Denny Hamlin willing to make major admission when it comes to Shane van Gisbergen in NASCAR

Denny Hamlin is willing to make a major admission when it comes to Shane van Gisbergen in NASCAR. After the New Zealander won his third road-course race of the season in the Cup Series this past weekend at Sonoma, the veteran wheelman believes SVG is the best road course racer the sport has seen.

“I think there’s certainly a real discussion to be had on the best road course racer that NASCAR has seen,” Hamlin stated, via Actions Detrimental. “I saw Mike Joy mentioned like Dan Gurney. That’s all he did. The other guys were not — they didn’t run but a couple of road courses a year. These guys are all in the same cars now. Back then, anything like from 90s and earlier, the advantages you had with your car far exceeded anything talent level that you could bring to the racetrack.

“I just feel like it’s apples and oranges trying to compare what someone did 40-some years ago, because there was not that many competitive cars. If you had someone that was specific in road racing, they could come out here and win Riverside five of nine times, or whatever it might be. But not someone that’s coming in with spec-cars and more competitive drivers. I don’t think the two are the same.”

That’s a big compliment Hamlin is paying to SVG, but it’s more than deserved. He hasn’t just dominated the Cup Series on road courses, but the Xfinity Series, as well. He been almost impossible to even keep up with throughout the 2025 season on road courses.

His wins have locked him into the playoffs and then some, but how far can he go when he gets there? As SVG continues to rack up points, Hamlin isn’t counting him out, even though ovals haven’t been kind to him this season.

“He could go through the first round just by not messing up,” Hamlin added. “We’ve said this a million times, the first round, the four guys that exit after Round of 16 are just — usually they have major issues in races. Could be mechanical. Could be wrecks. They have those P30-plus worse finishes. You avoid that and he can advance, especially with him having the bonus points he has now.”

All told, Shane van Gisbergen has the road courses down, but he has all summer to practice on ovals ahead of the Cup Series playoffs. If he can become more formidable at NASCAR’s more traditional tracks, the rest of the field might start shaking in their boots.