“It’s Artificial!” Kevin Harvick Exposes a Caveat in Shane van Gisbergen’s Milestone Nashville Finish

One of the key talking points after last Sunday’s Nashville race was the milestone moment produced by Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen. The Kiwi secured his maiden top-5 finish in an Oval and showcased how much the No:97 team has improved their performance on the non-road course tracks, which has been their major weakness.

But Hall of Famer Kevin Harvick isn’t ready to board the SVG hype train, as he believes the impressive performance has more to do with luck than clear performance. The three times Supercars champion got to start upfront, after the qualifying was rained out and this helped him to avoid the mid-field chaos that often curbed his progress in oval races.

But it’s artificial. It’s somewhat artificial. They race well, but you can’t do that unless you qualify… I think a lot of this stems from the fact that qualifying has been rained out, and it’s given them track position to start up in front of the race.

Kevin Harvick said on his podcast.

The veteran believes this proved Shane van Gisbergen really struggles during qualifying at Ovals, as their recent performance shows with a front raw start, they can consistently secure top-5/top-10 finishes. Kevin Harvick hit the mark with the comment, as the qualifying has become a major challenge to overcome for the Chevy driver.

To me, it exposed a problem that they have with qualifying… If they can get the 97 car to qualify well, he can race up there. I mean, they have the ability to run in the top five/top ten on the ovals just like they did the last couple of weeks.

Kevin Harvick added on Happy Hour podcast.

Denny Hamlin sends a huge warning to Shane van Gisbergen

One factor that helped SVG secure the top 5 finish was his aggressive run on the last two laps, with Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott being in the receiving end. Talking about it on his podcast, race winner Denny Hamlin highlighted how the Kiwi is putting himself in a tough spot.  

SVG had another good race, (but) I tell you, he’s putting himself in some spots though. He’s also sticking it in there late on corner entries, where he’s putting his competition in some not great spots.

Denny Hamlin said.

The veteran pointed out that the Trackhouse Racing driver needs to be careful with his aggression. He pointed out that they racer needs to keep some balance as retaliation might be coming his way for the questionable moves.

I saw him and Chase on the last lap – I think he ran into him two or three times. I would just give warning that eventually they’re not gonna let you just keep doing that without retaliating on you. Maybe they won’t say it on the radio, but just be careful of that SVG.

Denny Hamlin added.

The comments from the veteran racer are on point and shows there are a lot of things the racer needs to be careful about as he is still learning his target, so having a target on his back is a huge negative. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver in the coming races of the season.

Also Read: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Snubs Tyler Reddick and Names Denny Hamlin “as the Clear Favorite to Win the Title”