Moments after his Toyota Save Mart 350 win at Sonoma, Shane van Gisbergen landed a defining verdict on NASCAR. By comparing it against Formula 1, the Trackhouse Racing driver put stock car racing's competitiveness on top, as he poked at F1's predictability.

"At San Diego, I think it was some stupid stat like 80% of people hadn't gone to a NASCAR race before," SVG told the media before the race. "And that's why it's cool going to new places and seeing new people. I think you know you introduce them to what the sport is like, and then hopefully we have good races the weeks after, and it keeps them engaged. I think our sport is really awesome as a motorsport."

Following this, the Trackhouse Racing driver challenged F1's competitiveness with NASCAR's. He mentioned how the winners in Formula 1 can often be predicted, given that the cars make all the difference. However, it is not the same in NASCAR, as most of them are evenly matched.

"I think our sport is really awesome as a motorsport. You know, you don't know who's going to win. Whereas you watch F1, there are three guys who are going to win, you know. I think our sport's really cool. Even at a road course, there's 10 guys who can win. I think that's really cool," SVG further added in the interview uploaded by Cup Scene on YouTube.

For instance, only three drivers, Kimi Antonelli, George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton won eight races this season, with Antonelli winning the first five of them. While in NASCAR, there have been eight race winners in 18 races so far.

In fact, despite SVG being the road course master, he has seen serious competition this year from other road course experts like Tyler Reddick, who beat him at COTA. Sunday's Sonoma race also became very competitive in the final laps, where SVG had to defend a hard-charging Chase Briscoe.

Ultimately, SVG, who started the race from sixth place, held off Chase Briscoe to claim his second win of the season. With the victory at Sonoma, Shane van Gisbergen picked up eight wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, and all of his eight wins were at the road courses. He also has two O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race wins, and those too came at such tracks.

Briscoe hailed SVG as one of the greatest, snubbed F1

Fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver and Sonoma runner-up Chase Briscoe lauded Shane van Gisbergen after the Trackhouse Racing driver pulled off yet another stunner on Sunday. Briscoe, who finished second to SVG in two back-to-back years, said about the Kiwi driver:

"I think that Shane is one of the greatest road course drivers in the world. The F1 crowd probably doesn't want to hear that, but I mean, he's an unbelievable road racer. When it comes to tire management, I mean, I feel like he is the best in the world," as reported by Frontstretch.

"It is unbelievable just how he can make speed but also save tires. So yeah, just frustrated with myself. I felt like I was playing one-on-one against Michael Jordan," Briscoe told Frontstretch.

Thanks to the victory, SVG improved his position in the standings by three places and is currently in 14th place with 425 points. And we have a new leader now as Denny Hamlin sits at the top with 719 points, one point ahead of his 23XI Racing driver, Tyler Reddick.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason