Shane van Gisbergen claimed his fifth straight win on a road course on Sunday at the Bank of America Roval 400 and was praised by NASCAR legend Richard Petty
Vvan Gisbergen has won five road course races this season(Image: Getty)
NASCAR legend Richard ‘The King’ Petty has showered praise on Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen following his fifth consecutive road course victory of the season at Charlotte’s Roval.
Despite confessing on his ‘Petty Race Recap’ podcast that the Bank of America Roval 400 didn’t particularly pique his interest, the seven-time Cup Series champion couldn’t help but commend the performance of the 36 year old New Zealander.
Van Gisbergen, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet, once again demonstrated his dominance, winning by a staggering 15 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, despite a clash in their bid to regain the lead with just 14 laps left. The news comes as Kyle Larson sums up Shane van Gisbergen battle after losing Roval 400 title.
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From his distant vantage point, Petty noted Van Gisbergen’s remarkable consistency. The 88 year old remarked, “He’s so regular. In other words, if them guys are running faster, so what? This is my speed.
Richard Petty gave Shane van Gisbergen glowing praise following his Roval win(Image: Getty)
“And then when they use up their tires and use themselves up, then he’s just kind of cruising along at a certain speed. And he doesn’t fall off like the rest of them. I mean, he doesn’t use up his tires like everybody else.”, reports the Express US.
However, it wasn’t Van Gisbergen’s tire management skills that most impressed Petty. Rather, it was the three-time Supercars Championship winner’s braking.
“The big deal, watching him run and stuff, where he really meets them people is getting in the corners,” Petty said. “I mean, he’ll beat anybody going in the corner [by] two or three car lengths. And you’ll see them lock up brakes. You never see him lock up his brakes.
“I don’t know whether he’s got a lock on the thing or what he’s got, but that’s where he’s really superior to some of the drivers that he’s racing against.
And so again, he’s so regular that being regular overcomes people when they really take off and then they slow down that much more. So he stays in the middle all the time.”
Additionally, Petty highlighted van Gisbergen’s composed approach on the track, emphasizing how the driver maintains his cool no matter who overtakes him – including when Larson and Christopher Bell surged ahead during the final laps.
“He let everything settle down. And then after they run three or four laps, then he decides, okay, it’s time to go. So he pulls out and goes on,” Petty added.
The victory further cemented van Gisbergen’s status as the most successful first-year driver in Cup Series history, adding to his previous triumphs at Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma, and Watkins Glen.
Meanwhile, his performance on oval tracks has shown consistent improvement throughout the campaign, including a personal-best 10th-place finish at Kansas Speedway just one week before conquering the Roval.
Now, he’s shifting his focus back to conquering ovals for the rest of the season, with Las Vegas Motor Speedway up next, followed by visits to Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and wrapping up at Phoenix Raceway.