Shane Van Gisbergen has become a formidable foe on NASCAR’s road/street courses with four wins on those circuits.
Van Gisbergen followed Australian Marcos Ambrose the eight years he competed in NASCAR and called him as soon as he knew he was racing Trackhouse’s Project91 car at Chicago in 2023.
He now leans heavily on NASCAR Cup champion Kevin Harvick when it comes to ovals.
A NASCAR career was never on Shane van Gisbergen’s racing radar until he competed in his first Craftsman Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park about a month after he won the inaugural Chicago Street Course Cup event.
On that day in August 2023, the New Zealander qualified 28th and finished 19th in his first-ever short-track oval race and he knew immediately he wanted to focus on NASCAR.
“I had the most fun of my life just battling people all race on the oval there,” Van Gisbergen said. “The truck race was awesome, and I thought, this is going to be really cool to do.”
Since then, Van Gisbergen has become a formidable foe on NASCAR’s road/street courses, and Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks believes the 36-year-old driver has an oval victory in his future.
“I think we’ve got someone here that can win anytime we show up on the road courses,” Marks said about his driver who has won three of four Cup road/street course races this season. “What kind of excites us at Trackhouse more than anything is his speed of development on the ovals.”
It’s that development coupled with Van Gisbergen’s talent and work ethic that led Trackhouse to sign him to a multi-year contract extension on the eve of the Watkins Glen weekend.
“Shane’s proven very, very quickly that he likes to live in that area, that bubble, of just really understanding all the technical details; understanding how the cars are built and just what it takes to go fast,” Marks says. “I think that’s probably contributed to how fast he’s been able to develop on the ovals. He watches the races and looks at data and really asks the questions of ‘why’. I think that … level of commitment, that level of focus and that level of intelligence are real factors in being successful.”
Van Gisbergen spent 10 weeks this summer competing in a Legends car along with friend and Team Penske IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin and fellow Cup competitor Bubba Wallace in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Summer Shootout Series. He won his last race and received a few free dinners along the way due to a bet among the three drivers that whoever finished last had to pay.
“I only had to pay twice out of 10,” Van Gisbergen said with a smile.
Regarding the on-track competition on Charlotte’s tight quarter-mile facility, Van Gisbergen said he learned “little skills.”
“It’s very much like Martinsville (on restarts), especially if you choose the top lane, you can gain a row or two and then you’ve got to get back in,” Van Gisbergen said. “It’s a skill I really struggled at, at Martinsville. I would take the top because it’s appealing to gain spots, but then I wouldn’t know how to get down or if I bumped-and-run someone, I didn’t know how to protect, and they’d get me back the next corner.
“I had 12-year-olds bump-and-running me and knowing exactly how to place the car. I’d never touch anyone on purpose to pass them. It’s a skill that we don’t get taught because you’re not allowed to do it at home. It’s been really, really beneficial and a lot of fun.”
Van Gisbergen followed Australian Marcos Ambrose the eight years he competed in NASCAR and called him as soon as he knew he was racing Trackhouse’s Project91 car at Chicago in 2023. Last year, he talked with Ambrose weekly, acquiring information before going to a new track.
However, he now leans heavily on NASCAR Cup champion Kevin Harvick when it comes to ovals. In fact, it was Harvick who encouraged Van Gisbergen to compete in the Summer Shootout Series to become familiar with close-quarter racing and being on defense and offense simultaneously.
“He’s relatively current, only a year-and-a-half out. It still makes sense, everything I ask him,” Van Gisbergen says. “He’s amazing how open he is and how in detail about something he can go.”
Van Gisbergen’s transition into NASCAR came after about 15 years in Supercars. He doesn’t have a timeline for his NASCAR venture.
“I definitely have a lot of years left in me,” Van Gisbergen says. “We’re lucky as race car drivers. We have a very long shelf life.
“I do have other things in racing I want to try. I still want to do some European stuff. I want to do Nürburgring 24. I want to do a bit more rally car driving.”
Even though Van Gisbergen enjoys NASCAR, he admits he’s “very homesick.”
“I miss home a lot, and there’s no time to get back there,” Van Gisbergen says. “I’ll move back there as soon as I’m done racing. I’m happy here for now.”
Comments