Shane van Gisbergen is in a field of his own when it comes to road course racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. However, to become a true championship contender, he’s going to have to figure out how to compete for wins at the sport’s more traditional ovals.
He’s improving a bit, but Denny Hamlin doesn’t think van Gisbergen will ever get to a spot where he’s competing for wins at the track type. There’s just a certain level that the New Zealander can’t reach, in Hamlin’s mind.
“There’s 30 other races that make up NASCAR,” Hamlin stated, via his Actions Detrimental podcast. “In the long term, I mean, he’s certainly getting better at the ovals, and hopefully will put himself in the contender level of on the ovals soon. But still, I think it’s going to be really, really tough to overcome the sports’ elite on ovals. I don’t think he’s going to be able to do that.”
Continuing, Hamlin explained the fundamental difference in road course racing versus NASCAR’s ovals, and why SVG has been able to win at the level he has in 2025. Regardless, the veteran wheelman did give the Trackhouse Racing wheelman his flowers, not trying to cheapen his dominance.
“When you start at the front of a road course, there’s not much chaos to mix up the field and all those things,” Hamlin added. “On an oval, if William Byron has the fastest car and he starts on the pole, he’s got to go through eight pit stops, something like that, on any given day. If he gets put back to 15th, do we ever see him again? That’s what we’re fighting for the other 30 weeks of the year. ‘Wait a minute, William Byron, he was the best driver, best car on that day. Why is it when we put him in traffic, he couldn’t go anywhere?’ So, that’s where the parity really hurts the stars on the ovals.
“On the road courses, it’s a little more straightforward. As long as there’s not an ill- timed caution. … There’s no doubt the guy can go through traffic. Zero doubt on my mind. Is he the best road course racer I’ve ever seen? Absolutely. I competed against the Tony Stewarts, the Jeff Gordons — all those guys. He’s better than all of them.
“But the only thing you’re going to have to mix this up, to keep him from winning every single road course race is — it’s going to have to take something wacky. Or else you can just go ahead and write the script for the next foreseeable future.”
Alas, Denny Hamlin recognizes Shane van Gisbergen’s greatness at road course racing, but NASCAR is much more than that. If he wants to become a champion, it’s the ovals he has to work at, and the jury is out on him at those types of tracks.