Shane van Gisbergen, or SVG as he’s known, has been tearing up NASCAR’s road courses left, right and center. The New Zealand native, fresh off a stellar rookie Xfinity season, made jaws drop with his second Cup Series win of 2025 at the Grant Park 165 in Chicago on July 6. Starting from the pole, he outran a stacked field to become the winningest foreign-born driver in Cup history, topping Daniel Suárez and Marcos Ambrose with his third career victory.

That followed his dominant Mexico City win on June 15, where he led 60 of 100 laps despite battling illness and a short-staffed Trackhouse Racing crew. The guy’s a road-course beast, no question. His Chicago sweep was historic. SVG became just the second driver, after Kyle Busch in 2016, to win both the Xfinity and Cup races from the pole in one weekend.

His first Cup win in 2023’s inaugural Chicago Street Race set the tone, making him the first since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win a Cup debut. With three wins in 33 Cup starts, SVG’s proving his Supercars-honed street-circuit skills translate big time. Trackhouse owner Justin Marks didn’t hold back, calling him the best road course stock car racer the sport’s ever seen, predicting he’ll leave a legacy as the all-time road-course king.

But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. SVG’s transition to the Cup Series has been rocky on ovals, where he’s stuck in 33rd in points with no top-10s. His Mexico win came after a brutal day, sick as a dog, with Trackhouse’s crew stretched thin due to a delayed flight. Yet, he still burned out his tires and punted a rugby ball into the Chicago crowd, a nod to his Kiwi roots that pairs with Ross Chastain’s watermelon smash and Suárez’s piñata tear. Trackhouse’s second win of 2025, alongside Chastain’s last-to-first Coke 600 and Suárez’s Xfinity Mexico victory, shows the team is on fire.

But just as the Kiwi Speedster is cementing his place as the elite road racer on came the comparisons. NASCAR Classics shared a post on X, with a caption: “Strange but true. @TonyStewart won three of his first 33 career NASCAR Cup Series starts. @shanevg97 won three of his first 33 career NASCAR Cup Series starts.” Jeff Gluck even reshared the post with a message, “Smoke 🤝 Bloke.”

SVG’s celebrations, from rugby balls to burnouts, are becoming a fan favorite, but not everyone’s ready to crown him the next Tony Stewart. Comparing the best racer car driver ever to a road course ringer, just based on initial wins, isn’t the best way to compare the two drivers. While the fans do acknowledge SVG’s mastery, they weren’t sold on the hype or his comparison to Smoke.

Fan reactions: SVG vs. Stewart

Fans lit up the X post, quick to shut down the Stewart-SVG comparison. One said, “Smoke probably wasn’t 27th in points to be fair.” Tony Stewart’s 1999 rookie season was a masterclass, fourth in points, with four wins. SVG, still in his rookie year, is 27th in points with two wins, and even if he bags a couple more wins, he isn’t likely to make a deep playoff run. We saw him struggle in the playoffs last year in the Xfinity Series.

Another fan fired off, “Smoke was not on 3 road courses. Big. Difference. Smoke can win on either, Other guy can only win RC.” USAC Triple Crown, IndyCar Championship, NASCAR Championship, NHRA Top Fuel winner, this is just a list of major achievements by Smoke. If anything, Tony Stewart is compared with the likes of Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt, so comparing him with SVG based of early starts didn’t seem logical to this fan.

The shade kept coming, “Stewart could run on an oval and is a 3 time champion. SVG is not even an average driver on an oval.” Talk about the Kiwi driver’s Achilles’ heels, he is just an average driver when it comes to turning left. Although the Trackhouse Racing star has scored top 20 finishes at tracks like Charlotte and Kansas, he’s just miles off from Smoke’s victories at iconic tracks like Brickyard and Daytona.

One fan got heated, “Tony Stewart did it in a stock car. SVG did it in a sportscar that was specifically designed to cater to him, and destroy the legacies of every other American driver.” Stewart’s 1999 wins came in heavier, less nimble stock cars against a full-time Cup field. SVG’s victories, while impressive, lean on modern Cup cars tailored for road courses, playing to his Supercars strengths.

Finally, a fan summed it up, “Stop making these comparisons to Stewart and Johnson. Guys with 10 championships and almost 140 wins combined. SVG is a one trick pony on the racetrack.” Stewart’s 49 wins and three titles, plus Jimmie Johnson’s seven championships and 83 victories, dwarf SVG’s one Cup win and road-course specialty. Until he proves himself beyond twisty tracks, fans say he’s no match for Smoke’s all-around greatness.