Kyle Larson shed light on the area of Shane van Gisbergen’s driving that can be improved (Image: Getty)
Kyle Larson pinpointed the area of Shane van Gisbergen’s driving that the 36-year-old must improve on in order to truly become “dominant.”
In recent weeks, Van Gisbergen has displayed his unparalleled dominance on street circuits upon securing impressive wins at the Grant Park 165 and Viva Mexico 250 — thereby becoming just one of four drivers with multiple victories in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. On Saturday, he snagged pole at Sonoma Raceway ahead of the Toyota Save Mart 350, though Larson expressed confidence that he’d be able to put a stop to the No. 88 Chevrolet driver’s win streak.
Despite his bold declaration, Larson still gave Van Gisbergen his due praise while speaking to reporters ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session. “You know, he’s so good, and it’s rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is,” he said.
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“He’s way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff. And he’s got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own because the rest of the world does it — right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Like, there’s zero chance I can learn how to do that. And even if I did, like there’s zero chance that I can have it be better than what I’m probably doing with left-foot braking. So yeah, he’s just so good.”
Van Gisbergen has dominated on road courses but struggled to find similar success on ovals (Image: Getty)
While making an appearance on ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’ podcast, Van Gisbergen shed light on the immense work he’s put in to improve at NASCAR’s more traditional tracks. “I think we’re getting a lot better,” he began.
“The last couple of months, we’ve really stepped up. I was probably a little bit too conservative at the start of the year, especially in qualifying. Then you start at the back and there’s no air back there, with downforce and stuff, but I didn’t feel like I was forcing it. I wasn’t making too many mistakes, just kind of happy to be there, drive around and learn as much as I could.
“The last few weeks, I’ve sort of been taking more risk, particularly in qualifying, and I kind of feel like we’re on the back of that midfield now. It’s only a tenth or two to the back of the top ten in qualifying.
