Shane van Gisbergen has taken NASCAR\u2019s Cup Series by storm, racking up five wins in his rookie full-time season, all on road courses, the kind of tracks that play right into his wheelhouse after years of winning through corners in Australian V8 Supercars. While he\u2019s still finding his footing on ovals, his mastery of the twisty layouts has left even veterans tipping their hats. Among them was Denny Hamlin, who couldn\u2019t help but laud SVG\u2019s command of road racing.<\/p>\n
On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin lauded SVG\u2019s steady progress on ovals before emphasizing how complete a driver he\u2019s becoming. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna need SVG not just to win on the road courses, especially when they change the Playoff format, you\u2019re definitely going to have to put the whole package together,\u201d Hamlin noted.<\/p>\n
In another episode, Hamlin went on to declare SVG the best road course driver NASCAR has ever seen while taking a playful jab at another legend in the debate. When The Athletic\u2019s Jordan Bianchi argued that Jeff Gordon held that title, so skilled in his prime that some believed he could have thrived in Formula One, Hamlin didn\u2019t mince words. \u201cJordan Bianchi is absolutely out of his mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he\u2019s [SVG] on the short-list for the best NASCAR road racer ever. What is he talking about? Does he really think that Jeff Gordon, in his prime, would beat SVG today in a Next Gen car? Not a chance. Not a remote chance. Jeff Gordon was not winning by this margin. Jeff Gordon was not racing cars this equal to everyone else\u2019s,\u201d Hamlin added<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n SVG, ever modest, brushed off the praise with humility. \u201cI don\u2019t agree with it, but it\u2019s pretty amazing that my peers think that of me, and I had some amazing races this year on the road course, and yeah, my car is obviously very good as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, thank you to Trackhouse. But yeah, I\u2019d hopefully race these guys better on ovals and they start thinking of me of a serious competitor on ovals. But yeah, pretty humbling for them to say that,\u201d he continued<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n