A winner of 32 races in NASCAR’s top class, Larson heaped praise on van Gisbergen for his road course racing prowess.
The Trackhouse Racing driver has three wins to his credit this season across Mexico City, Chicago, and Sonoma.
That accounts for three of the four non-oval races to date this year. The other non-oval, at Circuit of the Americas, he finished sixth after battling handling issues.
Before the Sonoma weekend in which van Gisbergen took pole position and a commanding race win, Larson said van Gisbergen’s road course racing skills are second-to-none in the Cup Series.
“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,” said Larson.
“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 left-foot braking.
“So yeah, he’s just so good. And he’s still new to the oval stuff, so he’s going to continue to get better at that. And, yeah, I mean, if he could figure out the ovals, he’s going to be dominant.”
Van Gisbergen is trending up on ovals. The #88 Chevrolet Camaro led laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was the last oval race before the Chicago/Sonoma swing.
Larson said he hoped to be closer to van Gisbergen at Sonoma, which ultimately proved not to be the case.
The Kiwi’s nearest adversary was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, who likened the Kiwi to basketball legend Michael Jordan in his prime.
NASCAR legend Richard Petty – who amassed 200 race wins – echoed Larson’s sentiment.
‘The King’ suggested van Gisbergen’s road course success could translate into oval gains.
“What he’s done on the road courses is going to give him confidence, his crew confidence that, ‘hey, I can do a little bit better’,” said the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver.
“So it’s going to be interesting how his confidence has been built up running against all of the rest of the cars out there.
“He knows he can beat them on a road course, now he says ‘okay, if I’m beating them on a road course, why can’t I beat them on a round and round track’.”
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