At this point, Shane van Gisbergen dominating a road course feels inevitable. Watkins Glen was just the latest example. The Trackhouse Racing driver sliced through the field late in the race, passing more than 20 cars in the final stint before driving away from the pack and winning by over seven seconds. The scary part for the rest of the garage is that two NASCAR legends believe his biggest advantage still cannot be copied by the rest of the drivers.
After SVG’s latest masterclass, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick broke down why the former Supercars champion is operating on a completely different level when the series turns right and left.
For Dale Jr., it starts with technique. Speaking on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Earnhardt explained that van Gisbergen’s use of the clutch during braking zones is something most Cup drivers simply did not grow up learning.
“He’s (SVG) right foot braking. And he’s got his foot on the clutch,” Dale Jr. explained. “And so when he starts to feel the rear tires trying to get time, like the engine braking, trying to drag the rear tire or even induce wheel hop, he will modulate the clutch just slightly to dampen the load on the drivetrain.”
Earnhardt said the technique also helps Shane van Gisbergen rotate the car deeper into corners without upsetting the rear tires. “He kind of will release the clutch a little bit or use the clutch pedal in a way to help the car pitch and turn.”
That may sound small on paper, but in reality this is not something drivers can casually learn halfway through their careers.
“This is a technique that you need to be doing from the day that you start driving race cars,” he said. “There ain’t no chance, no f***ing way in hell. There is a single driver in the NASCAR Cup field today that could apply and adopt this technique and do it well.”
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Kevin Harvick thinks Shane van Gisbergen’s biggest edge may actually be mental
While Dale Jr. focused on the technical side, Kevin Harvick pointed toward something else entirely. Experience. Patience. And knowing exactly how much to reveal.
On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, the 2014 Cup champion explained why Shane van Gisbergen is far more dangerous than the typical road-course specialist NASCAR used to see years ago.
According to Harvick, many “ringers” in the past struggled because they never fully adapted to the weekly rhythm of NASCAR racing.
“He’s also really good with his car and communicating with his team,” Harvick said. “He’s got the maturity to go along with it to know how to play the game off the racetrack, what to say, what not to say, holding his cards fairly close to his vest.”
Harvick believes that his calm approach gives van Gisbergen another advantage over the field because competitors still do not fully know everything he is capable of.
“He’s got a great poker face, he’s a showman,” added Harvick. “He’s really good at making sure he’ll help you, but I don’t think he’s going to show you everything that he has because nobody else can do it.”
At this point, SVG is no longer just the foreign road-course guy who occasionally shows up and steals a win. Drivers now know he understands NASCAR strategy, tire management, restarts, and race flow at a high level too. And as Harvick pointed out, he’s still learning.
Which raises a pretty uncomfortable question for the rest of the field: what happens when Shane van Gisbergen becomes just as dangerous on ovals as he already is on road courses?
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