Shane van Gisbergen Breaks Silence on Brad Keselowski Branding Him ‘Happy Gilmore of NASCAR’

Since his debut race win at Chicago Street Race, Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen has been one of the stars of NASCAR. While he had massive support from the community in 2025, when he finally got a full-time seat with Trackhouse, there was significant group of doubters owing to his lack of oval experience. But SVG is slowly proving people wrong with his performance.  

2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowksi recently gave the perfect analogy to explain the start of three times Supercars champions’ stock car racing career. He called him the Happy Gilmore of NASCAR, the iconic Adam Sandler movie character that showed talent and determination silencing haters. The Trackhouse driver has seen these comments and admitted that it was a fully comment.

I actually saw that on Twitter a couple of times last year, people saying similar stuff, but I saw that clip of his pop up yesterday. I thought it was pretty funny.

Shane van Gisbergen said.

In the same conversation, the veteran racer talked about the noise around him in NASCAR. Shane van Gisbergen asserted that he has never focused on it, as he is focused on himself and becoming a better race car driver. The ex-Supercars racer admitted that NASCAR oval racing is a completely different challenge compared anything he has even been part of.

I try not to read into it and just focus on my own stuff. But it’s tough. This is a completely different discipline, or different sport to anything I’ve done, you know?

Shane van Gisbergen added via Gluckcast Podcast.

Shane van Gisbergen is slowly getting better in ovals

In the same podcast, the veteran talked about how he has improved his oval racing in the last few seasons. He pointed out that he is getting better at it every week, as every time he races in ovals he us having the light bulb moments on different skills.

But I feel that, I keep saying, I feel these, like, light bulb moments every week. Still things are clicking. I’m still getting better and better. I can see where it is now.

Shane van Gisbergen said.

Furthermore, he highlighted how when he started racing in ovals, he has no idea where he was losing the speed, but now had learned a lot of about his weakness as well as how to fix it. But he knows what he learned so far isn’t enough to win race, as there more knowledge left for him to acquire.

You know, whereas when I first started, it felt like, ‘What the hell, where am I losing a second sometimes?’ It’s coming, but I still have so much to learn and to gain. It’s going to keep coming.

Shane van Gisbergen added.

The comments from the veteran racer are point and shows how he understands what needs to be done to become a championship calibres racer in NASCAR. He has the skillset and capability to do it.  The road course domination he has shown over the years will also help him to thrive in the sport.

Also Read: Tyler Reddick Declares Denny Hamlin “Deserves a Lot of Credit” for 23XI Racing’s 2026 Dominance

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