In what started out as a one off affair, New Zealand born race driver Shane van Gisbergen came to the United States to run in the inaugural Chicago Street race in a special project Trackhouse Racing car. The three time Australian SuperCars champion showed off not only his skills on road and street courses; but also how to drive in the rain. SVG as he was called – no one could pronounce his name – won the race…and decided that racing in NASCAR was what he wanted to do.
Now a full time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, van Gisbergen has won four races – all of them on road and street courses. This season he has earned three of his four races over a five week period.
But the naysayers can only repeat that the Kiwi driver cannot win on an oval.
Shane van Gisbergen has been driving on road courses his entire life; an oval track has only been a part of his racing career less than two years and it requires a whole different set of skills.
For many years NASCAR ran only two road courses each season – Sonoma and Watkins Glen. Now they run six or seven road course races each season.
Since NASCARA began running on road courses in 1972, there has been only 20 different drivers to win at least one race on a road course.
All Time Road Course Race winners:
Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Ernie Irvan, and Geoffrey Bodine are all tied with three wins.
Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, and Shane van Gisbergen are tied with four wins.
Martin Truex Jr, Darrell Waltrip, and Tim Richmond are tied with five wins.
Rusty Wallace, Kyle Larson, Ricky Rudd, and Bobby Allison are tied with six wins.
Chase Elliott has seven wins.
Tony Stewart has eight wins.
And Jeff Gordon tops the list with nine road course wins.
Of the 16 active drivers who have won on a road course; eight of them have a single win – Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, and Chris Buescher. Alex Bowman is the only other person to win on the streets of Chicago.
William Byron has two wins.
AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, and Tyler Reddick each have three wins.
Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Busch each have four road course wins.
Kyle Larson has five wins.
And Chase Elliott tops the list with seven road course wins.