Kevin Harvick declares Shane van Gisbergen had best burnout of 2024 NASCAR season

Kevin Harvick enjoyed Shane van Gisbergen’s burnout during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Sonoma during the summer. On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick explained why van Gisbergen’s burnout after winning the Sonoma race was the best of the 2024 NASCAR season.

“The way that whole thing unfolded, and you had to go back and look at the bird hanging out the window and the burnout right next to the car,” Harvick said about van Gisbergen’s burnout and Austin Hill flipping him off during the victory lap. “He followed [Hill] all the way back to pit road and just kind of hounded him all the way back to pit road. Once he went on to pit lane, went to the front straightaway and did his burnout, that was one of the more unique moments of the burnouts that I’ve ever seen.”

The Sonoma victory was van Gisbergen’s second Xfinity Series win of 2024 (and his career). After the race, SVG appeared on the Stacking Pennies podcast to detail the burnout and following Hill during the victory lap.

“You know, you want to be a good winner, so I feel a little bit bad and in some ways petty,” van Gisbergen explained. “So I was doing the skid at Turn 1, because that’s where all the fans are on the hill, and in Turn 2, and then he goes past pulling the finger. So I’m like, ‘This is for you now, not the fans.’ I just followed him the whole lap.

Shane van Gisbergen makes the move to full-time Cup Series driver

“But you know, he knows what COTA was. I just followed him. And then during the lap, he’s pulling the finger. So eventually, I passed him, and I was just waving at him. I don’t feel anything against him, but.”

In van Gisbergen’s first season in the Xfinity Series, he won three races and finished 12th in the standings. Next year, the 35-year-old will be in the Cup Series full-time for Trackhouse Racing.

“It’s been a pretty awesome 18 months,” van Gisbergen said. “Yeah, it’s been a huge life change, as Justin said, and everything he said was going to happen has happened. I never thought it would happen this quick and I’m very glad we’ve done the learning year this year in Xfinity. Kaulig Racing has been great to work with, and then also a lot more races to finish the year now. Been a huge learning experience but just excited to get full-time in the Cup Series next year.”