Shane van Gisbergen Interview
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Concept
NASCAR
NASCAR is a type of car racing where drivers race specially made cars on big tracks, mostly oval-shaped. It's very popular in the US and involves fast cars and close competition.
Concept
road courses
Road courses are race tracks that have many turns and hills, not just simple loops. Drivers need to be good at turning and slowing down to race well on these tracks.
Concept
qualifying lap
A qualifying lap is a fast lap that a driver does before the race to see how good they are. The faster the lap, the better place they start in the race.
Term
spring rate
Spring rate means how stiff or soft the spring is in a car's suspension. A stiffer spring makes the car feel firmer, while a softer spring makes it feel smoother.
Term
cross weight
Cross weight means how the car's weight is spread diagonally across the tires, like front left and back right. It helps the car turn better when racing.
Term
single seaters
Single seaters are special race cars that only have one seat for the driver. They are made to go very fast and are used in racing competitions.
Concept
Daytona
Daytona is a well-known race track where important car races happen, especially in NASCAR.
Concept
Formula 1 (F1)
Formula 1, or F1, is a top-level car racing series with very fast and special cars that race on different tracks around the world.
Concept
drifting
Drifting is when a driver makes the car slide sideways on purpose while turning, which looks cool and takes skill.
Term
aero disturbance
Aero disturbance is when the air gets messy around a car because of other cars nearby, making it harder to drive smoothly.
Concept
banking
Banking means the track is tilted on the turns, so cars can go faster without sliding off.
Brand
Chevy
Chevy is a big car company from America that makes many types of cars. They have special places where they work on making cars better and faster.
Term
rotary
A rotary engine is a special kind of engine that spins in a circle instead of using up-and-down pistons. It can make a lot of power and sounds different from regular engines.
Concept
showmanship
Showmanship means doing cool things while driving to make the race more fun to watch, like spinning the car's tires to make smoke.
Concept
Xfinity race
The Xfinity race is a type of NASCAR race where drivers compete in cars that look like regular cars but are built for racing.
Term
burnout
A burnout is when a car's wheels spin really fast while the car stays still, making smoke from the tires. People do it for fun or to get the tires ready for racing.
Term
the chase
The Chase is the name for the last part of the racing season where the best drivers race to see who wins the whole thing.
Term
playoffs
Playoffs are like the final rounds in a racing season where only the best drivers compete to become the champion.
Term
stage points
Stage points are extra points drivers get during parts of a race, not just at the end. This helps them get more chances to win the overall championship.
Term
crew chief
The crew chief is like the boss of the pit crew who helps decide how the car should be set up and when to make pit stops.
Concept
A1 GP
A1 GP was a racing competition where drivers from different countries raced in the same kind of cars to see who was the best.
Concept
V8 Supercars
V8 Supercars is a popular car racing series in Australia where big cars with powerful V8 engines race against each other.
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I still feel like a rookie in some ways,
like I'm still learning so much.
The new generation, they really don't give a damn.
They'll just hit you for no reason.
The amount of Kiwis and Aussies, that daytonal was epic.
What's more expensive?
Racing or earning a farm?
Horses are a money pit.
I clean swimming pools, I paint in fences.
Hopefully when I finish, people will think of me as 97.
Go on.
Welcome.
Thanks for taking the time.
As always, I appreciate it.
We wanted to just catch up with you.
I think just going back to the start of your second full time
season, you've had a couple ovals now.
But what's it been like just being
able to go through the winter, start over again,
and kind of wrap your arms around everything
that you've learned so far?
Yeah, it's quite a bit different winter to last year
or summer.
I spent it in New Zealand again.
But yeah, it came back and it was good.
Last year was a little tough.
Like I was new.
The team was new.
Within Trackhouse, a lot of new people.
And there was a lot of learning process for everyone.
And we got really good people retention this year,
a lot of continuity.
And I think that makes a big difference,
working with Steven again and all the crew guys really.
There's only sort of been one change.
And I think we sort of just carried the momentum
and building blocks with sort of being doing the last half
of last year.
But it feels like, I mean, I don't know how you feel.
It feels like you've been here for a long time.
I don't know if it's just because of the way that you came in
and you started winning and everybody
recognized that you immediately were here right off the bat.
Does it feel that way to you?
Yeah, it's still gone quick, though.
Yeah, it's hard to believe it's been two full seasons already.
It has gone pretty quick, but I still feel like a rookie.
In some ways, like I'm still learning so much.
When you go back and you kind of analyzed last year
from everything else that you've raced in the past,
when you go back and you say, OK, this
is what we need to work on this year, what
was the off-season conversation like with Steve
and Steven and Justin and just your team in general is, OK,
this is what we need to do different to get going next year.
I don't know if we've really talked about it much.
It's just kind of.
We're going to have to have another meeting then.
We're kind of just all on the same wavelength.
I think the second time we went back to tracks,
like the gains were so big and we've really
got a notebook at most tracks now.
And I think just every weekend we seem
to be learning something and I don't know.
It's a lot of fun working with those guys every week.
It's fun to go in the shop on a Monday
and do our team meetings.
And I don't know, it just feels like it's stuff snowballing.
And there's no goals or expectations.
We just keep getting better.
And I think once that stops and we stop learning,
that's probably when we need to get together and figure things out.
But yeah, I think it would just keep keep learning
and keep getting better at the moment.
Has Steven ever raised his voice on the radio yet?
Have you ever heard him yell?
Yeah, probably Darlington.
All right. Yeah, Darlington.
I'm happy for that.
Yeah, he got wound up and, you know,
we were struggling at that one.
But yeah, I think the thing is with him,
we sorted it out the next week and he he needed
different information from me.
And yeah, it's hard on those hot days
not to throw the toys out of the cot.
So yeah, we got better.
When you when you look at the transition that you had,
what's been the this just gen seven cars
a little bit different than than what I raised
for for most of my NASCAR career.
But what's been the hardest thing to kind of wrap your arms
outside of the road courses or even road courses?
It's probably different than what you wanted
and what you have available to change.
What's been the hardest thing to wrap your arms
around to get to get used to?
No practice and then one lap of qualifying.
Yeah. So you kind of drive out on a track
and you only get two or three laps on a tire.
And then the grip really drops and then you kind of get comfortable.
And then you got to go and do qualifying
and you get one corner to feel what you got.
And it's just so hard to just go and do it.
I'm always I've been someone who needs time to build up
and ease into something.
And whereas here, everyone can just switch on so fast
and just go and not care about the consequences.
It seems so that's probably been the biggest adjustment
and something I got a lot better at later.
Yeah. How has it been in the transition?
Because this is kind of full contact.
I know as we've talked in the past, that was that was something
that was that was hard to get used to.
But it seems that you've settled in to moving people out of the way
when you need to or giving it back to somebody.
Has it been hard to change kind of your mindset
on just the etiquette of how you race?
It's been hard to embrace it.
I guess it's so different, you know,
like some of the old boys race very different to the younger guys,
like the new generation, they really don't give a damn.
They just hit you for no reason and have no patience
where I feel like the older guys will set up a past more,
have a bit more patience or just knock you out of the way
when you deserve it.
I feel like it's very different.
You kind of need to know who you're racing and I'm learning that.
But yeah, I feel like everyone's approachable
when you have a problem and you can work it out
and you move on pretty quick.
So you mentioned that the practice piece of it.
You go to the sim, obviously, do you use it as much on ovals
or do you use it more on ovals or the road courses?
We've probably used it less and less.
I find I find the sim you get too much of an idea
about something and you go there and it's not the same
and you might be stuck in your ways or techniques.
So I get more out of watching videos really and SMT stuff
and just study the good guys, see what they do
and try and emulate that.
I find the sims are good and the teams really love the sims
for setup, but as a driver, I kind of get more out of video stuff.
Do you get involved in the setup stuff because from the outside
looking in, I view you as kind of a nerd as far as the data
and stuff because I shouldn't say nerd.
I should say student because you're good at analyzing that stuff
and critiquing yourself.
Is that something that you've always done?
I guess that's fair.
Like I love understanding why a car works and what makes it fast.
But whether it's got a 500 pound spring or a 1500, I don't care.
But I want to know the difference of what it feels like
and be able to help guide the team in the right way.
So definitely the road course stuff.
I feel like I've influenced that a bit.
But the oval, I don't know what's good yet,
but I love learning about it and understanding the differences
of my style and what the, you know, like a cross weight offset
that I run different to Ross and understanding why I'm different.
It's cool to learn about that.
So when you look at your like on the oval stuff,
when you look at your team last year, you had Daniel and Ross.
This year, you've got Connor and Ross.
Are there characteristics that you look at and you're like,
how do you drive the car that way that you've developed yourself
that have become what you want in the car and you know that?
Yes, especially Daniel.
His driving style was very different to Ross's.
And I kind of moved towards Ross's style.
And then, but our setups have to be different the way I seem to drive.
And then Connor's come in with a clean slate,
but basically, and he's very different again.
So it's kind of cool figuring that out.
And it'll be cool watching him go through the process I did last year.
How much do you think that your maturity
has helped you with where you're at with your age?
I view your racing IQ as super high.
If you had done this 15 years ago,
probably would have been a lot different, right?
You look at a kid like Connor,
just going to get swallowed by the world with everything that you've got going on.
It's information overload.
He's obviously fast, but there's just way more to it than that.
How do you think that has helped you with everything that you've experienced
in your racing career, being able to move across the world
and do all the things that you've been able to do in the cup car
and be comfortable with it?
Yeah, I think it certainly helped.
But if you're referenced to Connor like the tools and the experience
the kids have over here at this age, it's amazing how far ahead he is.
Being 18 and when I was 18, it's very impressive.
The grounding kids have here and you see it with Keelan as well.
It's very, very cool.
But yeah, I think it has helped me like bringing
different outlooks on everything and trying to help even with processes
in the team, driving for a lot of other teams,
maybe things they've done better and with debriefs and stuff like that.
So I feel like that's kind of helped us get better as a team, too.
So, yeah, hopefully I've added to positive things.
So when was the first time you got to race a car, a full size car?
Probably in single seaters would have been 2004.
Yeah, 15, 15, over 20 years ago.
By the time you're 15 here and today in the US,
that's hard to explain to people all around the world.
It's probably weird to like when the rules are just different.
Yes, I moved to Australia to race when I was 18.
But yeah, it seems to be the kids are in late models when they're 15 at the latest here.
It's very different.
Yeah, you've had a great start to the year.
You ran well at Daytona, you had a great finish at Atlanta.
I think you would assess that as a success for the first two ovals.
Is that fair? I think so, yeah.
I think we had a good run at Daytona.
Like I felt comfortable running up front and cars felt really good.
And then Atlanta, we made it harder than we should have.
But yeah, like we've had speed, which has been great.
And I'm still making a few mistakes, but it's part of learning.
But definitely feel like we're on the right track speedwise.
So you're on a pretty short list of international winners
that that have won in this sport.
And I just I wonder, I'm curious, because when you go home now,
how do they what's the perception of what you're doing now?
Have they embraced it?
Are there more NASCAR fans at home?
How did how did that how did that go for you when when you go home
when you went home this year after being in five races?
This year, I didn't really do anything public.
I sort of just stayed with my friends.
But it's been amazing seeing the social media
and how many people follow the races and say they don't go to work on Mondays.
It's all Monday mornings there. Oh, wow.
It's been awesome to watch them just to watch the race.
Yeah, they're all Monday morning races for us or for them over there.
And yeah, but the support and all the news articles every week
on the on the racing websites there.
It's been, yeah, it's been pretty humbling to see
how many people support me and really, really cool.
And then people that come to the races like the amount of Kiwis and Aussies
that daytonal was was epic.
It was pretty wild.
We had we had a couple of Australians that we had on the on the pre race,
just given asking questions and wanting to know that's that's quite a commitment.
But I think when you look at that,
I mean, how do you how do you view the growth of NASCAR
and in that part of the world?
Like, I saw you did the Red Bull stuff with your Red Bull teammates
from from F1 and drifting.
When you go do those types of events, are they curious about NASCAR
and what's happening here?
Yeah, and they all just ask why the ovals are so difficult.
That's the number one question. But yeah, what do you tell them?
I mean, it's just so hard to explain.
Like, it's it's like, you know, why they struggle on a road course.
Most drivers, because they haven't done it all their life.
It's just it's a completely different discipline of driving,
like the way the cars are set up to only turn one way,
how they feel when you land in the banking and the aero disturbance from the others.
It's I don't know where to start.
It's a completely different sport.
Do you for me, when I went to Europe, they think it's a four car garage
and you go to the dealership and pick up a car and get a group of guys to work on it?
Do you think that they do you think globally people understand
how sophisticated NASCAR racing is?
No, and I didn't before I come here, they look and it's like the sport
likes to think it or tell people about that, that they're simple,
big V8 American race cars.
But, you know, up the road at the Chevy tech center just blew my mind
the first time I went there and all the little intricate details on the car
and how much they matter and the tolerances, build quality.
It's amazing the technology here.
And I don't think that side gets told very well on purpose or not.
Yeah. Does NASCAR racing in general?
Do you think it has more than what you had in the supercars?
Oh, yeah, by far, yeah. So they're a long way behind.
We we didn't have driving sims.
They had the setup simulators, but nothing for, you know,
the driving or the body scanning, anything like that.
Like the tolerances, I think 10 millimeters where it's here,
it's less than a millimeter, the legal legal rules.
So it's very, very different.
What's been the biggest cultural shock as far as just coming to America
to race and as far as the garage, as far as the people
and how the how the motor homes are set up?
Because in NASCAR, everybody's literally six feet apart all the time.
Yeah. In the motor home lot.
Do you have have you developed friends in the motor home lot?
I think it's the mindset is the biggest difference.
I think what you have to be when you have a bad weekend at home,
it would eat me for weeks, whereas here I kind of let it happen for a day.
And then you've got to switch your mind back and reset so quick
because it's every single weekend and you've got to keep that level head all year.
Whereas at home, if you have a bad weekend, it just kills you.
So it's so, so different here and no one I can, when you make mistakes here,
it's people pick you up and let's go again, do it better next time.
It's a very different mindset and it's quite fun.
In the NASCAR garage, who's your who's your best buddy?
Probably Bubba, I'd say. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah.
We get along pretty good. Yeah.
I mean, Blaney and Scotty and we race on the simulator together and it's good.
I can see Scotty, but I think that Bubba, I mean, you guys were all together
at the summer shootout, but yeah, we had fun there.
So we seem to get along and play video games during the week and stuff like that.
So when you went and did the Red Bull deal,
you guys did the little competition.
What was more fun to drive, the off-road truck or the lawnmower?
Oh, the truck for sure.
The lawnmowers suck and no suspension there.
Have you done anything like that before?
I mean, I know you've done the rally car stuff, but was the truck similar to that?
Uh, no, the truck's probably the most unique thing I've done and especially being too old.
Sounds good. It was a rotary.
So yeah, yeah, it's crazy how much power it had and how good it sounded.
When you go to the when you when you you've been here for a year now,
you've started your second season, you've had some individuals.
When you look at the track house team chemistry and the things that that
you guys have done in the past, Justin's very involved as far as he's in all the
photo shoots, he's at the racetrack, he's he's he's in the middle of everything.
Now that you've won, has anything changed within the walls?
Ross always always seemed to be the guy that you lean on.
Has it become more difficult now that everybody's expected to win?
No, I don't think so.
I think it's still a good environment to be around.
There's been a lot of changes, like in the top end of management and stuff.
And I think it's kind of worked out pretty good and it's made some
made for some good progress the last few months or last six, eight months.
It's I think we've seen some good things happen there.
So yeah, as far as drivers wise, I really got along with Daniel and loved him as a teammate.
But yeah, it'd be interesting to see how corner slots in after a couple of months.
He's awesome at the moment and whether we race well together, it's yet to be seen.
But yeah, I love having him around.
Well, it's going to be competitive.
And I think that when you add in
the sponsorship and I think for for you, that's been one of the biggest surprises to me.
It's just the the impact that you've had with sponsors that you've had.
You were a big part of bringing Red Bull back.
And I think that, you know, sometimes to me, I think people underestimate the value
that you have from a marketing side because you are pretty quiet.
Yeah. And, you know, you do the things that you do on the racetrack.
But there's that international appeal that goes with all the things that come
with the brands that you have on the car.
Yeah. Do you recognize that?
Yeah, start to now.
But like it was amazing that Red Bull came along with me as a personal sponsor.
But it's not just them.
Yeah, of course. But yeah, it's cool.
I guess you're right. I am a little quiet.
But yeah, just being different, I think, is good in some ways as well.
Having a point of difference and yeah, trying to put on a show as well kind of helps, too.
I love the fact that you actually understand the showmanship piece of it
because it's it's part of your job.
Yeah. And doing the burnouts and doing all the things that I mean,
still the Sonoma burnout in the Xfinity race was probably the most epic burnout
that I've ever seen with Austin Hill.
Yeah.
Did that just do you think about that stuff, the showmanship piece of it?
Yeah, once you did the fingers at me, I was like, yeah, this one's for you.
