars forbid drivers from cutting corners, bringing debris, and having team members on the paddock. Even amidst the restrictions, Shane van Gisbergen found a way to exhilarate his fans. Despite Dale Earnhardt Jr. perceiving him as clean within NASCAR, he is hailed as a hard and rough racer in Australia. During the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship, he spun off controversy due to his bump-and-run pass at Tassie. Dual champion and NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose said SVG was ‘breaking new ground’ with his aggressive style.

When SVG ran up to reach Cam Waters and Will Davison, they made the mistake of leaving a gaping hole. SVG took advantage of that and used his aggression to zoom past for the win. Ambrose lauded this approach: “The other drivers he was passing, they didn’t like it, but they couldn’t do anything about it once he’s made that move. He’s just breaking new ground on these passes, the way he’s going about it; it’s quite exceptional, to be honest. I don’t know what the officials are going to say about it, whether they’re going to say, ‘not again,’ but I loved it. I thought it was just really hard racing, it was fair racing eventually… everyone finished the race.”

Evidently, the perspective changes when you travel from Australia to the US. After his heartbreaking loss at Watkins Glen, SVG is sure to storm back with a stronger approach to rough NASCAR driving.