WATCH: Joey Logano claims Shane van Gisbergen is “an animal” on road courses

Joey Logano highlights SVG’s growth as a full-time NASCAR racer.

WATCH: Joey Logano claims Shane van Gisbergen is “an animal” on road courses

Joey Logano and Shane van Gisbergen (Via IMAGO)

Three times Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen made his full-time NASCAR debut in 2024 as a development driver at Trackhosue Racing. His NASCAR journey started when he won the inaugural Chicago Street Race with Trackhosue and is currently competing for the Xfinity Series title with Kaulig Racing.

The primary reason he has been given the Xfinity ride over a Cup opportunity is his lack of experience racing in ovals. When it comes to road course races, it has always been part of Shane van Gisbergen’s racing career in Supercars as well other Sportscar racing series he has been part of, making him a competitor in all RC races in NASCAR.

Recently while talking about Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden potential being a good at NASCAR road course races, two times Cup champion Joey Logano highlighted how good SVG is at in similar track. He pointed out that the Kiwi driver is an animal in such tracks and also highlighted that he is getting better at ovals as the season is progressing.  

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It’s no different than what we see with Shane right now. Same thing is that his road courses, he’s an animal, and on ovals, he’s figuring it out. He’s getting better every week, I can see that. But it’s going to take a little bit longer.
Joey Logano said via SiriusXM Radio.

Joey Logano explains why it’s hard to race in ovals

The Ford driver pointed out that the notion of ovals racing being easier than road course races is not the right one. He highlighted that both are vast different disciplines and it takes some more time to be good at ovals over road courses.

July 29, 2023, Richmond, VA, United States of America: NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Driver, Joey Logano (22) gets
Joey Logano (Via IMAGO)
And it’s funny because most fans look at it and say ‘Man road courses must be harder than ovals you gotta make a lot more turns.’ It’s just a completely different discipline, it’s not easier or harder but the amount of time that it takes to get good at an oval takes a while. If you’ve never done it your whole life, right? Like, it takes a minute because it’s such a different discipline.
Joey Logano added.

The future NASCAR Hall of Famer has made some valid points with his observation and he is right to say that the transition from Road Courses to ovals is tougher than the other way. But the Next-Gen car and it features makes it easier than ever for new driver like SVG to become better at ovals.

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