Shane van Gisbergen chasing Cup career after shocking NASCAR with win in debut
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Shane van Gisbergen and his girlfriend moved in December to Mooresville, North Carolina, and so far, he's experienced only small moments of culture shock after coming from his old home in Brisbane, Australia, where he lived since 2007.
“It's cold, I'll you that,” he said, laughing. “I've never lived anywhere this cold before. It's pretty cool. I've had a good time so far. We've settled in pretty well.”
Little things are different in the States, too.
“You drive on the wrong side of the road,” van Gisbergen said.
Van Gisbergen should be a quick study on the American rules of the road.
There is, after all, a trophy that sits inside the main entrance of Trackhouse Racing that proved van Gisbergen can acclimate himself to any kind of car, on all kinds of streets. After all, van Gisbergen floored NASCAR when the New Zealand native won his debut race at the Chicago street course race last July.
Buoyed by the success at Chicago, the three-time Supercars champion is primed to make a full run at a NASCAR career. He packed his bags and landed a development program deal driving in all three national series for Trackhouse Racing. He's pulling double-duty this week with races in the ARCA and Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway. He has seven Cup races on his schedule, starting in March.
Van Gisbergen turns 35 in May, a bit on the older side for a NASCAR rookie. But he said his Supercars career had become “stale” and he was up for a new challenge driving stock cars.
“I moved halfway across the world to have a proper crack,” he said. “I know it's going to be a massive learning curve. But I've been put in an awesome situation by Trackhouse.”
Van Gisbergen's NASCAR interest was piqued in 2022 when he saw Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen drive for Trackhouse's Project 91 program. The goal for the Project 91 program was to give international drivers a shot at NASCAR. Van Gisbergen reached out through friends to team owner Justin Marks about pursuing a NASCAR ride. With van Gisbergen's history — he finished with 80 wins in Supercars — he seemed a perfect match to drive for the fledgling program.
All he did was become the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.
“Initially, it was going to be the one race,” van Gisbergen said. “But obviously that went pretty well. It just kind of snowballed from there. It's just exciting to come from another discipline and whole other part of the world. Hopefully, I can bring a lot to the table, too, with the way I race and provide a good bunch of entertainment and put on a good show for everyone.”
He also finished 10th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and 19th running in the
Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. It was van Gisbergen's first race on an oval.
Van Gisbergen made mastering NASCAR look easy in his first start.
NASCAR, though, is littered with drivers who tried to make the jump into stock cars after success in other racing series and flopped.
Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 three times but his Cup career flamed out after two ill-fated seasons.
Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish Jr. never reached the heights in NASCAR they achieved in open-wheel racing. Australian Marcos Ambrose won a pair of Supercars championships before he won just two times in 227 career Cup races.
Van Gisbergen leaned on Ambrose for advice on making the transition to NASCAR.
“I wouldn't say he struggled or failed at it,” van Gisbergen said. “He had some really good results and moments of brilliance. But yeah, for sure, maybe he wanted his results to be better. It's almost like this is a completely different sport, NASCAR. It's definitely a big challenge changing sports like this.”
A challenge he intends to meet.
“As a driver, I feel like I'm in my prime now,” he said. Marks tailored van Gisbergen's 2024 racing schedule to provide him with a variety of NASCAR experience. He'll make this season's Cup debut at Circuit of the Americas, race twice at Talladega Superspeedway and has races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Chicago street race, Watkins Glen and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“Shane is one of the best talents I've ever seen.”
Marks said.
Trackhouse also partnered with Kaulig Racing to field a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series ride for van Gisbergen this season.
“I'm going to be in some good equipment, with good people and good teams,” he said. “I've got every opportunity to make good of it. It's like 40-something races now. As long I'm learning something every week, and getting better every week, it's going to be really good.”
Van Gisbergen also has three victories in the Bathurst 1000, the premier race in Australia. He insisted that — while he has some bucket races on his list, such as Nuerburgring 24 Hours — he's a NASCAR driver only now and optimistic of running the full Cup schedule in 2025.
“I've moved halfway across the world," he said, "so I'm committed to it.”