Shane van Gisbergen Interview
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I forgot my suit one day, so I had to borrow Kevin's.
It's a little shorter and lighter than me, so I didn't really fit it.
Last week, I got into it with a couple of guys,
and they're just like a switch.
It's like they've got their helmet on too tight,
and the brain's simply like, it's cut off.
Like, he's figured out Oval's an Indy car.
Once you've figured out Oval's here,
do you want to come and do the 500?
That was pretty bad, like the first race, getting taken out,
and I went, got pretty angry at the guy I got out,
and it was your 12-year-old son.
MUSIC
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Speed with Harvick and Boxster.
Let's talk some racing.
Let's do that, and let's do that with a man I'm so glad you're here,
Shane Van Gisburg, and on an actually quite a gray, dreary,
just started raining day here in Daytona.
It's like we're near your home.
I know, right? I'm used to this.
We've had it rain every day this year.
Anyway, how are you?
I'm good. It's good to be here.
Great to see you.
I'm heavier than you by the sounds of it.
Oh, he's fine.
I'm great.
We're getting some Twizzlers and some Twinkies.
You're a standard Englishman, complaining.
So tell us, what's it like?
I mean, obviously, you didn't grow up doing this,
but what's it like?
I know his reaction when he saw Daytona for the first time.
What's it like for you coming to the Daytona International Speedway?
Yeah, it's like, is it not many places that you get this feeling,
but there are a few, like a Le Mans or a Bathurst,
where you drive into the place
and you just feel the history.
You feel the vibe, you feel that atmosphere
and how privileged you are to be here, I guess.
Like, it's pretty cool.
And even driving out for the first time.
I've been here a few times now.
It's still a pretty cool thing coming out of four
and seeing the size of the grandstand
and seeing it on Sunday Fool will be pretty cool.
Do you still feel like the new boy?
Yeah, a little bit.
Conner's good being my new teammate here,
sort of taking that away.
And he likes talking, which is good for me.
I don't have to talk as much.
And I still feel like I'm learning a lot, though.
But, yeah, I feel like I need to get better now.
I've done these things a few times now.
Like, are you at the point where you have favorite restaurants
in each of the cities that you visit,
or are you not quite there yet?
Always. Wendy's right, you know that.
No, but, yeah, you certainly find some cool places
and starting to like places, not like others.
It's cool, some of the tracks would go to.
So you've got everything that you have going on.
You've raced a lot of different cars.
When you start the Daytona 500,
to me, there was nothing better than coming to the green flag
of the Daytona 500.
A, I was done having to talk about it,
and you could get the season started.
But it's backwards, because everything that you do
is the most anticipated,
all the most anticipated things you do all year
are the very first race.
That has to be a little different.
Yeah, like normally in most races or most sports,
the grand final or the biggest races,
the end or two-thirds through the season kind of thing.
So it's odd, but kind of cool to have that anticipation
starting the year and being at the shop all this week,
seeing the effort and the small intricate details
going into the car that they probably won't do
some other weeks.
It's amazing how much effort goes into this
and how proud everyone is to have the car here
and the vibe in the garage.
You can tell how nervous everyone is.
It's not like that every week.
It's pretty cool.
So you've dominated the road courses
and basically turned the garage upside down
on how they approach road course racing.
What is the oval progress?
We saw a lot of progress at the end of the year.
What's been the biggest thing that you've had to get used to
and where do you think your progress is on the ovals?
Yeah, it's hard to know where to start.
Like there's so many different things, you know?
And I remember when I first started talking to you
before I'd really raced much,
some of the things you'd say was like on another planet
and things I'd never got to.
But now the more I realize things and do,
they start to click, you know?
And I'm still having so many light bulb moments every weekend.
Like, okay, that's starting to work.
And every track's different, every style is set up.
And I'm still learning so much.
And I think the secret for me still is to just keep
an open mind and keep learning
and keep getting the playbook bigger.
So we're getting there.
I think maybe more than any other driver
on the planet right now,
you've shown your ability to be adaptable
in different formers.
I remember when you went over and did OpenWheel,
did the New Zealand Grand Prix,
just like bossed it during COVID,
I think it was like unreal.
Supercars, unreal, come over here, unreal.
But still, and we've been debating this a lot,
NASCAR drivers internationally seem to be underrepresented,
really kind of undervalued in terms of what they do.
Because people often look at an oval
and think you're just turning left.
How hard can that be?
You better than anyone can speak to how tough that is.
Like how difficult is it?
How precise do you need to be?
Firstly, I think you don't see them drive
because the season's so long and you race every single week.
So there's not much opportunity to go do other things.
But yeah, just the way the cars are
and how difficult and how much the small details matter
is so different to every other sport.
And yeah, I'm okay at the flatter tracks.
I've found the ovals that are flat off
seem to go pretty well,
but the high banking stuff,
just the way the cars drive, the way they load up,
it just doesn't, even like Daytona, it's easy flat,
but it doesn't seem like you should be able
to enter the corner at top speed and turn.
Like it's still such a weird feeling
when the car first loads into the banking
and it flexes and yaws out.
It's just bizarre.
It's a completely different discipline of racing.
And you're such an intelligent driver.
You work so hard at your craft.
I know that.
I know the amount of time that you spend on that.
How much are you having to dive into your driving style,
what you know, what you understand,
what you've done your whole career,
just to get on top of something that's so different?
Yeah, which sometimes is a detriment.
I think about it too much, you know?
And you watch some of these young guys,
especially the way he practices,
you only have 20 minutes
and your tires might only last two or three laps.
So you kind of just got to go and figure it out
and get to the limit straight away
rather than building up.
It's a very different, you know,
most other racing series you have different practice,
you have different sets of tires,
qualifying you have three goes,
it's set in the best lap.
Here it's, you get one corner to warm up
then your lap starts.
It's just very, very different
and kind of got to throw caution to the wind sometimes.
When you look at our series,
we've seen some guys kind of dabble.
You've obviously had success and come over here.
You've been around the world more than others
and is there anybody that you'd like to see
come give this a try?
Yeah, but you'd want someone who's in the prime,
like seeing someone like Max would be,
he's obviously the first guy who springs to mind
because he has started dabbling in other things
but I don't know if he'd want to do this full time,
you know, he loves doing other stuff.
Yeah, he would be.
Just one time.
Just one time, it'd be interesting, you know.
And Kimmy, he did a truck race on an oval
and actually didn't do too bad.
But yeah, you'd want someone in their prime to come over.
So I don't know, there's plenty of super car guys
who are good, but.
Do they talk to you about it?
Like, I'd love to come over and try.
A lot of trying, but they're more trying
to just do road courses.
I think, turn them off, how difficult the ovals are.
Yeah, well, I wanna see you in Scotty battle again.
Yeah, that would be cool.
That's, he would be amazing at this, you know,
and he would figure out the ovals too.
So I think he wants to try it.
Well, he's figured out ovals in Indy car.
Once you've figured out ovals here,
do you want to come and do the 500?
Cause we'd love to see it at the 500.
I think I'd want to do a road course on one first.
Yeah.
But the Indy is kind of attractive,
but seeing the logistics of what Kyle went through
and how he talked about it.
It was a pretty big turn off,
but I'd want to drive a car.
They look awesome, how physical they are
and how you have to hustle them.
There's a lot of good drivers in that series too.
So I'd want to have a go, but probably not full-time.
Road or street?
Either, it doesn't worry me.
When you talk about going to the street courses
and you talk about the things that you're able to do
at Chicago, you talk about the road courses,
what's been the biggest thing that you'd have to adapt
to just in the road courses
that's been different than the super car?
Probably just the length of the races
and the dynamic of them.
You don't drive flat out the whole time.
You're kind of managing a lot,
especially they have good breaks at the end
and there's no point winning by so much
in the first two stages
because you're only going to get pulled back anyway.
It's a guaranteed yellow.
So you're kind of saving a bit until that last stage.
It's an interesting way of racing
knowing that a yellow is going to come out, I guess.
But yeah, once that last stage starts, it's all go.
I love that.
What do you enjoy the most now about being here
in this championship?
Because you look so happy here.
You're having so much success.
What does it bring in you
that racing hasn't brought you in the past?
Probably there's less fluff.
Like it seems like there's a lot,
but we used to go to a race on a Tuesday.
There'd be three or four days of media
and it was probably one of my least favorite things
about being a race car driver.
So I'm very lucky here.
You only do a couple,
but I'm walking into the shop every Monday.
You have debrief and I just love being there.
I love being with the same group of people
with the same goal and it's just a really cool team
to be part of.
Like I've driven and worked with great teams before,
but I don't know, you just feel like you're in it
for a full year, 36 weeks in a row with the same guys
and it's just a cool team dynamic
when you've got a great group of people.
