Kyle Petty Bluntly Shuts Down SVG’s Fading NASCAR Charm With Bold Verdict

Shane van Gisbergen was one of the drivers to watch out for the 2025 NASCAR season. Having started his journey with a historical win at Chicago Street Race, followed by a solid outing as an Xfinity Rookie, the hype surrounding the Kiwi driver was real. With five road course races along with a Street Race, the Trackhouse Racing star was expected to hit the ground running. But that sentiment has somewhat changed after last weekend’s race in COTA, where not SVG but Christopher Bell triumphed against all odds.

It makes you wonder whether or not Shane van Gisbergen has lost his golden touch. His 2025 campaign didn’t start on a good note with a P33 results at Daytona and a P23 finish at Atlanta. Surely, COTA was going to be the track where we could finally see him spread his winds. Well, he did that to some extent, but he wasn’t a real threat while the likes of Bell, Kyle Busch and William Byron battled for the win. At the end of the day he had to settle for a P6 finish and just like that one opportunity on the road course was lost.

But not everyone was sold on the idea of SVG’s stardom fading away only after three race weekends.  Alexis Perkins captured the nuanced sentiment perfectly: “SVG is an incredible talent… but these NASCAR Cup Series drivers are all very good at what they do.” SVG might be a road course ringer, but we already had the likes of Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, and Tyler Reddick. Two of the four drivers finished inside of the top 5 places during last Sunday’s race. So, the Kiwi driver certainly has got his work cut out for him.

Kyle Petty’s diagnosis was even more surgical. “We live in a time when data is an open book, see where he shifts where he breaks where he checks up” he explained, highlighting the modern racing paradigm. Every team can now dissect a driver’s technique—shift points, braking patterns, corner entry speeds—eliminating the mystique that once protected breakthrough talents. Thanks to the almighty SMT data, there’s no secret that teams cannot crack open about their rival camps. And this is what happened with SVG at COTA.

Van Gisbergen himself has chosen not to set specific goals for his inaugural Cup season, instead focusing on continuous improvement and adapting to the demands of NASCAR. He noted, “I don’t go racing with goals… Just doing my best every week and just have the same approach every week. I know I can do the job. … It’s just time. I know I can get there. It’s just how long it’s going to take on the oval side”.

However, not everyone is optimistic about Shane van Gisbergen’s chances. NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi explained the challenges SVG will face at the Cup level and how he’s got to make the road course races count.

SVG only has three more shots to make it into the playoffs

The Kiwi speedster was actually on the advantage with the fresh rubber on the late race restart behind Bell and Busch. He was in the third row with 13 laps to go in the race, but for some reason, he kept falling behind. Compared to the Xfinity Series, it’s going to be hard for SVG to find joy on oval tracks. The big boy teams are going to dominate those circuits, leaving him with a handful of have a genuine shot in making it to the post season.

“Go back to Watkins Glen last year. He was great, but he made a mistake. Buescher forced him into a mistake and he fumbled. That happens, but that just shows you how hard it is to win races. For these guys, they don’t have a 1 in 26 shot, they only have a 1 in 5 shot.” Bianchi said this on the Teardown podcast.

Interestingly, the P6 was SVG’s best outing at COTA. Last year during the Xfinity race he ended with a 27th place finish despite leading the most number of laps. The track limit violation really hindered the outcome of the race for him and his team. The good thing is that tracks like Sonoma Raceway and Chicago Street Course are still up for grasp, and he won at both these circuits last year.