A leading NASCAR driver said Shane van Gisbergen made series veterans "look like a bunch of fools" after the Kiwi won yesterday's Chicago street race on debut.
New Zealand drivers tend to have a habit of nestling in and dominating overseas motorsports, but American stock cars have always seemed elusive.
Currently, Liam Lawson is banging on the door of Formula 1, while in Indycar, the Scotts - Dixon and McLaughlin - are in the top six, with Marcus Armstrong making himself known further down the ladder.
But aside from two-time Le Mans winner Earl Bamber taking a Chevy for a spin at Daytona in NASCAR's junior series Xfinity, a Kiwi has never cracked the US' most popular motorsport - until yesterday.
Van Gisbergen arrived in Chicago as a relatively unknown tourist, rubbing shoulders with NASCAR's southern legends. He was driving with team Trackhouse, who have been rotating drivers for the road races.
Van Gisbergen left all of them in his rear-view mirror - winning on debut before doing a burnout in front of the crowd.
His win was a shock, making waves across the US, with the series' regulars feeling slightly put out by his remarkable performance.
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano shared his shock following the race, unable to pronounce SVG's name properly.
"Whatever his name is, SVG, burger, hamburger, I don't know… he's fast. That's all I know."
"He rips. He was faster everywhere, in the corner, centre of the corner, off the corner, in every corner.
"He made us look like a bunch of fools, a foreigner came in and kicked our butt today, so we got work to do."
Hendrick driver Kyle Larson, who is currently eighth in the series, had nothing but praise for the Kiwi driver.
"He put on a show, and it was cool to see."
"When a guy like that can come in and kick your ass at your own game, it shows that we all have room to improve."
NASCAR's most popular driver and 2020 champion, Chase Elliott, said SVG was "in a league of his own".
"In my opinion, he put on a really big-time clinic. I don't want to speak for everybody else, but he made me look bad. I kind of think the rest of us, too."
"He's probably four, five, eight years ahead of us in this sort of car," NASCAR veteran and two-time champ Kyle Busch said.
Responding to the comments, van Gisbergen said that he'd likely be in the back if they were racing on ovals (NASCAR's main type of track).
"This is my sort of bread and butter, the street circuits we do - almost half of our series' races are street circuits."
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