'You deserve every accolade': Icon's high praise after SVG stuns ...

Shane van Gisbergen can add NASCAR race winner to his already-stacked resume.

The New Zealander – the reigning Supercars champion, two-time Bathurst winner and three-time series winner – claimed a stunning victory in NASCAR’s maiden street race in Chicago, making him the first person in 60 years and the first in the modern era to win a NASCAR race on debut.

If that wasn’t enough, he boasts GT wins in the Bathurst 12 hour and six-hour races, dominated as a youngster in New Zealand’s open-wheel Formula series, and has also competed in the World Rally Championship in New Zealand.

No wonder his twitter bio reads: “Race Everything.”

But his stunning victory on NASCAR debut might just be the biggest of his career - at least in a global context.

“This was so cool and it’s what you dream of,” a stunned van Gisbergen said afterwards.

‘Amazing’: Supercars champ stuns US by winning debut NASCAR race in 60-year first

Van Gisbergen said after his epic win that he would consider a full-time switch to NASCAR in 2025 after his Triple Eight contract to race in Supercars expires at the end of next season.

“I’m doing one more year in Aus then I’d definitely like to come over here,” he said, giving the firmest indication yet that 2024 will be his Supercars swan song.

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His incredible performance in Chicago earned the star driver wild praise.

All-time motorsport legend Mario Andretti – one of only three men to win a race in Formula One, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR – tweeted: “Such a solid performance today Shane. You deserve every accolade coming your way.”

And third-place finisher Chase Elliot joked: “He’s going to go home and tell all his friends how bad we are.”

James Hinchcliffe, a former IndyCar driver turned pundit, wrote: “So impressive what SVG just did in Chicago. NASCAR is full of insanely talented drivers, and to compete with, and win against, a group of that caliber first time out … unreal! It’s gunna be a party tonight!”

But perhaps his biggest fan was fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, also a three-time Supercars winner with a Bathurst crown.

McLaughlin, who now competes in IndyCar, spent the week discussing American racing with his good friend – and tweeted constantly throughout the race.

“Dude this is so cool. I’m like a very proud race fan right now,” he wrote mid-race, before adding that he was pacing around his room in the final stages.

When his countryman claimed victory – and celebrated with a burnout – he wrote: “Im so fkn happy for him. Enjoy every moment brother. NZ represent. Emotional.”

Even before the race, rivals had been in awe of the New Zealander’s quick transition to a new series – and a car with the driver’s seat on the opposite side.

Veteran Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner with over 40 NASCAR Cup Series races, claimed pole position as Shane van Gisbergen missed out by just 0.15s. Van Gisbergen had earlier topped a practice session.

“The biggest thing I noticed is the guy is lightning fast,” Hamlin said after qualifying.

“All of the corners I feel super uncomfortable using that extra three inches against the wall.

“So, where the track is the narrowest and where you saw Chase and those guys kind of get into the wall is where he is extremely fast.

“He’s just got a feel for those barriers and the car control that he has. That’s his advantage right now is that we’re not used to having to cut the corners that tight and he is.

“It’s been impressive what he’s done today for sure.”

A full-time switch to NASCAR in 2025 is almost certainly on offer now.

Even before the race, the head of Enhance Health – who sponsored van Gisbergen’s drive – said he was ready to back the Kiwi in more races in 2024.

Matt Hermann, told AUTO ACTION: “We want to run him in more races next year,” adding that would include oval circuits as well as street tracks.

It would offer the Supercars champion a path to a full-time drive in 2025 without the need to run in the feeder series XFinity.

He became the sixth driver born outside the United States to win a NASCAR Cup Series race, joining Marcos Ambrose, Mario Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Earl Ross and Daniel Suarez.

Writing for Yahoo Sports, Nick Bromberg wrote that van Gisbergen turned a ‘novelty’ project into bona-fide gold.

“He raced Sunday because of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 program.

“The team has fielded the No. 91 car in select events since 2022 and the Chicago race was the third start for the No. 91 car after [F1 legend] Kimi Raikkonen ran once in 2022 and at Circuit of the Americas in 2023.

“Project 91 seemed more like a novelty than anything else in Raikkonen’s starts after he finished 37th at Watkins Glen and 29th at COTA this year. But it’s clear that Trackhouse has a competitive car with the right driver and circuit. And van Gisbergen was the class off the field on Sunday.”

SVG LAUGHS OFF ‘FOOT FETISH’ AS MOVE STUNS US

One aspect of his racecraft that sent pundits and fellow drivers wild was his ‘heel and toe’ right-foot braking – something that is very common in Supercars but totally foreign to NASCAR.

In that move, a driver depresses the clutch with his left foot and touches the throttle with his right ankle – all while braking with the rest of the right foot to match the revs.

“Everyone’s got a bit of a foot fetish; it’s a bit weird for me,” van Gisbergen said on the NBC telecast during the rain delay before the race.

“That’s just normal for me; we always right-foot brake and blip on the down change.”

Fellow driver Ross Chastain, who won the previous NASCAR race, was in awe.

“The footwork that man has inside these cars…!” Chastain said.

“We have the same pedals and I don’t understand how he gets his ankles and his feet to do what he’s doing. I’m a left-foot breaker in a NASCAR race car.”

Watch every Practice, Qualifying & Race of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship Live & Ad-Break Free During Racing on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >