Shane van Gisbergen takes notes from Denny Hamlin's "unique" approach as he works to define his racing style 

Shane van Gisbergen is taking his oval game seriously and is looking at Denny Hamlin for inspiration. The road course ace admitted that Hamlin's approach wasn't something he'd previously encountered. Although SVG expressed his willingness to be 'open minded', he remained wary of trying out new tricks unless certain race conditions warranted it.

Apart from SVG, Hamlin is the only other driver with four wins this season, and it's only apt that van Gisbergen studies his techniques. The supercars champion generally has an edge over the field when it comes to road courses, but his oval game is yet to reach its potential.

He has shown some marginal gains these last few rounds, landing top-20 results more often than not. However, if he were to make any serious progress in the post-season, he needs to survive ovals until the Charlotte Roval road course.

That said, the New Zealander had this to say about his observations on Hamlin's driving style.

"His style is very unique the way, you know, he's mainly using a different gear and stabbing at the throttle and it's just techniques I've never come across or needed to use before. But in NASCAR, there's so many different ways to get the car around the track fast. And I'm trying to be as open-minded as possible and changing my style," he said in a media session at Richmond(via Frontstretch).

"And especially for a track I've never never been to before. And you know, I'll probably won't try it today in practice, but if it gets stalled out in the race and or in a moment where I've got time to try stuff, I'll experiment a bit," he added.

Shane van Gisbergen is no lightweight himself, for he also carries a unique driving style that sets him apart on road courses. His mastery of the heel-toe downshift is a technique that modern NASCAR drivers have long abandoned. Moreover, his late braking ability allows him to carry 7-10 mph through critical corners, which amounts to 0.3-0.5 seconds per lap.

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Shane van Gisbergen took a jab at Connor Zilisch's 'gymnastics'

Shane van Gisbergen took a record breaking fourth win as a rookie last week, followed by his Trackhouse Racing teammates, Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain, who also found themselves in the top-10. Reflecting on the same, the 36-year-old poked fun at Connor Zilisch's absence from the event due to his collarbone injury. The 18-year-old was supposed to drive for Trackhouse before his victory lane celebrations on Saturday(August 9) played spoilsport.

“It was really cool to see 3 @TeamTrackhouse cars in the top-10 last week, it could’ve been 4 if @ConnorZilisch didn’t do gymnastics!” SVG said. (via NASCAR reporter Peter Stratta)

Peter Stratta

@peterstratta

“It was really cool to see 3 @TeamTrackhouse cars in the top-10 last week, it could’ve been 4 if @ConnorZilisch didn’t do gymnastics!” @shanevg97 is taking questions a week after his fourth win of 2025 from @WGI. #NASCAR

Notably, Shane van Gisbergen was taken out by Zilisch in the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen. The pair were battling for the lead when Zilisch made contact with SVG's rear and spun him out of the race.