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An image of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin frowning and looking into the distance

Denny Hamlin says NASCAR insider is 'out of his mind' in GOAT debate

Denny Hamlin says NASCAR insider is 'out of his mind' in GOAT debate

Graham Shaw
An image of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin frowning and looking into the distance

This is a hill that Denny Hamlin is clearly willing to die on as he goes in hard on NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi.

On Sunday at the Roval in Charlotte, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen continued his dominance on Cup Series road courses in 2025. His dominant victory in the playoff Round of 12 elimination race was his fifth consecutive success.

It isn’t just that SvG is winning every time NASCAR hits a road course either, it’s the manner of those victories. He is utterly dominant, with the outcome pretty much decided before he even gets in the No. 88 Chevrolet.

Despite all that evidence, Bianchi does not believe yet that van Gisbergen qualifies as the greatest road course racer of all time. He still claims that would be four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, a man who once won six consecutive road course races.

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Jeff Gordon still the road course GOAT - Bianchi

Bianchi doubled down on his GOAT take after Sunday’s race in Charlotte, when speaking on the Teardown podcast.

He claimed: "He [van Gisbergen] is on the path to becoming the greatest road-course racer in the history of the sport but I am not ready to declare him the greatest road course racer ever in history.

“He’s certainly on that path but I don’t think he’s there yet. I still think Jeff Gordon is the best. And if Gordon would have raced in a car that is basically purpose-built for road courses, because this is almost a sports car in a lot of ways, it would have been interesting to see how he would have done.

“But yeah I think he’s very, very good. I think he has a chance to be the best when it’s all said and done, but he is not there yet. We have seen runs from drivers on road courses and it looks like who’s going to ever beat this guy? We’ll see.”

So there you have it, SvG is heading towards GOAT territory, but is not there yet. Hamlin though, 100 percent disagrees with that take, in a massive way.

Hamlin savages Bianchi take

Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, he fumed: "Jordan Bianchi is absolutely out of his mind thinking that ‘yeah, he's [SVG] on the short-list for the best NASCAR road racer ever’. What is he talking about? Does he really think that Jeff Gordon, in his prime, would beat SVG today, in a Next Gen car? Not a chance. Not a remote chance.

"Jeff Gordon was not winning by this margin. Jeff Gordon was not racing cars this equal to everyone else's. Jeff Gordon was in a Hendrick Motorsports car that was Ray Evernham-ed up. That is not even a remote comparison. Now, I'm talking about someone in Jeff Gordon that's on the Mount Rushmore of greatest drivers ever.

"But when it comes to turning left and right, they are not close. And SVG is the greatest road course NASCAR driver in history. And he's only been doing it for a year and a half. And it's undisputed. Anybody that disputes it, even in my mentions, shut up. I know, you don't. I compete. You don't."

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Related

NASCAR NASCAR Cup Series Denny Hamlin Shane van Gisbergen Jeff Gordon Jordan Bianchi
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