There’s no doubt that Shane Van Gisbergen is the favorite to win Sunday at Naval Base Coronado.
How can he not be? The Auckland, New Zealand-native has seven road course wins in the NASCAR Cup Series (in 14 starts), won NASCAR’s first-ever street race in Chicago three years ago, and has loads of experience running complex street circuits dating back to his time in Supercars.
The notion that Van Gisbergen should just be handed the trophy, though, doesn’t sit well with the 37-year-old at all.
“It pisses me off a bit, like I feel it disrespects my competition,” Van Gisbergen said during a media availability on Friday. “I hold my competition to a really high level. So yeah, I feel like I’ve spent the last little while talking myself down because I know that there are 10 guys probably that can win on pure pace. In NASCAR, so much stuff can happen with strategies and stages that there are even more guys who can win. So, I don’t think it’s going to be easy, that’s for sure.”
Van Gisbergen was eighth quickest in NASCAR Cup Series practice on Friday, behind Kyle Larson, Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, Connor Zilisch, Carson Hocevar, Corey Heim, and Michael McDowell, many of whom have had success on road courses in the past.
“The track walk was interesting, and then watching the Trucks driving now, it’s very different from how it looked,” Van Gisbergen added. “It seems to be evolving, getting faster and faster. Obviously, it’s bumpy, which everyone seems to be commenting on, and then the risk versus reward looks off the charts, seeing even the guy doing the pole lap there crashed across the line [Kaden Honeycutt], and then Justin [Marks] having an issue, as well. It looks very difficult.”
While his teammate for the weekend, Kevin Magnussen, says that Naval Base Coronado was the most extreme racetrack he’s driven on in his motorsports career, Van Gisbergen says that he’s faced “some stinkers” in his time, and that the 3.4-mile racetrack is “pretty smooth in some spots compared to some.”
Nonetheless, the Trackhouse Racing driver admits that Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Naval Base Coronado is going to be treacherous, with how difficult the 16-turn, 3.4-mile street course is panning out to be.
“The trouble spots, you start at one and count to 16. Every corner looks like someone’s had an issue. Every single section has its own problem, and I think I’ve seen someone make an error or do something wrong at each one,” Van Gisbergen commented.
“Every corner looks difficult, and I don’t think there’s a possibility of doing a perfect lap here. Qualifying tomorrow is amazing. The first lap of the track, the first three corners, we’re not going to have done before. You know, we’re not going to have seen them that day, and the lap starts for them. I find that always fascinating and difficult in NASCAR, and I think tomorrow’s qualifying is going to be crazy. You see it now with the red flags and people trying to get clear laps, so it’s going to be really hard to execute.”
And when Shane Van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion and a driver who has managed to collect 12 NASCAR National Series wins on road courses by being mistake-free, tells you that perfection is likely unattainable, then you best believe the field, the No. 97 Red Bull Chevrolet included, is in for a challenge.
Photo: James Gilbert, Getty Images
