NASCAR insider compares Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen as 'specialists'

A NASCAR insider shared an interesting take on rising NASCAR stars Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic talked about Zilisch and van Gisbergen being “specialists.”

“We are in an era of NASCAR where you can be almost like a specialist, you can be great on road courses or on superspeedways. If you look at it, if you can excel on the certain kind of tracks that are your specialty, you have a path to the playoffs,” Bianchi said. “SVG net year. I’ll put any dollar amount that he’s going to win a road course race next year and make the playoffs.

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“…If you look at it, it’s like if you can just win the four/five races in the regular season that are your specialty, you’re in the playoffs. I think that’s the thing with Connor is next year. He’s going to be in the playoffs because he’s going to win a road course race. But it’s the other stuff, and we’re seeing with SVG too, it’s like what SVG has done this year in the Xfinity Series, great, he’s got three wins, they’re on road courses. But it’s the other stuff, it’s seeing him make gains on the ovals and running smart races.”

More on Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen

The comments come after Zilisch and van Gisbergen had strong showings at Watkins Glen. Zilisch won the Xfinity Series race, and it was his debut. Van Gisbergen finished second in the Cup Series race, losing the lead to Chris Buescher in the final lap.

After the Xfinity Series race, Zilisch talked about the victory. “I worked so hard for this one,” he said, per NASCAR.com.  “I’ve been working for this one for months and it’s so special to me, man. I don’t even have words. I don’t know how I saved enough, I sputtered up the hill.”

After the Cup Series race, van Gisbergen explained how he lost the lead during the final lap. “Driver error. I knew Chris was really going to send it and push me if he could get there. As I turned and got a bit loose and clipped the inside wall and driver error. I’m gutted,” van Gisbergen said. “WeatherTech was really good. The race was awesome with Ross and Chris and the others at the end. I’m gutted we couldn’t get it, but I had a lot of fun, but I’m pretty angry at myself.”