So that burnout was for him.
But yeah, you just see how much people love it and react to it.
And it's pretty hard to beat a good burnout, isn't it?
Especially when the other guys got his finger hanging out the window.
Talk about the ovals this year.
We talked about it a little bit earlier.
And I'm sure you're sick and tired of answering the oval questions.
But what is the expectations?
You said you don't set goals.
But I think the expectation this year has to be for the ovals to be better
now that the point system is what it is.
How does the point system change?
Where are you at with the oval stuff and as far as your mindset?
Because I mean, you're going to win on the road courses at some point.
I it's not a given, but it's it's the expectation.
So what are the thoughts of where you think you need to be on the ovals
to make the playoffs or to make the chase and do the things you need to do
to get to the end of the year?
Firstly, I definitely need to qualify better more consistently
because stage points are just so important.
And I never really was strong at the start of oval races.
And, you know, you've got to score those stage points now
and accumulate as many as you can.
So starting up front will help, especially at tracks.
I've starting to get a handle on.
I think that'll really help.
And just got to show improvement like Phoenix, Bristol,
they're probably my worst tracks and just need to get better at those ones
and understand why I'm struggling at them.
But they're difficult tracks.
So what are your what are your favorite ovals?
Which ones do you like the best?
What style? Do you like super speedway, short tracks, intermediate?
I kind of like all of them. Like I liked New Hampshire.
That was I ran decent there.
And it was a fun track with all the different lanes.
Vegas is pretty cool.
That's one of the most exhilarating, qualifying laps you'll ever do.
And yeah, Vegas, Atlanta, they're fun.
Yeah. So that you would categorize which section has been the Bristol?
Bristol just tough.
Like it's Bristol has been the toughest one for you.
Yeah, 100 percent.
Like it's just a rush when you get there, how dynamic that track is.
And, you know, you think you're going well on the bottom
and someone passes you on the top.
So you go up there and we're going good.
And then someone passes you on the bottom.
It's just it's crazy how how fast pace it is.
And then in 15 laps, the lead is coming like it's
and they're halfway through the field.
It's ridiculous there.
It happens really quick.
Yeah. And the hardest part, the hardest part for you
is probably just getting used to just the load on the car and trust in the banking.
Have you ever raced on anything with banking before this?
No, no. And you just can't believe the car sticks
when you drive it into a track like that.
And the concrete feels so different there.
And then to throw it in, they have that tire lottery there
when the tires fall apart. So it's so tough.
Yeah, you've never raced anything that has tire fall off like that, I would assume.
Yeah, we had a couple of tracks like that.
Supercars like the old Darwin and Perth used to be really bad.
So that kind of helped a little bit, but still very tough.
Yeah. When you when you look at the number on the side of the car this year,
I know that that means a lot to you.
And I know a lot of our fans probably some have heard some haven't.
It screwed me up, by the way.
I still I still call you in the 88 car for the first two races.
But now I'm third race.
I kind of got used to the fact that that you're in the 97.
And just talk about the significance of the 97
and how it has been in your family and racing career.
Yeah. So the start of it was it was Dad's Sprint car number.
And when I started racing in quarter midgets as a kid,
our cars were painted the same and same number.
And we just kept it as a family number all the way through.
And everything I raced even professionally, we'd try and have the number.
And it was pretty cool.
So when Justin suggested it last year, you know, Daniel
kind of got known as the 99 and and would have felt weird if someone ran that.
And Conor wanted 88.
That's what he had in Xfinity.
So it worked out really well.
And even now, when I walked into the shop the first few weeks,
I went to the wrong car, went to the wrong car.
Well, that makes me feel better.
But, yeah, it's just I'm just proud of having it.
And as I've said many times, like everyone knows, like, you know,
what number Dale Earnhardt was, you know, what number you were or Jimmy Johnson.
Like, it's this synonymous with their number.
And hopefully when I finish, people think of me as 97.
So when was your you mentioned all the old drivers?
Did you follow NASCAR at all?
I did a little bit, especially when Marcus raced.
And then when he stopped, I kind of stopped watching it.
Yeah. But I was your favorite driver.
I'm from Marcus.
Probably Tony Stewart.
Tony Stewart. Yeah.
Why'd you like Tony Stewart because he threw stuff, made it exciting.
Or yeah, he just was always having a crack.
And yeah, when he wasn't winning, he was still the highlight in the highlights,
you know, he's always doing something cool.