Is the culture in general different
as far as how the crew guys approach it?
Is it more laid back?
Is it more intense?
What do you think the difference is
from where you race to where you are now?
It depends on the moments,
but like you have a lot more curfews here, I guess.
Like the garages are only open for a certain amount of hours
and after practice or qualifying or a race on a weekend,
normally you'd be working on your car,
getting it ready for the next one.
Here we do the qualifying.
Well, this week's a bit different,
but normally you do qualifying,
you just leave it till the next day
and all the guys go home
and have a quiet night, team dinner somewhere.
It's pretty easy on the mechanics.
It's a grueling schedule because it's every week,
but the weekends are easier for them.
You've, as we were saying earlier,
you're so adaptable, you race in so many championships.
Was that always a goal for you starting out in racing
or did you really have a primary focus
and these things have just opened up
because of your insane talent and success?
Thanks.
It's true.
I loved Viet Supercars, but I never set out.
When we started racing,
it was never just to go Viet Supercar driver.
We didn't try and get there, it just worked out,
we got some good breaks and good results.
Yeah, then never thought I'd be a NASCAR driver.
Then obviously got an opportunity with Justin,
had a good race and that kind of led,
and it snowballed after that.
Yeah, kind of been pretty fluid with it all.
I never thought I'd be living here racing full-time,
so pretty lucky.
You're one of those people that like,
you get something offered to you
and you take those opportunities when they,
like have you ever passed anything up
that you wish you'd taken?
Or are you very much like, yeah, I'll take that,
I'll go.
Kind of wish in some ways,
I did the open-world thing a bit longer,
like I had a good opportunity to go and race A1GP.
It wasn't at the time, the single-seaters.
Really, go way back, yeah.
Yeah, but then a year and a half later,
it unfolded anyway, so it worked out,
but yeah, maybe I could have gone further
at single-seaters, but it worked out, okay.
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Is your legend car career still intact,
or I mean, you are a summer shootout winner.
Yeah, I won my last race.
I don't know whether to leave it at that or not.
Leave it at high.
Have you ever raced anything
that's rougher than legend cars?
No, that was, that was pretty bad.
Like the first race, getting taken out
and went, got pretty angry at the guy,
got out and it was your 12-year-old son.
You know what I mean?
Like they were all young kids.
It was a cool experience.
My favorite thing about Shane,
when he would run the legend car,
he'd stick his hand out the window
and it looked like it was four feet in the air.
Just getting him in the car.
No, it was not both.
You have to grease you up.
And one day he had to wear a suit
that was relatively too small.
Tell him what happened.
Well, I guess we can now.
Yeah, I forgot my suit one day,
so I had to borrow Kevin's.
It's a little shorter and lighter than me,
so it didn't really fit it.
Was it like short pants?
Yeah, it didn't even go up.
But I qualified.
Is there anything you really want to race out there
that you haven't yet?
Yeah, I've got two more things.
I really want to do Nurburgring, 24-hour,
could have done that.
And then probably do some rally again.
I loved rally and only did that for just over a year.
I got to do WRC when I went to New Zealand.
That was sort of my target when I started
and rally is unbelievable.
So I'd really want to do that probably after this.
We've been talking to Jimmy Johnson
and obviously started out Baja and places like that.
Is that something that would appeal to you
on the rally side?
Not at all.
Dat car, anything like that?
That looks like hell.
Two weeks in the desert.
That's a no-go.
Nah, I watch for highlights every day.
I won't be in that.
So we used to have the IROC series
and it would be the invited.
It mainly wound up being some sports car guys,
Indy car guys, NASC car guys.
And it was 12 cars in the field.
And for me, I loved when the 24 hours of Daytona,
you'd get more NASC car guys and get all of the racers
from around the world onto one stage.
Did you watch IROC at all?
I don't, but I know of it.
I mean, is that something that you think would go still?
You think we could get guys to do that?
Yeah, and you could have the Indy car guys
and I think it's cool.
You'd have to get a car that's kind of in the middle
ground or you'd have different cars.
How about Carts?
Carts?
Carts, go Carts.
Yeah, I'd be at a bit of a disadvantage for that.
That would be great in the corners.
Straight's not so much.
Or the wet, yeah.
Yeah, you could do something like that
and people are always interested to see integration
of other categories, I guess.
Is that the only way,
because there's always the argument,
who's the best driver in the world?
