Car racing is an intriguing sport, but like all others, it comes with its own risk factors. And who would know that better than Shane van Gisbergen? After his successful stint in Australia’s premier Supercars Championship, the driver is set to compete full-time in the Xfinity Series. While his promising performance at last year’s Chicago Street race had fans hopeful of a stellar debut in NASCAR’s second division, the truth was far from it. The Kiwi racer faced some challenging times at the Daytona International Speedway last week. Driving for Kaulig Racing, SVG got entangled in multiple car crashes which he opined were through no fault of his own during a pre-race presser ahead of the Atlanta clash this weekend.

Furthermore, the driver also talked about his experience and revealed how NASCAR is different from Supercars.

Shane van Gisbergen has an optimistic mindset

NASCAR tracks can be pretty brutal at times. While the speedways already pose a major challenge to competitors, crashes and cautions make winning an uphill task, which Shane van Gisbergen recently got familiarized with. So, when a reporter asked SVG about his Daytona outing and the takeaways that he was going to implement at the upcoming race, the driver revealed how he learned that crashes are an integral part of racing in NASCAR and that, sometimes, it is impossible to avoid them.

“It was a pretty full-on weekend for me. I learned a lot. I got involved in seven crashes and only one was my fault really. But, yeah, I just tried to like analyze everyone and you know all the six that I got involved in. I couldn’t figure out a way I could have done things different, you know. It’s just the style of that racing and something that I have to accept,” said Shane van Gisbergen.

Read More: SVG Makes a Bold 3-Word NASCAR Confession as He Shrugs Off Supercars Career

Revealing how he’s never had to worry about crashing out of a race ever before in his career, van Gisbergen also commended the “amazing” mindset of drivers who go into a race knowing that their run might get ruined because of someone else.

“You got to run the risk of getting that good result, but you’re probably gonna get into a crash and it’s an amazing mindset to go racing with something I’ve never had to do before going to a race. Thinking it’s 50/50, whether you’ll crash or you won’t, so it’s pretty different,” SVG shared.

Even though most of the crashes that van Gisbergen was involved in weren’t his fault, the one crash where he actually felt like he was responsible left him deeply regretful. In an interview with Frontstretch, SVG reflected on his run-in with Jeb Burton and didn’t shy away from criticizing himself.

Car wrecks at Daytona that denied SVG of a good finish

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Despite a brilliant start at this year’s Xfinity Series race at Daytona, Shane van Gisbergen was only able to finish P12, thanks to multiple car crashes. On one occasion, his car was whirled by Jesse Love. And on another, it was him that spun out Jordan Anderson Racing driver Jeb Burton. Owing to a miscalculation, on lap 97, SVG hooked Burton while the former was looking to move from low to high. However, the driver promptly owned up to his mistake in a post-race interview with Frontstretch.

“I’m pretty pissed and disappointed with myself, misjudging the 27. I spun him out and heard I just misjudged the side draft. He was coming around me quick and as I went to get up I sort of hung him back a bit..[..]..so all in all I learned a lot but pretty bummed for spinning someone else out,” the driver shared.

It seems the Kiwi is still learning the ropes when it comes to stock car racing. Rest assured, once he does, he’ll surely emerge as one of the top contenders in NASCAR. What do you think?