Shane van Gisbergen told Denny Hamlin he 'would never race' in those conditions ahead of Grant Park 220

Talk about an ironic turn of events. Shane van Gisbergen surprisingly took the checkered flag at the Grant Park 220 on Sunday, but he had almost no confidence about his chances due to the wet conditions.

During his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin said he spoke with van Gisbergen prior to the start of NASCAR‘s Chicago Street Race on Sunday. At the time, rain was pouring down and the track was holding water.

That’s when van Gisbergen admitted that he was essentially going into the race unprepared.

“I was talking to SVG before the race started, and it’s pouring during intros,” Hamlin said. “I said, ‘Are you ready for this?’ And he’s like, ‘We would never race in this — I don’t have any experience in these conditions.'”

Most of van Gisbergen’s experience comes in the Supercars Championship. Apparently, that league would not have moved forward with Sunday’s race, given the conditions. But it proved beneficial for van Gisbergen and his team.

The New Zealand native drove his car to victory in a shortened event in Chicago. It was an upset in NASCAR, as he defeated some of the top road course drivers in the sport to claim the checkered flag.

Hamlin lauds van Gisbergen’s performance in Chicago

Hamlin couldn’t say enough positive things about Shane van Gisbergen’s performance during the Chicago Street Race. He also jokingly referred to the driver as the “greatest athlete in history.”

“That, to me, blows my mind,” Hamlin said. “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.”

Van Gisenberg became the first driver to win his NASCAR Cup Series debut race since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963. Now, he has the green light to pursue more races in the league moving forward.

“He’s only contractually bound to us for next year,” Triple Eight Race Engineering team principal Jamie Whincup told Fox Sports News. “Of course I’m trying to run the business as well as a I possibly can and I need the best drivers, but if any driver, engineer, employee came to me and said, ‘Hey, my dream is to go to the other side of the world and do something else’, I’m not going to stand in their way.

“I want to open up opportunities for all my staff. No doubt we’re going to have some discussions in the next month or so and work out what he wants to do. He’s certainly got my praise whatever he wants to do, and we’re going to support him all the way.”