"These guys are going to study him": Shane van Gisbergen's road course superiority to 'slowly disappear', claims NASCAR legend

Shane van Gisbergen quickly grabbed the attention of the NASCAR world after winning in his very first race. Within months, the Kiwi driver was announced to be running a full-time Xfinity schedule in 2024 and already has three wins to his name this season.

A big part of SVG's strengths and success has been his prowess on the road courses. Coming from a background of V8 Supercars, all four of van Gisbergen's wins have come on road courses.

With Gisbergen all set to make the next step to Cup level in 2025, NASCAR legend Ricky Rudd discussed the Kiwi driver's attributes and claimed that SVG's superiority over the others may not always stand tall. Speaking on GoPRNLive, Rudd said:

"I think you're going to see his advantages, he's still going to be great, don't get me wrong, I think you're going to see his advantage at road courses slowly sort of disappear, not right away. He'll still be up front, he'll be one of the guys to beat but these guys are going to study him, watch him, they're going to learn what he's doing," Ricky Rudd said [at 5:23].

However, Ricky Rudd, a soon-to-be inductee into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, also praised the driver for his capabilities, claiming that Gisbergen is "very smart" as a driver.

Rudd backed his opinion by saying how SVG thinks ahead and 'keeps his rivals off-guard' by capitalizing and assessing the situation in terms of making the right maneuver at the right time.

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Shane van Gisbergen 'couldn't turn down' the opportunity of transitioning to NASCAR

Shane van Gisbergen looked back on his time in the United States of America, a transition he made after deciding to pursue NASCAR full-time. Gisbergen claimed that his past year in the USA has been "amazing", and the opportunity to transition from the V8 Supercars to NASCAR came at "the perfect time." Via his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on October 2, Gisbergen wrote:

"To experience different things and a new challenge you know, I'm at the age where I can still go to do another sport. I couldn't turn it down. It's pretty exciting," SVG said.

The 3x Xfinity race winner further revealed preparing for NASCAR has been an 'intense' experience and also detailed the nitty-gritty of NASCAR, such as the handling of a car while it transitions into the banking. Despite the intense preparation and the big switch he made at this stage of his career, Shane van Gisbergen felt that his NASCAR journey was going in the direction he would prefer.

Along with his 3 wins so far this season, and securing his Cup Series seat as a full-timer, he has also made progress at the ovals, bagging top 5 finishes at Atlanta and Indy, as well as top 10 finishes at Phoenix and Kansas