NASCAR Cup

Van Gisbergen wants NASCAR oval shot

Shane van Gisbergen wants a shot at a NASCAR oval race after being trackside in Nashville this weekend.

Andrew van Leeuwen

Edited: Jun 26, 2023, 8:25 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

FzVsCd0XwAEaoiT

The Supercars star is set to make his NASCAR debut at the Chicago street race next weekend as part of Trackhouse Racing's Project 91 programme.

He jetted into the United States late last week to begin his preparations, which included being trackside with the team in Nashville over the weekend, watching teammate Ross Chastain score pole and a win.

The up-close experience with oval racing has piqued van Gisbergen's interest, the Kiwi admitting during a press conference ahead of the race that he had itchy feet on the sidelines.

As such he's now very much open to NASCAR start on a speedway in the future – and has even talked to Trackhouse boss Justin Marks about it.

“We had a small chat about that earlier," said van Gisbergen.

"I’ve never really thought about ovals too much but you’d love to have a go.

"Like, watching yesterday how committed the guys were in qualifying... and they had the practice and then you sit around all day and you get one lap. So to see how committed everyone was, and see who was braver than the others into turn 1, it was pretty cool to watch.

"It sucked watching, I wanted to be out there. So yeah, I’d want to have a go one day."

Van Gisbergen has completed a seat fitting and will get his first real-world NASCAR experience tomorrow (US time) when he samples the Trackhouse Chevrolet on the Charlotte Roval.

He will then head back to the simulator before hitting the streets of Chicago next weekend.

“Tomorrow we get a bit of a short test; hopefully weather stays fine for it," he said.

"That’s just to get a feel and make sure that I’m comfortable in the car and everything is working, and then it’s all simulator stuff really.

"I think I get two sessions in the sim trying to learn and just get comfortable with the car and also the dynamic of the team with the engineer and crew chief, working out how that communication works.

"The strategy is quite different, so I have got to do a lot of study on that; obviously the pits close when the yellow comes out, you don’t have a pit speed limiter and stuff like that, so just learning how to manage that side of the race is quite different.

"And then obviously we’re not racing for points so we don’t have to focus on the stages and stuff like that.

"I guess we have got to come in and do our best, but you also have got to race with respect as well. Like, these guys are fighting for their championship every week, so have got to come in and stay out of trouble."

Van Gisbergen is under contract with Triple Eight in Supercars until the end of 2024, but has made little secret of his openness to an overseas move after that.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Truex "burned the rear tires off" trying to catch Chastain

Next article Erik Jones' top-10 finish at Nashville "a good step"

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Las Vegas GP

43 min

McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas

Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish

General

Misc General 5 h

Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

11 h

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

12 h

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts