SVG and his Struggles with Ovals

SVG has been discussed extensively recently, and for good reason. Becoming the first driver since Jeff Gordon in 98-99 to win three straight road course races, and now in his first full-time season, he has more career wins than any other foreign driver ever—all great reasons to give him all the praise in the world.

 If You Compare SVG to Jeff Gordon in Any Other Way, The Comparison Would Become Unfair

Because in every other way, Jeff Gordon destroys the man from the other country down under. It’s not a case of a lack of talent; I could write a whole book about his incredible driving feats and accomplishments since starting his career. What this is, is something many of his fellow foreign NASCAR drivers have also gone through: being rushed to the top series.

After his historic Chicago debut, Trackhouse wasted no time in signing SVG to a development deal and putting him in the Xfinity Series full-time with Kaulig Racing. That was already more development than other compatriots, such as Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, and Hideo Fukuyama, had achieved before their attempts in the Cup Series. So, on paper, it seemed like the way to go, but how did it work out?

Again, Judging by The Road Course Races, It Went Awesome

With SVG winning three road courses — Portland, Chicago, and Sonoma —it was, of course, an okay rookie season. Showing speed at the plates and running upfront for the win late at Indy. Plus top tens at drivers’ tracks like Darlington and Kansas. So flashes of promise here and there, but a lot, and I mean a lot, of top 15 to top 20 runs at other driver tracks like Bristol and Nashville, too.

Now, Kaulig was on a downturn that year and continues to be in Xfinity, so SVG not contending for a title right away wasn’t the issue. The previous V8 Supercars champion to transition full-time to NASCAR, Marcos Ambrose, also spent two seasons in the Xfinity Series before advancing to the Cup Series and achieving a very successful stint there.

Ex-Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suarez also spent two seasons there, and he was promoted following Edwards’s sudden retirement. Still, he’s been pretty good in Cup, especially with Trackhouse, the team SVG was signed to. Two seasons was not the plan, however.

SVG Would Go From an Xfinity Series Rookie to a Cup Series Rookie in Back-to-Back Seasons

Where he has been historic again is whenever we go to turn right, but whenever NASCAR sticks to its bread and butter of turning left and only left, it’s been a very different story. All four of his top tens have come at road courses so far this year, meaning zero at ovals. His teammates Suarez and Chastain have combined for 11 wins on ovals so far in the 2025 season.

It wasn’t as if there weren’t signs of his struggles on the Cup Series oval either. He did complete ovals in his 2024 PT Cup stint with Kaulig, and while he had some good, albeit not great, results, such as a 12th at Martinsville and a 15th at Talladega, for the most part, he was mid-pack and hadn’t yet shown Cup Series-level potential at these tracks.

Final Thoughts

And now, while he’s in the playoffs and with all his playoff points, the Roval in the Round of 12 could for sure sneak a Round of 8 run. With his poor oval showing, the odds are stacked against him, and if he makes the round of 8, he will need to finally put together that plate track speed to set himself up for a good finish and get lucky. No chance he gets past that round. Now, if he can even become good at ovals in the playoff format, he’s a contender for years to come.