Shane van Gisbergen at Kansas Speedway.
Van Gisbergen has been the man to beat on road courses and street circuits this year, but he is still some way off being a contender for wins on ovals.
However, it might not be long before he figures it out.
A top 10 finish at Kansas Speedway caught the eye of several current and former drivers as well as industry experts, who hailed van Gisbergen’s comeback performance.
SVG effectively began the race a lap down after starting at the back and being forced to serve a stop-and-go penalty.
That was also compounded by not having his usual crew chief Stephen Doran after he was ejected by NASCAR for making unapproved changes to the #88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro.
Van Gisbergen was the beneficiary of a Lucky Dog early in Stage 2. He made the most of it to be running around the top 10, avoiding two multi-car wrecks behind him.
“You’ve got to start somewhere, and clearly he’s starting to step up his game on the ovals,” said three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin on Actions Detrimental.
“He’s improving. We’re coming to find out he’s actually pretty good. He’s a really good driver.
“Great drivers find a way to adapt to their machine and SVG is one of those drivers who no matter what you put him in, he’s going to succeed and he’s going to learn it.
“Things are trending up for him.”
That sentiment was echoed by Kevin Harvick, who has been a sounding board for the Kiwi in his rookie NASCAR Cup Series season.
Alongside Marcos Ambrose in the early part of van Gisbergen’s transition from Supercars to NASCAR, Harvick helped the Kiwi get up to speed.
“We keep talking about this, his oval racing, and how much better that it is getting and the gains that they are making,” said Harvick on The Happy Hour.
“I think this was one of those weekends that really showed how much better he has become at racing on the ovals.
“I think that improvement is fun to watch. We’ve talked on here a lot just about his maturity level and his knowledge of being able to look through the data and critique himself.
“You have to be able to critique yourself and you have to be able to take criticism, but you have to be able to learn how to apply it – and I think his racing IQ is high and I think he’ll continue to get better.”
Van Gisbergen’s first top 10 finish came in his 33rd oval start and with six races to go in his rookie Cup Series campaign.
Corey LaJoie, who is racing part-time in 2025, foreshadowed more gains from van Gisbergen.
Like Harvick, LaJoie noted the New Zealander’s technical nous.
“He’s starting to come along strong on these ovals,” LaJoie said on Stacking Pennies.
“He was the best in-house at Trackhouse (at Kansas Speedway), but he’s also been loud in the previous week. He was running the top five.
“Don’t look now guys, but he becomes a dangerous weapon – in a good sense, in the Australian sense – he is a weapon, but a really sharp, useful, deadly weapon if that guy figures out how to be a top 10 consistently oval track guy.
“We all know that his process and speed and his confidence and his abilities and talents all warrant him developing into a really good, championship-level guy. I really do feel that way and I do think he’s on his way to do that.”
The NASCAR Cup Series continues on Monday, October 6 at the Charlotte ROVAL at 6am AEDT with coverage live and exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.
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