Kyle Larson details issue Shane van Gisbergen must | Sports News

Kyle Larson pinpointed the world of Shane van Gisbergen’s driving that the 36-year-old must improve on so as to really turn into “dominant.”

In current weeks, Van Gisbergen has displayed his unparalleled dominance on avenue circuits upon securing spectacular wins on the Grant Park 165 and Viva Mexico 250 — thereby changing into only one of 4 drivers with a number of victories within the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. On Saturday, he snagged pole at Sonoma Raceway forward of the Toyota Save Mart 350, although Larson expressed confidence that he’d be capable to put a stop to the No. 88 Chevrolet driver’s win streak.

Despite his daring declaration, Larson nonetheless gave Van Gisbergen his due reward whereas chatting with reporters forward of Saturday’s qualifying session. “You know, he’s so good, and it’s rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is,” he said.

“He’s way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff. And he’s got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own because the rest of the world does it — right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Like, there’s zero chance I can learn how to do that. And even if I did, like there’s zero chance that I can have it be better than what I’m probably doing with left-foot braking. So yeah, he’s just so good.”

Though few would question Van Gisbergen’s driving capabilities on road courses, Larson acknowledged that the Kiwi driver is still finding his footing on ovals. “He’s still new to the oval stuff, so he’s going to continue to get better at that,” Larson stated. “And, yeah, I mean, if he can figure out the ovals, he’s going to be dominant.”

While making an look on ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’ podcast, Van Gisbergen make clear the immense work he’s put in to improve at NASCAR’s more conventional tracks. “I think we’re getting a lot better,” he started.

“The last couple of months, we’ve really stepped up. I was probably a little bit too conservative at the start of the year, especially in qualifying. Then you start at the back and there’s no air back there, with downforce and stuff, but I didn’t feel like I was forcing it. I wasn’t making too many mistakes, just kind of happy to be there, drive around and learn as much as I could.

“The last few weeks, I’ve sort of been taking more risk, particularly in qualifying, and I kind of feel like we’re on the back of that midfield now. It’s only a tenth or two to the back of the top ten in qualifying.

“It feels like we’re a lot closer. Especially to my teammates, as well. I try, because some weeks we miss it a little bit with the car and I’m racing my teammates in the mid-twenties, so I kind of have to gauge off that.

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“Ross has this amazing ability, particularly late in the race, to get an amazing result out of a car that’s P20. He’ll drag it well inside the top ten. So I definitely need to get better at my restarts and car placement like him. Certainly, I feel like I’m getting a lot better. I find tracks like Bristol are still — that was a really tough track for me.

“The Darlingtons and mile-and-a-halves — Michigan, I felt competitive and confident to move around and search for air, whereas sometimes I haven’t been. So, I feel like I’m getting better.”