Shane van Gisbergen has turned NASCAR’s road courses into his personal playground, leaving the competition scrambling to keep up. The 2025 season’s six road courses with Chicago, Mexico City, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Circuit of the Americas, and the Charlotte Roval, have been SVG’s stage, with back-to-back wins in Chicago and Mexico City. In Chicago, he snagged pole and led 38 laps, while Mexico City saw a masterclass in fuel strategy and a late-race surge that left the field in his dust. His dominance isn’t just numbers; it’s the kind of performance that makes jaws drop across the paddock. Now, Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup champion, has joined the SVG admiration club, but with a twist.
Speaking at Sonoma, Busch didn’t just tip his cap; he threw in some classic wit, admitting there’s no catching the Kiwi on road courses. His comments, laced with humor and respect, show just how untouchable SVG has become on NASCAR’s twisty tracks.
When Frontstretch asked Busch at Sonoma how SVG dominates road courses, he didn’t dodge the question: “I’m not sure exactly you know. I know that a lot are good. Road course racers have been good but he’s been able to capitalize on those and be able to win on those. I think he’s just grown up doing it. I believe I mean just the longevity of it all but but we’ve also had others that have been here that have grown up just doing that as well so I don’t know.”
.@KyleBusch jokes that “I’d have to retire first” before he could match Shane van Gisbergen’s road course skills pic.twitter.com/ZX3YoLFBOj
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) July 12, 2025
Busch is spot-on about SVG’s roots. The Kiwi’s three Cup wins with Chicago in 2023 and 2025, plus Mexico City in 2025, have built on his Supercars pedigree, where he honed his craft on technical road courses. Leading 23 laps at COTA in March 2025 show how he’s turned that experience into NASCAR gold, outpacing even the sport’s best.
Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup champ, summed it up perfectly: “The only time I watch him is on the TV, because I don’t see him during the race. He’s so far ahead of me … It’s a lot of admiration. I know how good he is.” Blaney called SVG’s Mexico win a “b–t kicking,” marveling at how he put 15 seconds on everyone while sliding “out both ends.” That kind of gap, especially on a street course, is the stuff of legend. SVG’s ability to make it look effortless has even the sport’s biggest names taking notice.
Busch then got cheeky, diving into SVG’s technical edge: “He’s just really really good. He has the heel-toe method I know. So for me to try to figure that out it would be until my retirement before I’m even 10% as good as he is at it so that’s out the window.”
That heel-and-toe talk is key; SVG’s right-foot brake-and-throttle technique, paired with left-foot clutch and shifting, gives him a chassis-balancing edge that’s rare in NASCAR. Veterans like Marcos Ambrose used it, but SVG’s execution is next-level, delivering lap after lap of precision. Busch tried it in a Camaro at Indy but called it “clunky” and slower than his left-foot braking.
However, as Ryan Blaney said in an interview, “Everybody is just like, ‘Well, just learn what he does. Do what he does. I’m like, ‘It would take me 10 years to get halfway to what Shane can do with right-foot (braking). I might be done racing by the time I figure that out halfway of how good he is.”
His quip about needing until retirement to reach “10%” of SVG’s skill is pure Busch: funny, honest, and a nod to the Kiwi’s untouchable road-course game.
Could Busch be leaving RCR ?
While SVG’s tearing up road courses, Kyle Busch is grappling with a different challenge: a career-long winless streak of over 70 races since Gateway in June 2023. On the Stacking Pennies podcast, Corey LaJoie stirred the pot, suggesting Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy might see new hands in 2026 if the 40-year-old gets fed up with losing.
Despite a hot start at RCR with three wins in his first 15 races in 2023, Busch’s drought has sparked rumors. LaJoie hinted at a shakeup, saying, “Some big dominoes are going to fall. It just takes Kyle Busch leaving, plugging Suarez in.”
Daniel Suarez’s exit from Trackhouse Racing after 2025, combined with charter uncertainty for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, could throw the driver market into chaos. If 23XI loses its charter, drivers like Tyler Reddick, with contract clauses allowing exits, might jump ship, shaking up seats across the grid.
Busch’s contract runs through 2026, but LaJoie’s comments suggest he might walk if wins don’t come. Against SVG’s road-course brilliance, where Busch admits he’s outclassed, the pressure’s mounting for the veteran to rediscover his spark or risk a seismic shift in his NASCAR future.
The post “I’d Have To Retire”: Kyle Busch’s Responds with Wit as He Concedes Inferiority to SVG’s Dominance appeared first on EssentiallySports.
