Kyle Petty has shared his thoughts on Shane van Gisbergen’s growing reputation in NASCAR’s Cup Series. Speaking in a video posted by Performance Racing Network (PRN) on X, Petty questioned how the New Zealander’s career should be judged if most of his victories come only on road courses.PRN posted the clip with a caption wondering if van Gisbergen could make a playoff run this season. The caption read,“If Shane van Gisbergen dominates road courses, racking up 15-20 wins, how will his career be judged? Too early to call it greatness—let’s see how this season plays out! Will he make a playoff run? #NASCAR #ShaneVanGisbergen”In the video, Kyle Petty pointed out that there are “so many variables” in van Gisbergen’s story and agreed with PRN’s Brad Gillie that it is too early to call him one of the greats. In his own words,“What is Shane Van Gisbergen wins 15 or 20 races in his career and they’re all road courses? What are we gonna say then? How are you gonna look at that thing? So I think there’s so many variables to this story like Brad just said, let’s pump the brakes on the greatness and this stuff and see how this plays out.”Shane van Gisbergen’s most recent victory came at Watkins Glen International, where he set a Cup Series rookie record with his fourth win of the season. It was also a personally significant moment for him since his father, Robert, attended a race for the first time this year. The two last saw each other at Christmas, making the moment emotional for the Auckland native.The Trackhouse Racing driver became only the third in Cup history, alongside Chase Elliott and Jeff Gordon, to win four straight races on road or street courses. Unlike his previous wins in Mexico City, Chicago, and Sonoma, he didn’t start from pole at Watkins Glen. After qualifying second, he took the lead on lap 25 and maintained a smooth, controlled run to finish more than 11 seconds ahead of Christopher Bell. Van Gisbergen’s five wins in just 38 career starts put him behind only Elliott and Kyle Larson among active drivers in road and street course wins.Kyle Petty responds to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Next Gen criticismFollowing the August 3 Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said NASCAR’s Next Gen car feels more like a sports car than a traditional stock car. He cited features like the rear diffuser, low-profile tires, and large brakes, adding that while he doesn’t “love” the car, the investment teams have made means it’s here to stay.Kyle Petty sees it differently. Speaking via PRN, he said NASCAR hasn’t raced true stock cars since 1958, when the series was still the Grand National Series.“We have not raced stock cars since about 1958. We don't race stock cars, we race NASCARs. This is the NASCAR car that we have today,” Petty shared.Kyle Petty added that past changes, such as tubular chassis in the 1970s and the switch to radial tires, also drew complaints at the time.The comments from Kyle Petty over the sport’s modern cars comes as NASCAR heads to Richmond Raceway for the August 16 Cook Out 400. The 400-lap race on the 0.75-mile oval will be televised on USA, with live updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.