One 12 months in the past, three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen climbed right into a white-and-blue NASCAR Cup Sequence automobile on the streets of Chicago. It was the NASCAR Cup Sequence’ first time on a road course, and van Gisbergen’s first time racing in NASCAR’s high degree—in a one-off entry backed by a part-time highway crew, no much less. Document rainfall flooded the observe, and the tv announcers couldn’t even pronounce his title.
Then Shane van Gisbergen received.
The (then) 34-year-old from New Zealand had run the 2023 Chicago Avenue Course race in Trackhouse Racing’s “Project91” entry, which serves as a “star automobile” for drivers from different sequence. The automobile is much less of a NASCAR audition and extra of a showcase—a enjoyable approach to see what a proficient outsider can do in NASCAR. Solely two drivers have raced with Project91: van Gisbergen and retired Formulation One champion Kimi Räikkönen, who ran nicely however by no means achieved a powerful end within the automobile. When a star driver tries a distinct kind of racing, it’s extra in regards to the present than the efficiency.
Van Gisbergen’s debut victory grew to become the catalyst for him deciding to maneuver to America and pursue NASCAR full time this 12 months, and looking out again, he’s struck by how sudden all of it was.
“Nobody thought we might come out and win that race,” van Gisbergen tells me, wanting again on the race that modified his life. “That feeling when the radio cracks open and the engineer or crew chief comes over, screaming about how thrilling the win was, and that short-term spike of feelings you get—it is arduous to elucidate, nevertheless it’s a tremendous feeling.”
The race was treacherous, with drivers skating by means of the rainfall all day. Formulation One champion Jenson Button spun attempting to get to pit highway. Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin slid right into a tire barrier on lap two; Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick did the identical later, with water gushing from the limitations on influence. Halfway by means of the race, greater than a dozen vehicles piled up in the identical nook.
Shane van Gisbergen celebrates his 2023 victory at Chicago
Photograph by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Photos
With 16 laps to go, van Gisbergen ran eighth. Drivers have been on totally different pit methods, with some groups selecting to remain out on previous tires for observe place and others pitting for recent ones. Van Gisbergen pitted, giving him extra pace however extra vehicles to move.
And move he did. Van Gisbergen swallowed every automobile up, overtaking race chief Justin Haley with 5 laps to go. Quickly after, one of many tv announcers started to remark: “Van Gi-vis-bu-bur…” They deserted the thought.
Van Gisbergen sailed to the win, making NASCAR historical past and altering the trajectory of his personal life. The People who didn’t know his title realized it, and the victory landed him the place he’s now: full-time in NASCAR.
“On the cool-down lap, everybody was developing and hitting the again of the automobile or hitting the facet of the automobile,” van Gisbergen mentioned. “They have been all doing the thumbs-up and stuff. It was overwhelming. Stopping on the entrance straight, all of the folks—it was simply so sudden.”
It was the primary time a driver had received their Cup Sequence debut in 60 years. However there’s a purpose van Gisbergen selected that race: He’s a street-course ace, and the Cup Sequence’ new race automobile, the “Subsequent Gen,” is much less like a standard NASCAR automobile (learn: constructed to show a technique) and extra like a sports activities automobile (constructed to show left and proper). That makes it a friendlier machine for worldwide racing stars like van Gisbergen, who drove the Chicago race alongside fellow one-off entry Button. Even when Cup drivers are more proficient at highway programs than ever earlier than, van Gisbergen got here in with a bonus.
Nonetheless, everybody ooh’d and aah’d at him profitable a race whereas driving on the left facet of the automobile (versus the appropriate, like an Australian Supercar). However that wasn’t almost as tough for van Gisbergen as working with NASCAR’s new five-speed sequential transmission and shift lever.
Shane Van Gisbergen this season, racing within the Xfinity sequence
Photograph by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Photos
“I’ve pushed left-hand drive quite a bit, so switching backwards and forwards would not hassle me an excessive amount of,” van Gisbergen mentioned. “It was simply the shifting [that was different]. I by no means actually had shifted with a sequential that sort of method. Within the rally automobile, it had a shifter—nevertheless it was a correct rally gearbox, so you did not have to clutch on the downchange or something like that. The Cup automobile was a bit particular in that method.”
Van Gisbergen’s Chicago win got here at an inflection level in his profession. Australian Supercars had simply launched a new automobile of its personal. As van Gisbergen instructed Dale Earnhardt Jr. in an interview final 12 months: “The racing sucks. It’s so boring. You’re driving round at 30 p.c attempting to maintain the tires, and everybody’s simply following one another.”
“I used to be fairly joyful racing Supercars till final 12 months, when the brand new automobile got here out,” van Gisbergen tells me. “The best way that sequence was going, I simply did not get pleasure from it. Then, you get a shiny new toy or alternative, and it simply fired me up.”
Van Gisbergen’s 2023 Chicago efficiency led to a fast announcement of one other Cup Sequence highway race final season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the place he once more ran the Trackhouse Project91 automobile. He certified eighth and completed tenth.
“After we did Chicago, I undoubtedly did not have any plan or intention to come back over right here or do extra races,” van Gisbergen mentioned. “That was purely a one-off. However once we bought that outcome, stuff simply snowballed so shortly. Stuff occurred tremendous quick, the way in which [Trackhouse team owner] Justin Marks made it occur.”
Trackhouse is a younger group, however since Marks based it in 2020, it’s modified the panorama of NASCAR. Marks says Trackhouse is an leisure model, which is why he didn’t title the group after himself—like many different NASCAR group house owners—and why he develops ventures like Project91. Trackhouse is geared as a lot in the direction of creating buzz as on-track success, and van Gisbergen’s win completed each.
A 12 months after the win, van Gisbergen is full-time in NASCAR, having signed a growth take care of Trackhouse and moved to America throughout the offseason. He’s already received two races within the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Sequence—each on highway programs—with Kaulig Racing. He’s additionally working a number of Cup races this 12 months, with the objective of acclimating himself to NASCAR’s oval-heavy schedule earlier than transferring as much as Cup full-time.
“I knew I wanted a 12 months to be taught and adapt, slot in right here, and settle within the nation earlier than being within the Cup Sequence subsequent 12 months,” van Gisbergen mentioned. “Leaping into the Cup Sequence after a six-month preparation most likely would not have been excellent. It might’ve been very, very powerful to try this.”
Van Gisbergen doesn’t have any wild ambitions in NASCAR. He simply desires to get to the Cup Sequence and grasp the artwork of NASCAR’s most important racing.
“I wish to get higher on the ovals,” van Gisbergen mentioned. “It’s going to be undoubtedly superior to win [an oval] race in the future, however I do know I am a great distance from that—profitable one on benefit. I do know that I am all the time going to be good on a highway course. That’ll simply come naturally. It is the ovals I have to hold getting higher at.”
As van Gisbergen settles into racing in America, he’s fast to thank a buddy again in Australia for the nudge. Retired Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose, who moved Stateside to pursue NASCAR almost 20 years in the past, had been in his ear the entire time.
“He simply saved saying: ‘You’ve bought to get it over there. Make it work. Attempt to do all the pieces you possibly can to get it over to the States,’” van Gisbergen mentioned. “He was one of many first guys I rang after I knew that I used to be getting the drive, and he gave me a lot recommendation about it.”
Van Gisbergen mentioned that affect started earlier than he even ran Chicago—the race that modified his life.
“He was like: ‘You’ve bought to attempt to be sure you can get full-time over there. You will by no means remorse it.’ And I have never up to now.”
