BACKGROUND:
Anyone who knows Shane Van Gisbergen or his father, Robert (Cheese), knows that racing talent is in the family’s blood. Van Gisbergen’s initial introduction to motorsport was watching his father race competitively at NZ rallies from a very young age.
Shane started bugging his father for a Suzuki ATV at the age of just 5. He spent every spare moment as a child racing ATVs at Motocross tracks and then a Quarter-Midget at the speedway before he found a new love for Karts. A Speedsport Magazine Scholarship programme saw his focus turn to tarmac, as Shane spent a year in the Formula First class.
Van Gisbergen won the Rookie of the Year award and placed third in the 2004/2005 Championship before moving on to Formula Ford in 2006. There, he won the overall championship before switching to the Toyota Racing Series in 2007, where he finished second.
That’s when his life changed forever when he secured a long-term contract driving for Stone Brothers Racing in the V8 Supercar Championship across the ditch.
I personally experienced both Shane’s and Robert’s driving first-hand at the Arcadia Road Rallysprint back in 2023. They reminisced the good old times with a father-son challenge, and Shane finished second overall. Shane drove an Audi S1 AP4 while his father drove an MK2 Ford Escort. Both are incredibly talented drivers who certainly put on an entertaining show for spectators.
Van Gisbergen has competed in rallies all over NZ and Australia, including the 2023 Bay of Plenty rally—where he finished in second place behind NZ Rally legend Hayden Paddon—and the 2022 Far North Rally, where he took the win over defending champion Ben Hunt. On the world rally stage, when WRC returned to New Zealand in 2022, Van Gisbergen conquered the WRC2 class, finishing third on the podium against some tough competition and ninth overall. In Australia, he finished second on his debut in the 2022 Australian Rally Championship in Canberra.
I was also lucky enough to witness Van Gisbergen winning at the final-ever Supercars event in Pukekohe in 2022. I will never forget the atmosphere or the race that saw Van Gisbergen battle Cam Waters in one of the best motorsport battles I have seen; nothing has come close to that still nearly 3 years on. That, in conjunction with the reaction and atmosphere of the sellout crowd, was what made it so memorable and unique. It was also Van Gisbergen’s third time securing the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
“When I passed Cam into the hairpin, the crowd went nuts, and to me, it was better than Bathurst and my first-ever win here. This is one of the all-time greatest moments in my motorsport career,” said Van Gisbergen.
No one can forget Van Gisbergen is a three-time Australian Supercars Champion, winning the championship title in 2016, 2021, and 2022. He has also won Bathurst thrice (2020, 2022, and 2023). Overall, Van Gisbergen tallied up 80 wins and 46 pole positions in his Supercars career. In 2023, Van Gisbergen surpassed 500 Supercars race starts.
Van Gisbergen, the multi-talented driver that he is, has also competed in a range of other motorsports over the years, including GT Racing, where he won the 2016 Bathurst 12-Hour with Alvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb in a McLaren 650S GT3. He also won the 2016 GT Series Endurance Cup, finished third overall in the 2016 Intercontinental GT Challenge and finished second in the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTD Class.
If you thought that wasn’t enough, Van Gisbergen competed and won the 2021 New Zealand Grand Prix at Hampton Downs, becoming the first driver to start a Grand Prix (or Toyota Racing Series race) from the pit lane and win in an intense 28-lap battle which saw Van Gisbergen fight through the field and take a comfortable lead with 10 laps to go.
After 10 laps, he was inside the top 10; by the 15th lap mark, he was in third, and on the 19th lap, he completed his drive through the field to take the lead.
You couldn’t keep Van Gisbergen out of the driver’s seat during his off-seasons. Just in this last off-season, he was spotted racing dirt karts at the Franklin Dirt Kart Club track and racing Sprintcars across multiple NZ speedways (where he won numerous races and conquered Western Springs for a second-place podium finish). Shane even competed in a round of the South Auckland Demo Derby Association, where he won the trophy for the 3-hour endurance race. He also raced with them back in 2023, where he finished second.
