Shane Van Gisbergen’s NASCAR Struggles Reiterates the Significance of William Byron’s Exceptional Success

Back in the day, the only way for a young driver to work up to professional racing was to go with a traditional approach. One that included racing on dirt tracks or go-karts and then gradually making the next moves. Essentially, the young driver had a real feel for racing before making it into top leagues like NASCAR. However, Hendrick Motorsports driver, William Byron broke this traditional barrier and decided to hone his racing skills on a simulator.

Strange, but it is true, and by no means is he just that computer-racing driver. In fact, he’s grown into a championship contender over the past couple of seasons. Taking note of Byron’s rise, many drivers have now turned to simulation racing. Kaulig Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen also spent a lot of time on the simulator before making his full debut in the Xfinity Series this season. However, despite the sim time, SVG has been struggling a lot since the start of the season. This has made the 34-year-old truly understand the difference between sim racing and real racing.

SVG failed to repeat William Byron’s feat at Daytona despite spending time on the simulator

The Australian Supercars legend is finding it tough to gel into his first full-time ride in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing. While the Chicago Street course win was a big deal for him last season, his inexperience at Superspeedways was highlighted during his first race at Daytona International Speedway. While he did spend quite a bit of time on the simulation, one thing that the computer was unable to teach him was how to race in the draft.

And he had to learn this the hard way at Daytona International Speedway by finding himself in the middle of wrecks and accidents. Speaking in a press briefing ahead of the Atlanta qualifying rounds, the driver said, “We’ll just on sim you don’t really do the Superspeedway stuff but just feeling what the air does to cars and thats unfortunately I spun a guy out. He was passing me at a speed and I went to slot in line.”

“I didn’t realise how much side draft would slow him up so like he was passing me pretty quick. That kind of stuff you don’t learn until you feel it so unfortunately it was at his expense but now I kind of know what things do. It’s crazy at this speed how much the air affects the car. I’m sure it’s going to be like that here tenfold you know into a corner with more radius.”

It looks like William Byron has something special in his simulation training that other drivers are lacking. While it is unfortunate for Van Gisbergen to learn the realities of Superspeedway racing, he will have an opportunity to make amends this weekend.

Crashes and wrecks won’t keep SVG from fighting for results

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Not just one or two, but Kaulig Racing’s No. 97 car was involved in six total incidents at Daytona. However, despite all the early nerves and trying to figure out drafting, he managed a 12th-place finish. Of course, the wrecks and accidents can sow the seeds of doubt in the driver’s mind, but Van Gisbergen won’t be swayed by his early troubles.

Read More: Daytona 500 Winner William Byron One of the Safest Drivers to Bet on Heading to Atlanta

Speaking after the race at Daytona International Speedway, he said, “You know, it’s just this style with that racing and something I have to accept. You got to run the risks of getting a good result. But you’re probably going to get into a crash and it’s an amazing mindset to go racing. I’ve never had to do that before going to race, thinking you know, it’s 50-50 whether you’ll crash. So it’s pretty different.”