Erik Jones sheds light on frustration of racing against Shane van Gisbergen: 'Swear he's just screwing around'

The NASCAR Cup Series field had nothing for Shane van Gisbergen at Mexico City. It was much of the same in Sunday’s Chicago Street Race.

Van Gisbergen, just a rookie, has quickly become the driver to beat at every road/street course on the schedule. Erik Jones admitted Monday it’s “frustrating” to see how easy van Gisbergen makes it look, adding “he’s able to make us feel like we’re all a little bit dumb.”

“It’s frustrating as a driver because we feel like we’re all pretty good and he’s able to make us feel like we’re all a little bit dumb,” Jones said on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. “Qualifying out there — it’s almost like he’s playing around. He runs one hard lap and then somebody went faster, he ran one slow lap and then went another second faster. I swear he’s just screwing around.”

Shane van Gisbergen completes weekend sweep in downtown Chicago

Van Gisbergen completed the Chicago sweep, as he took the checkered flag in Saturday’s Xfinity Race and in Sunday’s Cup race. He started from the pole in both races. Van Gisbergen did have some competition in Stage 1 on Sunday, as Michael McDowell led 31 laps. A broken throttle cable prematurely ended his race. From there, it was all van Gisbergen. Jones is simply blown away by van Gisbergen’s ability on road/street courses.

“He’s just waiting, letting him use his stuff up, hoping he hits the wall,” Jones said. “It’s impressive, and it’s interesting because there’s been other Supercar guys that have come over — Will Brown was running the Kaulig car — I never saw him all weekend. It’s not like every guy is doing it that comes over. He’s obviously just — apparently his car is perfect for him. I don’t know what else to say.”

“… I see it on video, and I don’t even understand watching last night how he’s setting up and making the moves he makes like with the 19 [Chase Briscoe] at the end — I don’t even understand how he’s getting these runs. How is he building these runs on these guys and making these passes? It’s really impressive and honestly, just a really good car feel. I have to imagine he’s not thinking much about what he’s doing. He’s just driving.”

Van Gisbergen has three Cup victories in just 33 starts, the fastest driver to reach the milestone since Jimmie Johnson in 2002. He still has work to do to become competitive on ovals. But when it comes to road/street course racing, nobody is better than the New Zealand native.