Heading into the historic San Diego street race, Shane van Gisbergen has heard the countless comments about him already locking up the win. Turns out, the Trackhouse Racing driver is not a fan.
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"It pisses me off a bit, like I feel like it disrespects my competition," van Gisbergen said on Friday at Naval Base Coronado. "I hold my competition to a really high level.
"So yeah, I feel like I've spent the last little while talking myself down because I know that there's 10 guys probably that can win on pure pace. In NASCAR, so much stuff can happen with strategies and stages, that there's even more guys who can win. So I don't think it's going to be easy, that's for sure."
The former three-time Supercars champion-turned-NASCAR winner has proven to be the best in the field at tracks requiring left- and right-hand turns. After all, he has won six of the last seven of these races.
He has made three starts on road courses and won twice. The lone exception is a crash when contact from another car sent him into the wall. He has made 11 starts on road courses. He has won five times and finished inside the top 10 in 10 of these races.
One reason why van Gisbergen pushes back against the comments about him being the favorite is that he can't predict everything that will happen during the race.
He might have a mechanical failure. Another team might have a better strategy that gives them the lead late. A competitor might send him into the wall during a late restart.
Another reason is that this track is something entirely new. It may have a few similarities to the streets of Chicago with 90-degree turns, but notes from that street course will not provide any benefits.
In order to navigate this course successfully, he will have to account for a mix of racing surfaces. He will have to remember which sections are wide enough for passes and which are far too tight for comfort. He will have to navigate crane rails that send cars sideways and dips in the road that launch cars into the air.
This course will be truly treacherous, and it will provide ample "opportunities" for drivers to crash on each and every lap.
"I mean, the trouble spots, you start at one and count to 16," van Gisbergen said about the turns. "Every corner looks like someone's had an issue. Every single section has its own problem, and I think I've seen someone make an error or do something wrong at each one.
"So yeah, every corner looks difficult, and I don't think there's a possibility to do a perfect lap here. Qualifying tomorrow is amazing. The first lap of the track, the first three corners, we're not going to have done before. You know, we're not going to have seen them that day, and the lap starts for them.
"I find that always fascinating and difficult in NASCAR, and I think tomorrow's qualifying is going to be crazy. You see it now with the red flags and people trying to get clear laps, so it's going to be really hard to execute."
Van Gisbergen will continue to push back against the comments about him being the favorite, but that will not bring them to an end. The fans and analysts will continue to highlight him until someone else beats him.
