AJ Allmendinger EXPOSES Why Shane van Gisbergen Is ‘Unstoppable’ at Road Courses

NASCAR’s road course racing expert AJ Allmendinger has shared details of the factor that makes Shane van Gisbergen unstoppable in non-ovals.

AJ Allmendinger EXPOSES Why Shane van Gisbergen Is ‘Unstoppable’ at Road Courses

Shane van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger (Via IMAGO and @AJDinger/X)

Before Shane van Gisbergen made his NASCAR debut, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger was the road course racing bar for the rest of the garage to match. He was able to dominate both Cup and O’Reilly Series even in days where his Chevy’s wasn’t the fastest. But since SVG’s entry, he has failed to win regular at RC tracks.

The Cup garage is set for the first road course race of the 2026 season this coming week at COTA, after Sunday’s Atlanta race week. AJ Allmendinger is determined to prove his worth and finally defeat his ex-teammate Shane van Gisbergen in the top division. During his media session, he pointed out that he has studied everything there is about his car to perform next Sunday.

I mean, I can’t. I can’t speak on every other driver. I think, for me, I’ve studied everything that I can study in car-wise, and I’ll continually do it going into next week.

AJ Allmendinger said via Frontstretch.

The veteran them shifted his focus to explaining the factor he thinks that is helping SVG to standout from rest of the garage. He highlighted how racing his majority of his career in the Supercars series, where he has three championships, the Kiwi has mastered how to conserve tire in the long-run without compromising speed.

You know, where he’s really good at is what the Supercar Series, at least from the outside of what I watched, is all about and its tire saving you roll out of your pit stop and you immediately go into tire conservation and that’s where he’s so good at.

AJ Allmendinger added.

There are a handful of racers in the current garage who are capable of matching the one lap of pace of SVG and some of them are capable of winning the pole. But none of them are good enough when it comes to conserve the Goodyear tires as efficient as the Trackhouse Racing driver does. This single factor changes the whole dynamic of the race.

I think the outright speed we’ve shown in qualifying and stuff like that, you can run with them or you can be quicker in them… But he’s so good on still being quick but never overstepping the tire and as Goodyear has softened these tires, it just makes that gap bigger and bigger.

AJ Allmendinger asserted.

AJ Allmendinger is ready for the intense Atlanta battle

Talking about the challenges that he is set to face at EchoPark Speedway, AJ Allmendinger pointed out that the quasi-superspeedway track is intense for everyone involved. He admitted that it demands a lot from the racers both emotionally and physically.

AJ Allmendinger (via catchfence)
AJ Allmendinger (via catchfence)

It’s kind of a quasi-superspeedway, I mean everybody’s running in a pack, and it’s intense. It definitely feels as fast inside the race car as the racetrack looks from the outside. It’s probably one of the most intense races we have, mentally and even somewhat physically.

AJ Allmendinger said.

The comments from the veteran racers seems to be on point, as the track is one of the most chaotic venues in the schedule. AJ, like many of the drivers in the garage will have shot at victory, if he can survive the early race wrecks and find a good run towards the end.

Also Read: Kyle Busch Expose How Atlanta Cup Races “Has Gotten Pretty Chaotic”