I was also privileged enough to be on the infield at Baypark Speedway as a photographer when Van Gisbergen visited twice in his sprintcar earlier this summer; the Kiwi was no stranger to Baypark. To witness him in a rally car, to supercars to him fly around the 451m clay-surfaced track at speed in a sprintcar was fascinating. Van Gisbergen is a driver who could only be compared to the likes of NASCAR and speedway driver Kyle Larson in terms of having talent across multiple racing disciplines.
Van Gisbergen was the man to beat at Baypark between Christmas and New Year’s, with fans travelling from all over to witness the spectacle and local drivers excited to rub wheels with the now-international legend. On his second night at Baypark, Van Gisbergen went on to win a heat race.
If you gave this man a wheelie bin, he could race it to the chequered flag. He can race the wheels off anything, a “jack-of-all-races”.
THE START OF VAN GISBERGEN’S NASCAR CAREER:
Scrolling things forward to the American NASCAR Series. In typical SVG fashion, Van Gisbergen won on his Cup Series debut at the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023, leaving the NASCAR world stunned as he became the first driver to win on their Cup Series debut since 1963.
This momentous occasion led to Van Gisbergen signing as a developmental driver for Trackhouse Racing in 2024. The same year, he signed with Kaulig Racing as a full-time driver in the Xfinity Series. He also made a handful of Cup Series appearances.
Van Gisbergen earned his first Xfinity win in June at Portland International Raceway and two more victories in his debut season at Sonoma Raceway and again at the Chicago Street Course where he won in the Xfinity Series class. The next day, he competed in the Cup Series class in Chicago. He recorded his first career stage win but was later involved in an incident where an error from Chase Briscoe sent Van Gisbergen into the wall, ending his race and contention for a back-to-back win.
“I turned in, and it looked pretty good, and then just got smashed by someone,” van Gisbergen shared with NBC.
“It’s gutting … we were in the lead for much of that race, and it felt good taking up in the rain.”
Van Gisbergen also achieved several podiums throughout his debut Xfinity season.
Van Gisbergen then switched to the Cup Series full-time in 2025, signing a deal with Trackhouse Racing as they announced they had purchased a third charter to run the Kiwi in for the upcoming season.
“This is obviously a huge moment,” team owner Justin Marks said in Daytona.
“I am really, really thrilled and excited that Shane put the trust in us and made a huge commitment in leaving a very successful career in Australia and New Zealand and moved to a new country and sort of (started) over and put his faith and his trust in us. That means a lot to us.
“He’s put in a tremendous amount of work. A great human being, a very talented race car driver, and somebody with an incredibly, incredibly bright future. So we’re very excited to have them here.”
2025 NASCAR CUP SERIES:
Bringing us to where we are now. So far, Van Gisbergen has had 8 Cup Series race starts this year; his best finish in the Trackhouse Racing No. 88 Chevrolet was his 6th place finish in COTA (Circuit of Americas).
It was a road course where Van Gisbergen was expected to excel, but unfortunately, tyre issues hindered his race win. He led most of the race and ran in the Top 3 for the other parts. In the end, it was coming out on fresh but cold tyres with 21 laps to go, with a 15-second gap to the race leader to close in on, which left a problematic challenge for Van Gisbergen.
Just as he warmed up his tyres three laps into the 21-lap stint, a caution came out for Austin Dillon’s spin. The race restarted five laps later, and he continued to struggle with tyre performance, dropping to 10th place on the restart. Despite the challenges, Van Gisbergen charged forward. He fought hard in the final laps, reclaiming sixth on the final lap following his move on Chris Buescher. Despite falling short of the win Van Gisbergen and his team had hoped for, it was a strong finish and a commendable effort from him.
Trackhouse Racing Race Results to date:
| NASCAR Cup Races | Shane Van Gisbergen | Daniel Suarez | Ross Chastain |
| Bowman Gray Stadium | 9th | 22nd | 6th |
| Daytona International Speedway – Duels | 14th (Duel 2) | DNF (Duel 2) | 4th (Duel 1) |
| Daytona 500 | 33rd | 13th | DNF |
| Atlanta Speedway | 23rd | DNF | 8th |
| Circuit of Americas | 6th | DNF | 12th |
| Phoenix Raceway | DNF | 23rd | 11th |
| Las Vegas Motor Speedway | DNF | 2nd | 5th |
| Homestead-Miami Speedway | 33rd | 22nd | 31st |
TRACKHOUSE RACING:
Fans have recently discussed whether Van Gisbergen is with the right team and whether another team could better maximise the Kiwi’s potential and proven talent. In recent weeks, Trackhouse Racing has struggled with car setups and overall performance. As of this weekend, the three Trackhouse drivers qualified for the Homestead-Miami race at the bottom of the field: P25 (Chastain), P35 (Van Gisbergen), and P33 (Suarez).
