Rising star Shane van Gisbergen delivered another incredible drive on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, fighting with fellow NASCAR star Kyle Larson for the victory.
Over the last 20 laps, both Van Gisbergen and Larson got their elbows out and aggressively battled for the win. Van Gisbergen was on fresh tires compared to Larson’s worn-out racing boots, forcing Larson to defend with all of his might.
In one sequence, the Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet of SVG went on the inside of Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, although Larson did not give an inch, leading to contact and the exchange of car paint.
Larson managed to stay out front, but his racing lead was short-lived as Van Gisbergen got him on the next lap in a smoother fashion.
The New Zealander held on for the race win, adding yet another victory to an impressive campaign. After the race, he reflected on the exchange of contact with Larson.
“I gave him a bump into 7,” Van Gisbergen said. “I thought he was going to give me some space, and he didn’t, and I couldn’t back out of it.
“Then straight away it was, like, a switch flipped, and he was angry, and he swiped at me, but probably fair enough. Then it was pretty aggressive from there on.
“Yeah, tried to stand my ground. Then he kind of pushed me off a couple of times. Yeah, I thought it was good, hard racing. Once I got back to him, I think he kind of just gave me the spot.”
While he got the win, Van Ginsenbergen was not a fan of battling so tightly, and he would have preferred a dominant win while being comfortably ahead.
“Yeah, I always enjoy a battle, but you also want to win by half a minute as well, you know, but yeah, I was having fun in that battle,” Van Gisbergen added.
“Especially, it was frustrating at the start of the last stage when they passed me, but it’s still enjoyable.
“Then trying to understand how to be better and I was trying to study them, see what they were doing better to me, so yeah, battling like that is a lot of fun, but you also want to win easily too.”
Larson said he knew Van Gisbergen was the faster out of the pair, but wanted to make a show of defending.
“He was just way faster than we were,” Larson said.
“I just wanted to make a race out of it because I felt like he was out there just toying with us all day. I tried to keep it respectful but once he got into me first, which he did, it was like gloves off but I wasn’t trying to like crash him or anything.
“He’s just so far beyond all us on these tracks right now.”
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