Denny Hamlin’s mastery at Richmond didn’t just impress fans on qualifying day, it left one of NASCAR’s rising stars genuinely stunned. A road-course ace took a closer look at Hamlin’s driving data and found something far from ordinary. What followed was a moment of unexpected respect that had the paddock buzzing.

In almost 20 years, Denny Hamlin has built his reputation as one of NASCAR’s most complete drivers, capable of winning on short tracks, superspeedways, and everything in between. Yet even Hamlin himself admits that road courses have never been his strongest suit. The 58-time Cup winner once said, “If we exclude the road courses, I believe I’m the best driver in NASCAR right now..” And at Richmond, the sport’s ultimate oval craftsman crossed paths with the road-racing phenom reshaping the game.

Enter Shane van Gisbergen, the guy who keeps making America’s hardest right-turn races look easy. While studying Denny Hamlin’s SMT data, he noticed throttle techniques unlike anything he had used before. It was an eye-opening look at how one of NASCAR’s oval experts approaches speed. The question now is how much of that knowledge SVG can adapt to his own style. The answer he shared in his own words.

SVG decodes Denny Hamlin’s oval secrets

In his pre-race interview on YouTube, the Trackhouse Racing driver was asked about studying Denny Hamlin’s SMT data at Richmond. With Hamlin nearby, the question took on extra weight, SVG even turned toward him mid-answer to quip, “Thanks for the tips this week, mate.” The lighthearted nod underscored just how unusual Hamlin’s driving looked to him once it was translated into numbers and lines.

Shane admitted he had never come across anything like it before. Hamlin’s throttle trace, full of sudden stabs and quick gear changes, looked more like a heartbeat than a smooth graph. “It’s just amazing… his style is very unique,” he said, contrasting it with his own background.

Coming from Supercars and already crowned NASCAR’s road-course king, SVG is used to building lap speed through rhythm and precision. “..it’s just techniques I’ve never come across or needed to use before…I’m trying to be as open-minded as possible and changing my style..”.

SVG was careful not to oversell the idea that he’d mimic Hamlin immediately. “I’ll probably won’t try it today in practice,” he explained, before adding that if the race gave him breathing room, he’d “experiment a bit.” That patience reflects his methodical approach: treating each oval weekend as an education, gathering techniques from the sport’s best rather than forcing wholesale changes overnight.

Shane van Gisbergen has quickly carved out a reputation whenever NASCAR turns right. In less than two seasons, he’s piled up road course victories at Chicago, Sonoma, Mexico City, and most recently in Watkins Glen, a streak that has already put him in rare company. Yet the story shifts once the schedule returns to ovals.

At ovals, SVG finishes often in the mid-20s and no top-10 yet to his name. It’s a contrast that highlights both his road-racing mastery and the challenge of adapting to NASCAR’s bread-and-butter tracks. So, learning from a veteran’s stats seems like the right thing to do.

SMT, NASCAR’s official telemetry system, provides teams and drivers detailed overlays of their inputs and vehicle behavior.

Hamlin’s traces showed sudden throttle “stabs” and frequent gear changes within short segments, techniques that reset car balance and punch exit speed. SVG admitted he had never come across or needed to use this style before, highlighting how unconventional it appeared to him.

SVG breaks down his learning curve on short tracks

Calling himself a “clean sheet of paper with oval driving,” van Gisbergen framed the learning curve as an opportunity. Every veteran in the Cup field, he noted, has subtle differences in their driving, and Hamlin’s throttle stabbing is just one example.

Asked about his process of adapting to ovals, he pointed straight to the veterans he’s been studying, apart from Denny Hamlin, he mentioned Ross Chastain. “Ross’ car is probably most similar to how mine’s going to be, so I’ve been trying to just see what they were doing with gears. You can change gear a lot here, and it changes the car balance quite a lot. I just try and study those two guys, but, you know, at different tracks, it might be different people whoever stands out.”

That approach has shaped how SVG views short tracks as a whole. Even if the results haven’t matched his confidence, he believes the tools are there. “The short tracks… I feel sort of most competitive and feel most comfortable, I guess, to push, but the results haven’t shown that,” he said.

The difference, he explained, comes down to execution. “I feel like my lap times and speed in sections of the race are good; I just got to put it all together.”

To him, short tracks reward creativity. With gear changes, braking, and tire management all in the driver’s hands, SVG sees an opening to carve his own style just as Hamlin and Chastain have in their own ways.