Before Miami, the Cup Series visited Las Vegas Speedway. The Trackhouse drivers qualified slightly better: P19 (Chastain), P28 (Van Gisbergen), and P23 (Suarez). In Vegas, Van Gisbergen struggled with his car. He ran into multiple issues, including a brake problem from the get-go, lingering damage from a spin during Stage 2, and unlucky tyre problems.
“The right front brake isn’t even working now,” van Gisbergen reported to his team.
“It’s just crazy tight. It hasn’t got any worse; just every time I go for the brake, it’s not there.”
With 63 laps to go and issues with the right front of his car persisting throughout the day, he suffered another failure on the right front, slapping him into the wall. The team retired the car after Van Gisbergen limped back to the pits.
It seems that when Van Gisbergen isn’t caught up in wrecks, which is very common in NASCAR, he struggles with car setup and mechanical issues. Is the Trackhouse team failing to give Van Gisbergen a reliable car, or does it fall under “this is just part of motorsport?”
Given the less-than-preferred qualifying times, common car issues, and reliability issues, would Van Gisbergen do better with another team?
Van Gisbergen commented further about his car during the Homestead-Miami Race last weekend, noting a numbness in the notorious right front corner and a lack of feeling in the steering wheel.
After the Miami race, Van Gisbergen was left frustrated by the continued handling dramas with his Chevrolet, including repetitive messages to his team about mid-corner understeer.
“The grip is so bad. Unbelievable,” said Van Gisbergen during his 2nd pitstop.
“Man, I just cannot get into the corner. What am I doing wrong?
“I got into the wall pretty hard. I just can’t turn. I keep hurting the tyre. I keep hitting the wall.
“I’ve never driven a car this tight. It feels so far off. Nothing is working.”
Although a rookie in the NASCAR Cup Series, as mentioned above, Van Gisbergen has driven various motorsport disciplines and succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination. He knows how to drive practically anything, is adaptable, and is a quick learner. After a promising start with his debut win in Chicago and an impressive debut season in the Xfinity Series, NASCAR fans are frustrated, looking further than Van Gisbergen, and now questioning the team he is with.
THE DIFFICULTY OF OVAL TRACKS:
Is the massive learning curve of oval tracks the actual issue at hand?
In Miami, Van Gisbergen described his early non-finishes as a “pain” but is confident that he has the potential and the speed to achieve better results.
“I feel like we’ve shown a lot of promise, but we have nothing to show for it, really,” van Gisbergen said.
“COTA was a good day, but on the ovals, we’ve really struggled, and we’ve had a lot of accidents, and they haven’t really been our fault.
“It’s really tough results-wise, but I see a lot of potential and speed. I just got to put it together and get to the end of the races, and I think things will start clicking for us.
“It has been hard because I’m not really known for crashing too much and not finishing, so it’s been a bit of a pain.
“Just have to stay out of trouble and get through it. In the first stage, we’re always going good and improving and thinking the rest of the race will be good; then something seems to happen, so hopefully, we stop that this weekend.”
Van Gisbergen’s comments indicate that despite his diverse experience, the Kiwi is still coming to terms with Oval tracks. They are a totally different ball game from what he is used to, and it would take time for any driver to get used to.
For other NASCAR rookies, it’s taken them at least a couple of seasons to see results and win races. An unfortunate downside to Van Gisbergen’s debut Chicago win is that it added further pressure and high expectations from international fans for him to perform and perform straight away.
Undoubtedly, Van Gisbergen has the drive, potential, and talent to go far in NASCAR and do it faster than anyone else. If his contract and team allow, it will be interesting to see if he stays or moves to another team in 2026. Big things will happen for Shane Van Gisbergen in NASCAR. Watch this space.
Amazing Career Shane.Congratulions.good luck. Thank for sharing