Right?
It's a constant.
Is that the only way you figure it out
to put people in the same
or is it a question that even needs answering?
Yeah, I think that's, you know,
there's that debate of Kyle versus Max, isn't it?
But you'll never find that out
because the disciplines are two different.
Yeah.
They're two completely different types of driver
but both brilliant.
But he's obviously in the argument
of the best driver in the world
and we've had this debate.
Yeah.
We've all had this debate.
I've argued for years it's this man.
Yeah.
I've been very public about that
just because of your adaptability.
And because you can,
you know, I look at you like
a Mario Andretti,
a Sterling Moss who in their day
could go and race anything,
anywhere, any weekend
and just be instantly on it,
instantly fast and willing to do it.
And I put you on that level.
That's very cool.
Thank you.
Yeah.
And he's like, I'm not answering that question.
I still have to race against all these guys.
When you were younger and, you know,
your dad and everything that you did
when you were younger,
was it always just on asphalt road courses?
Did you, I mean, you did some rally car stuff.
What do you think taught you the most?
We talk about development all the time,
whether it's karting,
whether it's, you know, late models,
whatever it is,
but you kind of ventured into everything
as you were growing up.
Do you think that's helped you?
Yeah, for sure.
Like you see kids who only do karting
and they're pretty limited with their skills
when they go and do other things.
And yeah, did a bit of everything
where there was dirt track, ATV racing
and then went into the single-seaters.
But you know, just doing that every week
with my dad,
it kept me different every week,
probably helped me and, you know,
probably missed a few championships by moving around,
but I think it really helped me later on.
What did you learn the most in?
I'd say probably the dirt track stuff,
like with the track being different all the time
and not one line being the fastest the whole time.
You know, moving to karting really did help me
with some race craft and getting in a rhythm
and being consistent every lap.
But yeah, the dirt track stuff really helps.
Which is relevant to oval,
like the tracks change so much.
Talk about your dad so much of racing
and for you guys starting out in racing,
it's such a family thing.
How much does it mean for you
to be running the number that you are?
Yeah, yeah, that's really cool.
So that was his sprint car number
and the year I started racing too.
So it worked out really cool
and when I started our cars
were painted the same number and yeah,
just I've run that pretty much in everything.
And I answered that a few times today,
I said pretty much every single big name driver,
you know what their number was when they were racing.
So hopefully that's when people see 97,
they think of me, yeah.
When I've got to spend a little more time with Will
and I've learned that he likes Twinkies and Twizzlers.
I'm trying to quit.
So when you started spending more time in America,
did you have a favorite food that you were like,
Oh, this is so bad for me, but I love it.
Yeah, Wendy's.
It's a very good sponsor,
but also need to have less of it.
So there's got to be something when you came to America,
you're like, Oh my God,
I can't believe that they serve this.
Fried pickles?
Yeah.
What's the weirdest thing that you've tried here?
Like I can't believe.
A blooming onion.
A blooming onion.
Outback, we don't have that stuff.
Yeah.
Some Australian food apparently.
This is outstanding.
So I had Outback as a sponsor
and every time we get a top 10,
we'd give a blooming onion away,
but it's the appetizer.
And they take it onion in it.
But I don't even have them in Australia.
So this is the thing,
like the Australian restaurant slash bath thing
is not really Australian.
It's like British pubs over here.
The least British thing I've ever seen in my life.
Fosters, when you see that everywhere.
I've never seen an Australian drink that.
So that's obviously not your favorite beer.
Yeah, it's terrible.
Yeah, it's made in England.
That's the main thing with it.
That's a crazy thing.
This season then, let's look ahead.
It's always stupid to say it's start of the season,
like hopes and aspirations.
But what would a good season look like?
Well, I think it's definitely changed this year
with the chase format and stuff.
So it's all about points of humiliation for us.
We really need to be better at qualifying.
So we have a chance at scoring stage points.
That was our weakness last year on ovals.
We didn't really score any,
but we'd be quick by the end of the races.
So just need to be sharper at the start of the weekend.
So start up front and yeah, now
it's all about finishing races in a good position
to try and maximize our chance of getting in the playoffs.
When you look at your teammate with Connor coming in
and I feel like Ross is kind of,
he's the one that's been around this the longest,
probably the one that you guys lean on the most
and describe your relationship with your two teammates
because Ross is obviously has done well.
Connor is known, he did great in the Xfinity series
last year, but he's known for his road racing skills.
