Ryan Blaney reacts to Shane van Gisbergen road course 'clinic,' believes NASCAR field has to improve

Ryan Blaney watched as Shane van Gisbergen put on a clinic once again on a road course in the NASCAR Cup Series. This time it came at Sonoma Raceway. The Trackhouse Racing star notched win No. 3 on the season.

Afterwards, Blaney evaluated where SVG stands in relation to the rest of the field on road courses. It’s evident the former Cup Series champion recognizes the gap is a big one. However, that doesn’t mean more traditional NASCAR wheelmen like Blaney can’t catch the New Zealander in the coming seasons.

“He’s really good at these places. He’s just really smooth,” Blaney stated, via Frontstretch. “He’s really fast with lap times, but he’s also like, not out of control doing it, so he can save tire while also maintaining solid lap times to keep him out front. So yeah, I mean, he just puts on a clinic at these road courses. The last three, from Mexico to Chicago and here, he’s really dominated, honestly, all three of those.

“He’s just really technical in how he does it, and his approach to it. He’s just a really, really solid race car driver. We’re all going to have to get a lot better at these places to have a chance.”

All told, road courses have never been Blaney’s strong suit. Still, he was having a solid run before getting tangled up with Chris Buescher late in the race at Sonoma. He ended up wrecked, but Blaney was running in the top ten for much of the afternoon before that.

Regardless of his respect for Shane van Gisbergen and his ability on road courses, Ryan Blaney and company will be happy to return to some ovals over the next couple of weeks. Next up is Dover International Speedway. The No. 12 will certainly be a threat to get to Victory Lane in Delaware.

More on Ryan Blaney, Sonoma Raceway

Alas, Ryan Blaney might’ve had something for Shane van Gisbergen on Sunday. We’ll never know though, as he was involved in an incident with the aforementioned Chris Buescher that put a dent in his afternoon.

While speaking with Frontstretch, Blaney shared his reaction to being hit by Buescher and finishing at the back of the field: “It was going well until we got wrecked by the 17,” Blaney stated. Blaney was then asked if Buescher simply wrecked him.

“I don’t know. You got to talk to him,” Blaney added. “I don’t think he intentionally meant to do it, but he overdrove (Turn) 1, and I was the innocent bystander.” Blaney then said he believed he was going to finish in the top five before the wreck.

“I thought we were really good today,” he stated. “Third, fourth, fifth-place car, and yeah, shame that it didn’t end like I thought. We had speed in our car, so it’s unfortunate.”

The incident with Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher happened on Lap 62, and both cars were running in the top 10. After Blaney was pushed by Buescher, he could never recover and finished 36th out of 37 drivers. This was the second time in three races that Blaney was involved in a wreck that cost him a strong finish. It’s easy to see why he’s a bit frustrated.

— On3’s Brian Jones contributed to this article.