Joey Logano is no stranger to adversity. But the 2025 NASCAR season has tested the former champion’s patience like never before. While Logano has managed a win and a couple of top-5s, this year has largely seen him grappling with inconsistent finishes and searching for answers on both ovals and, in particular, road courses. Gone are the days when Logano could rely on experience and raw speed to guarantee results.

Now, he’s facing a new generation of rivals, and one name in particular, Shane van Gisbergen, is making life tough. As the Cup calendar leans heavily into road racing, Logano openly admits that a global superstar is rewriting the script, pushing veterans like him to dig deeper than ever just to keep up. The pressure is building, and it’s clearly getting personal.

SVG’s road mastery leaves Joey Logano scrambling for answers

Shane van Gisbergen’s surge in 2025 has been nothing short of seismic, nowhere more evident than in his first (and dominant) 2025 victory at Mexico City. In the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the New Zealander took control from the start. He won the pole, led 60 of 100 laps, then pulled away from Christopher Bell by a remarkable 16.567 seconds. Yes! That far. Now this is a margin that has not been seen in the Cup Series since 2009.

But this (and other) dominant performance by SVG on road courses is starting to bother Joey Logano as he grapples with his struggles this season. “He’s starting to piss me off a little bit,” Logano candidly admitted. However, looking at the stats, Logano’s frustration is justified. SVG now leads the series in road course wins. He is tied for most total wins in 2025 with Bell, Hamlin, and Larson, but all of van Gisbergen’s have come where left and right turns separate the great from the good.

After Mexico, SVG immediately backed up his triumph with a repeat performance at Chicago and then recently at Sonoma Raceway. Once again, Shane van Gisbergen stamped his authority on a marquee road course by leading 97 of 110 laps and mastering every restart. Sonoma marked his third road course win out of four opportunities this year. “He is freaking fast. He’s got so much speed on these road courses, it’s incredible,” Joey Logano rightly explained.

However, Chase Briscoe was in awe of SVG after his Pocono performance. He even compared SVG to basketball GOAT and 23XI co-owner, Michael Jordan. “I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s probably what it was like. That guy is unbelievable on road courses,” Chase Briscoe said.

Van Gisbergen’s success is no accident; it’s the product of relentless, detail-oriented preparation and a storied background in Australian Supercars, where he claimed three championships and over 80 wins. “I think about the analogy a little bit of how he’s gotten so good at something, tiny you put into something and the reward you get,” Logano explained. Then, he dissected the reason behind SVG’s mastery by comparing him to another NASCAR great, Kyle Larson.

Joey Logano sees Kyle Larson’s mastery as a road map for SVG’s dominance

Joey Logano has never been shy about respecting greatness, but his current frustrations with Shane van Gisbergen’s road course prowess come laced with the kind of competitive envy once reserved for drivers like Kyle Larson. Drawing a direct line to Larson, Logano offered an analogy: “I was thinking about how Kyle Larson has gotten so good at running the wall at ovals. But he has taken so much time to get good. Made many mistakes. Now he just sees the reward.”

Kyle Larson continues to set the bar for oval racing with his signature wall-riding technique, a craft honed across years of pushing limits on high-speed circuits like Homestead-Miami and Kansas. Renowned for skimming the outside wall in search of the fastest line (a skill that confounds rivals and excites fans), Larson’s precision has paid tangible dividends throughout the 2025 season.

Statistically, Larson’s year stands among the best in the Cup Series. After 20 races, he’s tied for the series lead. He has three wins and has notched 9 top-five finishes and 12 top-10s. With an average finish of 12.4, Larson’s consistency is evident. Notably, at Kansas, he led an eye-popping 221 of 267 laps, showcasing his jaw-dropping technique.

“SVG has taken the time to get good at road courses, and he is specialized in that. He’s being better than everybody else this year. It’s amazing,” Logano explained the parallels between the two drivers. Both represent the gold standard in their respective specialties. It is the result of relentless focus, repeated trial-and-error, and sustained commitment.

And for Logano and his peers, the challenge now is clear. Innovation, specialization, and relentless practice are the new prerequisites for winning at the sport’s highest level. Will Joey Logano be able to catch up to Larson and SVG, or will this season turn out to be one to forget? Only time will tell.