NASCAR star Shane van Gisbergen takes dig at predictable F1 ahead of Sonoma challenge

NASCAR star Shane van Gisbergen has hailed the sport's competitiveness, taking a gentle shot at a rival series on the way.

The New Zealander arrived in the US relatively late in his career, having already put together a 16-year spell in Supercars which brought him three championships and 80 race wins, but has taken to NASCAR brilliantly.

The Kiwi, in his second year in the Cup Series, discussed what it's like to talk to motorsport fans outside of the NASCAR bubble this week, and hailed the sport's unpredictable nature as one of its biggest selling points.

He compared the Cup Series to F1, which he said has 'three guys who are going to win', and pointed to NASCAR's broad range of winners – with 14 different race winners in 2025 (for contrast, fewer than 14 current full-time F1 drivers have won a race in their whole careers).

It should be noted that Van Gisbergen clearly has a lot of respect for F1 and its drivers, especially his friend Max Verstappen, but the numbers do appear to back him up on this point.

Van Gisbergen: Unpredictable NASCAR is really cool

Asked what it was like to speak with people outside of the NASCAR bubble, Van Gisbergen said: “Yeah, I find it always cool. The questions are certainly unique. I think it was like that the first Chicago Street Race, but also at San Diego. I think it was some stat like 80% of people hadn't gone to a NASCAR race before.

"That's why it's cool going to new places and seeing new people. I think you introduce them to what the sport is like, and then hopefully, we have good races the weeks after and it keeps them engaged.

"I think our sport is really awesome as a motorsport. You don't know who's going to win, whereas you watch F1, there's three guys who are going to win. I think our sport's really cool. Even at a road course, there are 10 guys who can win. I think that's really cool how many different storylines there are in our sport.

"I think you guys do a good job, but as drivers, we have to do a good job, as well, of keeping people interested, keeping the storylines coming and hopefully people keep coming into our sport.”