Denny Hamlin was in awe of Shane van Gisbergen's talent during Grant Park 220

Denny Hamlin couldn’t help but be in awe of Shane van Gisbergen after his victory in Sunday’s Grant Park 220 Chicago Street Race.

van Gisbergen, the Supercars Championship driver who became the first driver to win his NASCAR Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963, conquered the 12-turn, 2.2-mile street course to pick up the win. Hamlin heaped praise on van Gisbergen upon learning that the New Zealand native is used to racing right-hand-drive cars and had to adjust to being on the left side.

“That, to me, blows my mind,” Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday, via Connor O’Brien of V8 Sleuth. “I guess I could do it, but I probably wouldn’t be very efficient shifting with the other hand. We knew he was really good, but this is blowing my mind as we talk about it. You know what? Crown him. Greatest f—— athlete in the history of sports.

“I mean, he went from one side of the car to the other. I did it when I went to Japan for Toyota and I ran out in a GT3 car. It took me forever to get comfortable driving from the other side of the car. Holy cow. Everywhere you turn it’s pretty amazing what he did.”

Shane van Gisbergen claims victory in 1st NASCAR Cup Series race

van Gisbergen, 34, chased down Chase Elliott and Justin Haley in the final laps on a rainy Sunday evening to put himself in the lead. He held on to secure the victory after NASCAR shortened the race to 75 laps due to a loss of daylight in downtown Chicago.

van Gisbergen chuckled when asked if he thought victory in the Chicago Street Race was possible.

“No, of course not, but you always dream of it,” he said, via Reid Spencer of NASCAR.com. “Thank you so much to the Trackhouse team and [sponsor] Enhance Health, Project 91. What an experience in the crowd out here. This was so cool. This is what you dream of. Hopefully, I can come and do more.”

While Hamlin gave van Gisbergen his flowers, he disagreed with the narrative that an outsider came into NASCAR and showed up its very best, given the nature of race.

“The street race in general — is what he does,” Hamlin said. “We [NASCAR Cup Series drivers] have not done it. While it may seem that he just comes into our series and wins, again, we came into his world and in my opinion, more than he came into ours.”