Shane van Gisbergen didn’t just stroll into Supercars. Instead, he kicked the door down, parked himself in the front, and stayed there for over a decade. Three championships, eighty career wins, forty-six pole positions, and a knack for making overtakes look like a casual Sunday drive turned him into a living legend back home in New Zealand and Australia. The guy could wrestle a V8 around Bathurst in the rain and make it look like a video game highlight reel.

His reputation? Equal parts fierce competitor and problem-solver behind the wheel. SVG was the kind of driver who figures out a track’s secrets before everyone else has even unpacked their gear. And now that skill set has followed him across the Pacific, where… well, let’s just say some drivers, including veterans like Denny Hamlin, are starting to sweat.

Denny Hamlin breaks down SVG’s NASCAR revolution

Shane van Gisbergen’s leap from Supercars legend to NASCAR phenom began with a bang. Actually, a win. In his Cup Series debut at the Chicago Street Course in 2023, he became the first driver in the modern era to win on his first NASCAR start, joining an elite list that hadn’t seen a rookie win since 1963.

Fast forward to 2025, and SVG has become virtually untouchable on road courses. “We do have to appreciate um, you know, the greatness that we’re seeing on this type of racetrack [road courses], right?” Denny Hamlin said recently on the Actions Detrimental podcast. And damn right, he’s spot on.

He boasts four consecutive road course wins this season. Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma, and most recently Watkins Glen, with the latter victory coming by a staggering 11-plus seconds. At road courses this year alone, van Gisbergen led the most laps in each race he won, including 38 out of 90 at Watkins Glen. “I think if anything, he just continues to get more track time at these tracks,” Hamlin explained the future scenario.

SVG’s road-course dominance is as much about seat time as raw skill. The 2025 schedule features pivotal remaining tests, like the Charlotte ROVAL. And with NASCAR planning to add more road and street courses to the schedule in future seasons, such as San Diego in 2026, this trend may gravitate even more toward SVG’s strengths.

As the sport evolves, SVG’s road course brilliance sets a new benchmark. SVG’s road course performance is something his rivals are scrambling to match, as he redefines what dominance looks like in NASCAR’s most technical arena. As Denny Hamlin perfectly summed it up, “It’s something to be admired and certainly exposes the rest of the field to show that like there’s more left there.” And with every lap, he’s proving that the NASCAR playbook might need a serious rewrite.

SVG signs on for the long haul… and teases what might come after

Shane van Gisbergen’s dominance this year has earned him more than just headlines. In fact, it’s secured his future with Trackhouse Racing. On August 8, Trackhouse announced a multi-year contract extension keeping the New Zealand standout firmly in the driver’s seat of the No. 88 Chevrolet, extending his NASCAR journey well beyond the 2025 season.

“I feel like Trackhouse Racing is my home… everything that has happened since then is because of the chance Justin [Marks] took on me,” SVG said, reflecting on how a one-off 2023 appearance in Chicago transformed into this major breakthrough. With five wins in just thirty-eight races already, SVG has become the winningest foreign-born driver in NASCAR history. The extension reinforces Trackhouse’s confidence in his rare versatility and impact.

But despite locking down his NASCAR future, SVG is already dreaming ahead. Just hours after signing, he spoke candidly about what lies beyond the Cup Series. “I definitely have a lot of years left in me… I can go as long as I want,” he said. While NASCAR remains his main focus, he’s also harboring ambitions abroad. This includes targeting marquee events like the Nürburgring 24, dabbling more in rally car racing, and even exploring European sports car competitions.

Those plans highlight not just his hunger for competition, but his restlessness. It’s the same quality that made him dominate in Supercars and immediately click in NASCAR. For Trackhouse, that global pedigree is gold. For fans, it means watching a true racing chameleon in action and wondering which stage he’ll conquer next.