Some around NASCAR are thinking Shane van Gisbergen’s dominance at road courses is a bad thing for the sport. He’s been the class of the field, and no driver has been able to touch him during his four wins in 2025. During the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick revealed he received […]
Some around NASCAR are thinking Shane van Gisbergen’s dominance at road courses is a bad thing for the sport. He’s been the class of the field, and no driver has been able to touch him during his four wins in 2025.
During the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvickrevealed he received a text from Clint Bowyer during the race this past weekend, questioning what the Cup Series should do when it comes to SVG on road courses. That caused a bit of a heated debate, where Harvick made his stance known.
“The interesting debate is , you know, [Clint] Bowyer texted me, ‘I don’t know if I like this.’ I think it’s a debate within the whole NASCAR world,” Harvick stated. “[SVG] coming in here and winning all the road course races and having a road course ringer, which is exactly what Justin Marks set out to do. You’re locking yourself in to having four, five, six — however many races are on the schedule of these road courses with somebody like SVG.
“I don’t think there’s too many people like SVG on a road course. But putting yourself in a position of — I don’t want to say guarantee, but I don’t know any other way to put it.”
In the past, Harvick has won as many as nine races in a season. He likened SVG’s dominance to his past success: “Let’s just look back. I won nine races in a season. Is it unfair that I won nine races in a season? Is it unfair that he’s going to win at least four? He’s already won four, could win five. I mean, is that unfair?” Harvick wondered.
“Does it make it different because he’s a road course guy on road courses winning? Does it make it any different from being a great season? Does it make it different because he’s a road course guy on road courses winning? Does it make it any different from being a great season?”
In the end, Harvick believes it’s simply a genius move by Trackhouse’s Justin Marks, and the sky is the limit with SVG as his driver. You can’t blame him for taking advantage of the rules he’s been given.
“I think the group’s doing a good job, but he doesn’t have the fastest pit crew. They got the tires tight, but they weren’t as fast as the guys. He lost a couple spots on the pit stops that he had. But I think that this type of situation is thinking outside of the box,” Harvick explained. “Justin Marks, he looks like a genius.
“The Project 91 car and everything that they did with that car, bringing those guys over, it created this situation. It led to them figuring out how good [SVG] actually was. Now, it’s led to a multi-year contract extension. … Either way, you’re putting yourself in a position to win four or five races.”
Alas, it remains to be seen if Shane van Gisbergen’s dominance continues on road courses, but Kevin Harvick doesn’t believe there’s anything particularly wrong if it does. The next road course race won’t come until the ROVAL on Oct. 5. We’ll see if he’s still in the title hunt at that time.
Category: General Sports