How's that gonna push you guys
and how do you guys function as a team?
Yeah, we definitely have to use it
to push each other to be better.
Ross is a really good leader, I guess at the moment
and he's a really good benchmark.
He's one of the best guys in the series
and to help us, he's very open.
Like he tells us everything we ask
and it's been really good.
Like our days at the simulator, it's really helpful.
And so yeah, we just gotta use Ross to get to his level
and I gotta aim for him every week.
He's a good benchmark for me
and it'll be interesting to see where Connor falls into.
He had an exceptional year last year
and he's an amazing talent
so I don't really know how he's gonna stack up.
It's gonna be really interesting to watch.
What do you think, I mean, you got to experience this
and Connor's had some great success
and he's been able to win on some mobiles
and win on the road courses.
This is a big step and you're very,
you're a little older and more mature than he is
and he's mature beyond his years.
What's the hardest thing for people to understand
the jump to the cup series
and the pressure and the things that go with it
aside from the length of the schedule
that you've already mentioned?
I think the depth of the competition
but also the depth of the equipment
is a lot further down the field,
whereas last year obviously he had good stuff
but there weren't as many good cars in the field.
I think when you go to these ovals and tracks
there's 25 guys who if they get it right
they could have a shot to win.
So getting it right is gonna be a lot harder
I think than he found it.
So it's just bringing that same high intensity
every week is gonna be difficult to get motivated
when you're gonna be down that low
but interesting to see how he's gonna go
and handle that.
These guys have come up the ladder together.
They know each other.
They've known each other for decades.
We started this off by asking if you still felt
like the new boy in this championship.
When you turned up as you did
and just started winning races,
was there an arm around the shoulder to the new guy
like, hey, wow, you're doing so great
or was there a little pushback of calm it down, you kid?
Yeah, I felt it a little bit
like on some Super Speedway's
they got hung out pretty good
and I thought I was running good up the front
then just got shipped out of line
and back to 40th you go fella.
But most people were pretty good.
Like I've had great battles with people
and even when I've had an issue with people
you can reach out here
and there's no point carrying stuff on
because generally you race the same people every week.
So yeah, I feel like everyone's been welcoming
and everyone's pretty cool to race here.
It's been fun.
Is it the roughest form of motor sports
you've ever raced in?
Oh yeah, like Bowman Gray last week
I got into it with a couple of guys
and they're just like a switch.
But it's like they've got their helmet on too tight
and the brain's certainly cut off
and I rubbed a guy by accident
and he's out there.
I'm sorry mate.
But yeah, it's very different.
It is very different.
Amazing.
We can't wait to see how you get on this year man.
As always a joy to watch you race.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
Thank you guys.
We both appreciate it.
Thank you.
About this episode
Shane van Gisbergen talks Daytona, the Daytona 500’s unique “season starts now” pressure, and how oval racing demands precision far beyond “just turning left.” He explains why ovals still feel bizarre when the car loads into banking, and how he keeps learning with an open mind and a growing playbook. The conversation covers adapting from road courses and other series, NASCAR’s qualifying/points challenges, team dynamics with Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch, and his career path built on taking opportunities. He also shares legend car stories, food cravings, and future goals like Nürburgring 24 and rally.
Original notes
Shane van Gisbergen breaks down why NASCAR is more difficult than it looks, his progression learning oval racing, the challenge of competing at Daytona, and the debate over whether drivers like Max Verstappen could succeed in stock cars. On this episode of SPEED With Harvick and Buxton, Kevin Harvick and Will Buxton sit down with van Gisbergen to discuss what makes Daytona so special, how he has improved on ovals since joining NASCAR, why the discipline is tougher than other forms of motorsport, which drivers he would like to see try NASCAR, his interest in potentially racing the INDY 500, how he has adapted from Supercars to NASCAR road courses, and his thoughts on rising talents like Connor Zilisch.
Chapters:0:00 Intro0:45 Shane van Gisbergen Joins The Show!1:15 Driving In The Daytona 5003:45 Developing On Ovals5:15 Difficulties Of Racing In NASCAR8:00 Adapting To NASCAR Road Courses11:40 Driving Legend Cars12:40 Races He Wants To Try14:20 Determining The Best Driver In The World16:30 Significance Of Driving The No. 9717:25 Wildest American Food18:15 Expectations For The 2026 Season20:15 Difficulties Of Making The Jump To The Cup Series22:10 Outro
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