Shane van Gisbergen has arrived in the United States and it’s truly the equivalent of resetting his entire life and career at 34 years old.
The three-time Australian Supercars champion will race a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule in 2024 on loan from Trackhouse Racing to Kaulig Racing with select Cup Series appearances and that means a complete move to the greater Charlotte, North Carolina area.
It means having a social security number, driver’s license, work visa and bank accounts. This isn’t just a professional change of scenery for SVG, it’s a personal one for girlfriend Jessica Dane and their dog, too. He has moved once from his native New Zealand to Australia but this is completely different.
“Finding a house with a fence has been difficult,” van Gisbergen said on Thursday during a NASCAR media teleconference. “They don’t have a lot of them here. That’s been weird.”
It’s get easier the further away from the interstates, but he’ll learn.
“We have to find something we can settle into for a while until we can figure out what life is like here and where we want to be based. It’s been good so far. Trackhouse has been helpful.”
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Van Gisbergen has no shortage of recent comparisons to fall back towards as fellow multi-time Supercar champions Marcos Ambrose and Scott McLaughlin both moved to America following their tenure Down Under.
Ambrose raced NASCAR for seven years and McLaughlin currently races in IndyCar for Team Penske.
“Marcos is a great example,” he said, “with a similar background coming into NASCAR and I researched how he did it and what he went through. It took him three seasons before he was full-time in the Cup Series. It’s not going to be an easy transition with me doing Xfinity, a lot of learning and growing pains and he’s been helpful.
“He’s lent me a lot of advice of what to expect and how to approach things to speed up my learning process. I want to emulate what he’s done, make it to the Cup Series and be successful. I think his career was really awesome. He had a great time here and loved his experience.”
Ambrose won twice in Cup, five times in Xfinity, and generally always raced near the front half of the field.
Van Gisbergen made international headlines when he won in his debut Cup Series start on the inaugural street course race during a rainy day in Downtown Chicago. He also finished 10th in his second start on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
A lot of that quick acclimation period was made possible due to a modern Cup Series car that is heavily based off the previous generation of Australian Supercar, and the frequency it races in the rain and on street courses.
Now SVG will be tasked with learning the oval racing culture, and the Xfinity Series car, which is nothing like the current Cup Series platform. The Xfinity Series car is more reflective of a traditional NASCAR stock car.
“I’m trying not to have expectations,” van Gisbergen said. “I want to be as prepared as possible but results wise, I have no idea what we can achieve.
“I want to get top-10s and represent (sponsor) WeatherTech well and have some fun, but I don’t know what it’s going to be like with the ovals and I just hope that I can get better and be more competitive when I get to tracks a second time around.”
That includes the superspeedways — Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta — a style of racing unlike anything else in the world of motorsports.
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“I’ve watched them and it looks like the cars are driving around flat out but I have tried to study it,” he said. “I have an on-board from Denny Hamlin last year at Talladega where he had to come back through the field.
“I’ve been trying to study that, how all that works, look at SMT data and the driver inputs. It seems like a high-speed chess match but also a lottery in some ways so it’s going to be tough for our first race. That style of racing is so far removed from anything I’ve ever done so I’m anxious and unsure about how to race. That’s really going to be a tough first one.”
He’s also been told to expect way harder hits in crashes unlike anything he has ever experience before.
That’s NASCAR.
“Kevin Harvick has been a great help with advice of how to get comfortable and being well strapped in,” Shane van Gisbergen said. “He said that I am going to have hits like I’ve never had before, which is not nice to hear, but it’s a true fact.
“I have to be ready for that, and be comfortable and safe in the car, knowing how to brace myself and trusting that the car can handle it. That’s just part of it. Also learning the differences between the Xfinity and Cup cars, the fit between both, things I’ve never had to think about before.
“But all the guys I’ve talked to have been awesome.”
Growing Australia
Shane Van Gisbergen hopes his participation in the Xfinity Series will get the races aired back home in New Zealand and Australia. The Cup Series is currently the only division that airs on traditional television Down Under.
“Hopefully they don’t have to find special ways to watch,” he said. “Hopefully we get some coverage down there.”
He also hopes any success he has opens to door for his former Supercars rivals to make additional starts. Reigning series champion Brodie Kostecki also raced at Indianapolis this summer and Richard Childress Racing wants to enter him in additional races in 2024.
“His lap times were really good,” van Gisbergen said of Kostecki. “There have been some others to indicate they want to come over and have a go at it too.
“The talent level is really high down there but we have such tunnel vision on what we’re trying to achieve. But hopefully I can open some doors and teams start looking towards New Zealand and Australia for talent to come over here, but also vice versa, to race Supercars over there as well — expand racing across the board a little bit.
Kyle Busch is exploring making a start in the Adelaide 500 next year.
Additional starts for Shane van Gisbergen
Trackhouse team owner Justin Marks, who co-owns the CARS Late Model Tour with Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton had previously indicated a desire to get van Gisbergen in a Late Model to learn the short track culture.
That was before they were able to make a full-time Xfinity Series season finalized but a handful of Late Model appearances could be on the table alongside the Truck Series too. He finished 17th in his Truck Series and oval short track debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park in August.
“We haven’t talked too much about it,” van Gisbergen said. “It would be helpful to go to the track and experience some of those races that have Xfinity races later in the year. I want to visit every track and get all the experience I can before 2025.”
He is also eligible for the NASCAR All Star Race at North Wilkesboro since he won at Chicago but isn’t sure if that race will happen right now either.
“I’m not too sure about that one yet,” he said. “No, we haven’t really talked about it.”
And the Rolex 24 IMSA sports car race at Daytona is not on the schedule for sure.
“I had some talks to do it with teams,” he said. “It’s a great race and I’ve missed coming down here for it. But we wanted to focus on the Xfinity cars and my preparation to get ready for the season.”