Shane van Gisbergen may have a new NASCAR road course challenger

The days of "road course ringers" may be long gone, but for nearly the past three years now, Shane van Gisbergen has singularized that term for himself.

The New Zealander notched 80 wins and 174 podium finishes to go along with three championships in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship prior to even trying NASCAR. Right from his very first start for Trackhouse Racing's Project91 in the 2023 Chicago Street Race, "SVG" put the NASCAR world on notice, recording a stunning victory on debut to become the first driver since 1963 to do so.

Since then, van Gisbergen has dominated road course racing across NASCAR, winning three of six such races in his 2024 rookie campaign in the Xfinity Series, now known as the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and earning a further five wins in six road course events as a 2025 Cup Series rookie.

Even in the one race he didn't win at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), he still finished sixth after leading 23 laps. The Kiwi was consistently out-raced on restarts and pushed around in combat, and a recent improvement in that area has already seen him go undefeated on road courses since. It has led some to already consider him NASCAR's road course "GOAT".

Just as everyone thought there was no ending in sight, a new challenger seems to have emerged.

Later in 2025 especially, van Gisbergen just seemed to have everything so under control. Even if there were cars challenging him early, his pace under tire management was so superior that it didn't matter.

While "SVG" remains a progressing development on ovals, it almost started to feel like a foregone conclusion that road course races would see one driver spanking the field every time. According to RACER's Kelly Crandall, the competition is starting to feel that way, too.

"I’ve studied everything I can study in car-wise," said A.J. Allmendinger. "He definitely is making everyone step up a level.

"It drives me nuts going to a road course and getting just dusted by Shane," Tyler Reddick added.

Enter rookie sensation Connor Zilisch, who has already managed to build a rather impressive resume at just 19 years old, and not just in NASCAR.

He won his ARCA Menards Series debut in 2023, his IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona debut in 2024, and his Xfinity Series debut later that year. He also won 10 races in NASCAR's second tier in 2025, including a record-tying four in a row at one point, en route to winning Rookie of the Year and finishing second in the standings.

In 2026, the teenager is the first full-time Cup Series rookie under the age of 20 since Joey Logano in 2009. Perhaps most impressive, though, is his prowess on road courses.

His debut Xfinity Series win came at Watkins Glen International in a dominant fuel mileage thriller from pole position. Five of his 10 wins the following season were also on road courses. In his 2024 Craftsman Truck Series debut at COTA, he took a clinical pole position that saw him go over seven tenths of a second faster than anyone.

Even in his Cup Series debut at COTA in 2025, Zilisch had the fourth-best odds at DraftKings Sportsbook to win the race. While that debut was capped by an incident that sent him to a last-place finish, Zilisch showed his highly touted speed and skill throughout the weekend. After an opening lap incident in turn one bent a toe link, Zilisch impressively drove from 37th to 14th, before a spinning Daniel Suarez in front of him ended his day.

Zilisch and van Gisbergen have already shown glimpses of a generational road course rivalry.

There is no better example than their incredible, race-long battle for the win in the 2025 Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway. The two drivers shared the front row, with van Gisbergen on pole position, and swapped positions seemingly every lap, before Zilisch took the win by holding off "SVG" on the last lap.

At one point, van Gisbergen divebombed his young teammate at the final turn, and he even gave Zilisch a thumbs up out the window as they drag raced to turn one.

The week before that, van Gisbergen took the win in Chicago, with Zilisch finishing second after starting from the rear. Under a month later, the two of them dueled for the win again at Watkins Glen, with Zilisch winning after the pair made contact that sent van Gisbergen into the wall at the final turn.

In all, Zilisch impressively took the season head-to-head with two wins to one in Xfinity Series competition. They also both competed in the Cup Series race at COTA, and while he didn't reach the checkered flag, Zilisch was often matching van Gisbergen's lap times, even while carving through the field with damage.

"If we knew exactly how to beat him, he’d get beat," Allmendinger said. "So, maybe [Connor] Zilisch can help us out with that."

For as hyped as Zilisch has been for at least the past few years, his first five Cup Series races have been far from flattering. In fact, he has just one lead lap finish, and he has yet to score a top 10 result.

This coming weekend at COTA represents the second big opportunity of his extremely young career to show what he can do on his stomping grounds. Currently, his +350 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook to win Sunday's race are second only to van Gisbergen's +120.

It's the master versus the apprentice, the old dog against the puppy with all the new tricks. If either Trackhouse Racing driver wants to win, he is likely going to have to go through the other.

Get your popcorn ready, because Sunday's DuraMAX Grand Prix might just be the first of very many two-horse showdowns between NASCAR's best wheelmen on left and right turns.