Hendrick Motorsports Wild Card Still Skeptical With Shane Van Gisbergen Continuing to Assert His Dominance Ahead of Chicago

He came, he saw, he conquered. The Kiwi speedster came to America last year, saw his NASCAR rivals, and conquered a road course race. The driver achieved two new milestones in the last two weekends. Shane van Gisbergen scripted history yet again as he became the first foreign driver to clinch consecutive Xfinity Series trophies. Fans at Portland and Sonoma were left in awe and the NASCAR world trumpeted the Kaulig Racing driver’s glory.

Now the New Zealander is set to return to a road course on the Cup Series schedule. After his debut win in Chicago last year, van Gisbergen is bound to be a thorn in Cup drivers’ side. Hendrick Motorsports’ young prodigy thinks so too.

Shane van Gisbergen is a solid threat

Hendrick Motorsports’ top-performing drivers are William Byron and Kyle Larson, both with three wins each this season. Yet Byron was the first to bring pride to his team, winning the season-opening Daytona 500. Byron’s second victory came at Circuit of the Americas, the first road course of 2024. A Supercars champ was close to snatching the glory, as Shane van Gisbergen ran strong. However, a speeding penalty late in stage 2 buffered his speed, and the Kiwi finished 21st.

Now, as we inch towards the Chicago Street Race, Shane van Gisbergen’s glory grows stronger in Cup drivers’ minds. In a recent press conference, William Byron admitted SVG’s superior road course dominance. “I do think that he’ll certainly have an advantage on the street course. I think his awareness and feel for the walls and how close he can be is probably the biggest advantage I see. He is very comfortable with that. Even watching him at the Sonoma Xfinity race in eleven, he was really good there compared to other people.”

Then Byron topped it off with a fear that Shane van Gisbergen could potentially outdo his teams’ efforts. “I just think his awareness and ability to run close to the different apexes is really critical. Then I think our setups have evolved and probably taken some things and learned some things. So I’m sure the competition will be that much better and prepared to you know, race against him. But he’ll still be good if he’s in the race, for sure.”

Shane van Gisbergen’s appearance in Chicago last year was phenomenal. His iRacing partner, a Formula One legend, admitted to rooting for him as he beat his NASCAR rivals.

Van Gisbergen’s F1 friend “almost screamed”

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Akin to William Byron’s rise to fame, Shane van Gisbergen is also a fixture in iRacing. He uses Sim Racing to boost his NASCAR stints. But online racing is also where he competes with his Formula One buddy, Max Verstappen. They are not only Red Bull stablemates but they also compete in sim racing for Team Redline. So when van Gisbergen appeared for his Cup debut race in Chicago, the two-time F1 champion was glued to his screen.

As Shane van Gisbergen overcame numerous cautions to grab the checkered flag, Verstappen was jumping in his seat. He admitted that he had never felt so nervous in his life watching someone else race and trying to win it. “I was literally screaming in front of my TV, or my monitor, for him to win that. That’s really, really impressive to jump in the car and you don’t know…they are very hard cars to drive, and he just goes in there and he absolutely dominates the race.” He then saluted the Kiwi for his unparalleled talents. “I know he’s a great driver, I know what he’s capable of, and I know how good he is in different kinds of disciplines.”

Thus Verstappen must be waiting for another entertaining show soon, as Shane van Gisbergen prepares for another Chicago showdown.