Brace yourselves, NASCAR fans. Kiwi Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen is about to take over NASCAR. That might seem a shot in the dark, at least to some. The recently concluded Yellawood 500 broke the mold of Next-Gen superspeedway racing, and so did the Trackhouse Racing ace.

Following the overtime-fueled 193-lap bonanza, SVG dropped a brief, reflective yet subtle warning, self-prophesying his ascension in the wake of his superspeedway breakthrough.

Did Shane Van Gisbergen Just Write the First Chapter of His Oval Legacy?

“Wild!” was the word van Gisbergen used to describe oval racing, four days before he outshone himself at ‘Dega.’ Hurtling into corners at 310 kph while deliberately missing the apex, relying on invisible grip or air pockets to avoid the wall, and hearing the exhaust roar echo off the barriers, the three-time Supercars champion admits he has never experienced anything like oval racing.

Riding the wave of momentum in his first full-time season in the Cup Series, the 36-year-old came into the sport like a storm. Nobody in the current NCS field could match him on road courses; he set records with five thumping victories in his rookie season, yet he couldn’t crack the “oval” code.

A 12th-place finish from last year was his best superspeedway performance until yesterday. Despite starting from P31, SVG made major strides in the opening leg of the race, survived a few miscues, and came home to record an 11th-place finish.

“Decent finish for us in the @WeatherTech #88, P11 is best result at a Superspeedway so far,” the Islander wrote with pride, reflecting on his NASCAR journey. “The race started off really well, ran up front most of it, but then just put myself in a couple of bad spots. Onto Martinsville next week!”

On Lap 111, his day took a turn for the worse when green-flag pit stops turned chaotic. Braking into the pit lane, the No. 88 driver hit a slick patch left from overnight rain, sending his car spinning across the grass while lightly clipping Christopher Bell and fellow Chevrolet William Byron.

Luckily, the spin caused minimal damage, allowing him to rebound onto the lead lap by the end of Stage 2, though he restarted in 16th place. However, he met yet another hurdle in Stage 3 when a pit road speeding penalty pushed him to the back of the field with just 23 laps remaining.

Undeterred, SVG navigated the closing laps with determination. Restarting 19th for overtime, a lap down, he battled through a chaotic four-wide sprint to the finish, steadily closing in on the leaders in a frantic dash to the line.

After previous superspeedway finishes of 34th this year and 12th last year, along with 11th and 28th in the Xfinity Series, van Gisbergen’s 11th-place run at the YellaWood 500 marks a career-best, essentially underscoring his growing command of NASCAR’s traditional oval.