Larson’s high praise of van Gisbergen

Kyle Larson believes fellow versatile racer Shane van Gisbergen will be “dominant” once he cracks the NASCAR ovals.

Larson’s high praise of SVG comes after the Trackhouse Racing Kiwi collected a third win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma.

Van Gisbergen was untouchable throughout the Toyota Save Mart 350 and cruised to a commanding win.

Following his other victories at Mexico’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and the streets of Chicago, he joins Larson and Christopher Bell as the winningest drivers in the 2025 season.

Given SVG is still a rookie this is quite remarkable, even though they are all on road courses where his Supercars skills shine.

However, he is slowly learning on the ovals and has cracked the top 20 on multiple occasions.

Given he now has more road course wins in a single Cup Series season than Marcos Ambrose achieved in seven years, he is quickly further building his already big reputation.

Larson has a similar skill in versatility, given he has taken on the Indianapolis 500 and won sprintcar races in Australia, but believes van Gisbergen has the potential to not only be dominant on road courses, but even challenge for championships once he unlocks the unique ovals.

“He’s so good, and it’s rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is.

“He is way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff.

“He’s got his own technique, you can call it.

“Not his own because the rest of the world does it – you know, right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff.

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks… like there’s zero chance I can learn how to do that and even if I did, like there’s zero chance that I can have it be better than what I’m probably doing with left-foot braking.

“He’s just so good. He’s still new to the oval stuff, so he’s going to continue to get better at that. And, yeah, I mean, if he can figure out the ovals, he’s going to be dominant.”

HHP/Harold Hinson

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