Shane van Gisbergen is statistically the best driver in the NASCAR Cup Series when it comes to road courses. But surprisingly, this is not something SVG is proud of.

From fans, experts, and fellow drivers, everyone is aware of van Gisbergen's road course prowess. As a result, they always give him an upper hand in such races. But SVG finds it disrespectful, given there are multiple drivers who can be equally good on their days.

"I feel like it is too much, like we've obviously had a good run and won a lot of races, but true execution," van Gisbergen said on the Happy Hour podcast.

"There was a lot of races last year where we probably weren't the fastest. I think even Mexico, Ty Gibbs was beating us until we got him on strategy, he got an unlucky yellow there. So there's times like that that have added up. We've been on the good end of it."

Following this, he added how Reddick was faster in Chicago, but SVG and his team managed to pull it off. And now, as NASCAR moves to Sonoma this week, there is a spotlight on SVG again, but he believes it is a way of undermining the opposition.

"I think I said on the weekend, there's ten guys probably on a road course who can put it together and win if they get it right on that weekend. We're obviously going to be close to the front, but there's guys who are going to compete and probably be better than us at points.

"So yeah, I think being such a clear favorite is a little disrespectful to those guys and their teams," SVG further added on Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour podcast.

Shane van Gisbergen comes from a lifelong supercar career, where he experienced elite braking mechanics and unmatched traffic management. As a result, he was always ahead of the Cup Series drivers in general.

But that doesn't mean he's the only one. Tyler Reddick's pace was clearly seen in the COTA race, where SVG's flawless run also couldn't catch him in the final laps. Corey Heim and Connor Zilisch are other experts of the format.

That's exactly why SVG believes being labeled the overwhelming favorite is unfair. It simply overlooks the talent of other drivers and teams capable of winning on any given weekend.

Nonetheless, at the upcoming Sonoma O'Reilly race, it's still SVG who will start on top.

Shane van Gisbergen secures Sonoma pole in O'Reilly

Known for his road course talent, Shane van Gisbergen made use of it and claimed the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series pole position for the race on Saturday. Having clocked 95.483, he beat Brent Crews for the pole.

“Pretty awesome day. It’s a tricky track here with the wind, the way the direction was today.

“It’s always fun driving for JR Motorsports. We get excited every time we get a chance to drive the No. 9 car. We know we’ve got a great shot to win the race… All practice we were quick, and my lap in qualifying was pretty decent as well, so stoked to start up front,” he said, as reported by NASCAR.com.

Throughout his career, SVG picked up 12 wins in the NASCAR O'Reilly and Cup Series combined, all of which have come on road course races. With that said, it will be interesting to see if SVG manages to increase his tally this weekend.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason