“I think he wanted to pass me fairly, and I don’t think that’s the way he wanted to do it, which I really do respect.” Connor Zilisch tipped his hat in reverence to his fantastic teammate last Saturday. Dale Earnhardt Jr’s 18-year-old prodigy was dealing with none other than road course racing god Shane van Gisbergen. The latter put in all the effort to rattle the JRM youngster’s plans in Sonoma Raceway, without racing him dirty. Although SVG admits to wanting to race differently.

After all, the Kiwi speedster has been on a raging streak. Since NASCAR’s visit to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Shane van Gisbergen has clinched four road course race wins. It could have been five if not for Connor Zilisch’s Sonoma glory, and also if not for SVG’s lenience.

Shane van Gisbergen prioritized teamwork

Well, Connor Zilisch already got a taste of SVG’s determination. During the Xfinity Series race in Chicago, SVG entered Turn 1 on Zilisch’s left on the final restart. The Kiwi native ran him wide to the wall on the corner exit, forcing Zilisch to either lift or hit the wall. That eventually landed SVG the win. At Sonoma Raceway, Shane van Gisbergen had more opportunities to get even more aggressive. As the two JR Motorsports got locked in another ferocious fight, SVG charged to Zilisch’s No. 88 bumper. But instead of knocking him out of the way, the No. 9 JRM driver opted to let him go. Entering the final hairpin in Turn 11 right on Zilisch’s rear, SVG consciously decided to take the outside instead of getting snug.

In a recent interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Shane van Gisbergen said that it was not just kindness. The Kiwi speedster admitted that he ‘spared’ Connor Zilisch in Sonoma: “Yeah, I raced him as a teammate rather than a friend, right? …You don’t wanna wreck your own team’s cars, you know? If it wasn’t a teammate, I probably wouldn’t have gone down the outside of the last corner.” SVG laid out the options which were on the table: “The other two options are you follow him down the corner, or you drive into the back of him, push him wide, and win the race. Even if that would be great, it wouldn’t feel good, especially doing that to a teammate.”

Shane van Gisbergen drove under Dale Jr.’s banner, the same banner that Connor Zilisch also upholds. The latter may upgrade to the Cup Series next year as SVG’s teammate in Tarakihis Racing, further getting spared from SVG’s approach to other rivals. The Kiwi continued, “If it were anyone else in the field, you would probably highly consider giving them a little bump. It definitely did change it…Like Turn 7, I ran into the back of him when he blocked there…We both couldn’t start. I pushed him wide, and I just waited for him, you know. I could have gone…before the esses, but I didn’t wanna do it like that.”

While the NASCAR world swoons over Shane van Gisbergen’s genius, there are some outliers. They questioned the 36-year-old’s road course racing brilliance.

Staying grounded in reality

Well, Connor Zilisch did offer solid resistance to the former Supercars champion. Granted, Shane van Gisbergen was being lenient in his driving. However, Zilisch was relentless. Both of them led a combined 70 of the scheduled 79 laps in Saturday’s Pit Boss / FoodMaxx 250, and Zilisch finished 0.438 seconds ahead of the Kiwi native. With a limited experience under Zilisch’s belt – he is an Xfinity Series rookie – the 18-year-old’s winning moves are nothing short of jaw-dropping. That is what elicited praise from 7-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson: “You know to watch him (SVG) and Zilisch yesterday duke it out. What we saw in Chicago, SVG is really impressive, but to see a young driver come along and duke it out with him at this level is quite impressive as well.”

What is more, Shane van Gisbergen is hardly the first foreign driver to whip up a storm in NASCAR. Marcos Ambrose, another Supercars star, won 7 NASCAR races (5 in Xfinity and 2 in Cup). Kyle Petty mentioned him and a few other road course racing greats while dialing down SVG’s brilliance. Petty said, “He is the greatest of the moment in road racing. We can’t say anything else. Let’s go all the way back to the 60s. Dan Gurney came into the sport and showed people how to run the road courses. Then along comes Tim Richmond. Then along comes AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose. Now we have SVG. And he has raised the bar. That’s all he’s done right now. Greatest of all time? We use the word great way too much. I’m going to call him the greatest of the moment.”

Despite the doubts about his GOAT status, Shane van Gisbergen is focused, nonetheless. With Connor Zilisch on his heels, he could only get better at his craft.