NASCAR Hall of Fame member Kurt Busch has a red-hot take on Shane van Gisbergen: he’s a Hall of Famer already.
Elected into the Hall of Fame this year, Busch won the Cup Series in 2004 aboard the #97 Roush Racing Ford, the same number now used by van Gisbergen.
Busch’s storied career featured 34 Cup Series wins and 339 top-tens from 776 starts over 23 years.
When pressed on if SVG was the greatest road racer seen in NASCAR, the answer for Busch was simple.
“Hands down,” he said on the Door, Bumper, Clear Podcast.
“We’ve never seen anything like this.
“Yeah, he hit this NextGen car perfectly, though, with the Australian V8 Supercars – they’re kind of like an Xfinity version, or an O’Reilly Series version of our NextGen cars.
“And he’s a three-time Champion down in Australia, and the way that those cars drive with the independent rear suspension, the travel is a bit limited, similar to the NextGen car, and those guys down there are beasts, I mean, they are animals in the way that they race.
“I mean, Marcos Ambrose came into Cup, and eventually won two Cup road course races.
“It took him a while, and then (Juan Pablo) Montoya, he won a couple of road course races.
“But for SVG to come right in at that moment to win that Chicago street race, I was in awe.
“Now to see this, he’s a Hall of Famer already in my mind, he has seven wins in 62 races, right?
“Hopefully he doesn’t figure out the ovals!”
In extended practice this morning for NASCAR’s All-Star Race at Dover’s Monster Mile, van Gisbergen placed 28th.
The session was topped by Kyle Larson.
Qualifying tomorrow will feature a full pit stop, which incorporates the pit stop challenge.
The main race, which features a radically different format, is set for a green flag at 3am Monday.
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