Kyle Busch gives the ultimate compliment to Shane van Gisbergen before he bags his 3rd consecutive road course pole at Sonoma

Shane van Gisbergen has achieved his third consecutive road course pole position in the lead-up to Sonoma Raceway. But prior to accomplishing the hat trick, Kyle Busch gave SVG his flowers, saying he'd retire first before matching the Kiwi's road course prowess.

Busch commended SVG's heel-and-toe shifting ability, a technique where he uses his right foot to operate the brake and gas pedals for smoother gear changes. This technique is beneficial on road courses due to several braking zones, unlike ovals, where drivers go flat out.

Speaking about Shane van Gisbergen, the #8 Richard Childress Racing driver said (via Frontstretch on X):

“I know that a lot of good road course racers had been good, but he's been able to capitalize on those, and be able to win on those. I think he just grew up doing it, I believe. I mean, just the longevity of it all, but we also had others that had been here that had grown up doing that as well.” [1:03]

“He's just really really good. He has the heel-toe method, I know. For me to try to figure that out, it would be until my retirement before I'm even 10% as good as he is at it. So that's out of the window,” he added.

After the qualifying session at Sonoma Raceway, Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, bagged the pole position with a 74.594-second lap time. Chase Briscoe will start in second place ahead of William Byron and Ross Chastain. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, will start alongside John Hunter Nemechek in row nine.

SVG's previous road course pole positions were earned at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City and on the streets of Chicago last week. He won in both races.

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Surprise leader emerges from the Sonoma Cup Series practice as Shane van Gisbergen finishes third ahead of Chastain and Kyle Larson

During the practice session earlier in the day, AJ Allmendinger surprisingly topped the timing sheets in practice at Sonoma Raceway. He secured the top spot with a lap time of 75.950 seconds, 0.291 seconds clear of Shane van Gisbergen, who ranked third.

Splitting the two was Ty Gibbs with a time of 76.193 seconds. Ross Chastain had the fourth fastest lap, with Kyle Larson rounding out the top five. NASCAR Insider Dustin Albino reported the top-five finishing order in the practice session on X.

“AJ Allmendinger leads the way at Sonoma in Cup Series practice. Allmendinger also topped the five-lap averages by more than three-tenths of a second. Ty Gibbs, SVG, Ross Chastain, and Kyle Larson are the top five on single-lap speed,” Albino wrote.

SVG may be a rookie, but he's no stranger to motorsports. He came to NASCAR as a three-time champion in Supercars, an Australian racing series fielding similar V8-powered machinery to the American stock car racing series. He won his debut Cup race on the streets of Chicago in 2023 before signing a full-time Xfinity Series ride with Kaulig Racing the following year.