NASCAR Insider is clear that Shane van Gisbergen “deserves to be rewarded with a playoff spot”

Shane van Gisbergen is in his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series. 20 races into the season, he has already equalled series veterans like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson in terms of wins.

2025 is shaping up to be a stellar season for the former Supercars icon. He has qualified for the playoffs, something that very few rookies have been able to pull off in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series. By winning last Sunday's race at Sonoma, Gisbergen matched Jeff Gordon’s record of winning three back-to-back road course races as the pole sitter.

Lauding Shane van Gisbergen’s performance in recent weeks, renowned journalist Jordan Bianchi said (via The Teardown podcast),

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable having a driver out of the playoffs if they had three wins. I don’t care how they got those wins. Winning three times in the Cup Series is damn hard to do, like it is really hard to do. There are great drivers, Chase Elliott, who haven’t won three races in a season in a while.”

Gisbergen sits 26th in the driver standings, 52 points behind AJ Allmendinger who currently occupies the final playoff spot. Therefore, some fans think that Gisbergen doesn’t deserve the playoff spot that he currently holds.

Slamming everyone who thinks so, Bianchi added,

“I don’t care! What he is doing deserves recognition and it deserves to be rewarded with a playoff spot.”

Shane van Gisbergen will now prepare for this coming weekend’s race at Dover Motor Speedway. Named AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400, the 400-lap feature will stream live on TNT Sports with exclusive radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Kyle Petty denies Shane van Gisbergen his alleged G.O.A.T. status

NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty, who also happens to be the son of seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty, was impressed with Shane van Gisbergen’s run on road courses lately. But does that mean SVG is the greatest of all time on road courses? Petty doesn’t think so.

He would rather call Gisbergen the greatest of the moment. Explaining his point, the 65-year-old said (via NASCAR on YouTube, 1:10),

“He is the greatest of the moment on road racing. We can’t say anything else. Let’s go all the way back to the 60s. Dan Gurney came into the sport and showed people how to run the road courses. Then along comes Tim Richmond. Then along comes AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.

”Now we have SVG. And he has raised the bar. That’s all he’s done right now,” Petty further added. “Greatest of all time? We use the word great way too much. I’m going to call him the greatest of the moment. That’s where I’m going to stay with it.”

Having said that, there are only six races to go till NASCAR moves to the postseason. The opening round, i.e., the Cook Out Southern 500, will kick off at Darlington Raceway on August 31, 6 pm ET onwards.