So and then actually Chicago, I got to work with Darian Grubb,
who was his crew chief. So that's awesome.
Yeah, Tony's Tony's back.
So I think it's it's interesting how this this whole sport has come full circle
with what's old is new again.
It's seen the grid last week at day or two weeks ago at Daytona with Tony in the field.
I never in a million years that I think that I'd see Tony Stewart back at a NASCAR race.
Cool to watch. There we were.
Um, when you were a kid growing up,
you know, you talk about you talk about racing.
How did this get started?
You can't drive a car.
You went you talk about quarter midgets and all the things that you did.
How did you convince yourself and your dad that you were I mean, he raced,
but that you wanted to race?
I just would always go to his races.
He was rally car racing or sprint cars.
And yeah, I just always wanted to do it.
We'd go to the Speedway or dirt track every Saturday.
And I just love getting there early to watch the kids races first up.
And yeah, just I was always wanted to do it.
And I think all our friends growing up to were into racing,
whether it was go carts or that bring old cars around home and would sit on dad's
lap and drive them. Yeah. Yeah, I never had a chance really.
That's all I wanted to do.
So when you when you look at the cultural differences between
there and here, did you first, did you have a real job?
No, never have had a real job ever. Pretty lucky. Yeah. Yeah.
So you never did you so you worked in the shop when you worked on your dad's cars?
What would you do? No, so when I was younger, I didn't really care so much for that,
which, yeah, so I was late.
Wait, you didn't care for work or working on it or cleaning them or understanding
why I just was a driver. So but yeah, that came sort of later on.
But yeah, I just I don't know.
I left left school, did like a tech course for half a year and
left that to race in Australia.
So yeah, not much.
I got no other skills in life.
I can't believe you've never had a real job.
Nothing. Have you? I have.
I worked at the I worked at the Fun Park as the mechanic.
I cleaned swimming pools. I painted fences.
That was my that was my my summer job.
My dad always always made me do something
during the summer.
So that wasn't very much fun.
It's way more fun.
It's way more fun to be a driver.
When you when you look back at at your time as you were going through the past,
what's something that would surprise the fans that you did over there that they don't know about?
I don't really know.
I guess like when I was in that transition phase, like I was doing single theaters,
I had a pretty decent chance or opportunity to do what was called A1 GP
at the time, a high level single-seater series.
And but I loved V8 supercars, you know, and you could I could have gone to the
Europe or World Route, but I don't know, I just always wanted to be V8 supercars.
And in some ways, I wish I tried and saw could have seen how far I went.
But I loved supercars at that time.
And I'm glad I did that too.
Are you a MotoGP fan?
Well, I am now watching Trackhouse.
I would watch a lot of the races, but not religiously.
They were always on at stupid o'clock at home.
So it's hard to follow. OK. All right.
Last one. This is my favorite question.
So you go from Auckland to Moorsville, Statesville.
Moorsville. Yeah.
And now you're a farmer.
How did that happen?
In the world, did you wind up with a farm?
I grew up on land.
My mom always had horses and we had sheep and cows and stuff like that.
So did you feed them?
No, I rode them when I was a kid.
What did you do at home?
I would help my mom a little bit.
I was not like I loved it.
But yeah, we had motorbike tracks.
That was more important to me.
But yeah, so then my wife, Jess, she loves the horses too.
And just wanted some space out here.
And it's an amazing place.
Like it's cool city, but not far out of the city is a lot of land.
So it's a really cool place here to live.
So what do we have on this farm now?
Too much. Yeah.
What's the most unique animal?
Probably a cow at the moment.
Yeah, rescued a cow from across the road.
The neighbor was going to let it die.
So we've rescued that and called it Annie.
And you've got Annie the cow.
Annie the cow. Yeah.
So we named her. We can't eat it.
But what's more, what's more expensive?
Racing or owning a farm?
Oh, yeah, the horses are a money pit and nothing comes back.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for taking the time.
I appreciate you taking time.
Good luck on everything that you have going on.
You've done a great job.
We appreciate everything that you've done for the sport
and fun to watch to see what happens this week.
Thank you, Mike.
About this episode
Shane van Gisbergen shares his journey adapting to NASCAR's unique challenges, including limited practice, intense oval racing, and evolving team dynamics. He reflects on his rookie mindset despite early success, the importance of continuous learning, and the differences between generations on track. Shane discusses his analytical approach to car setups, the value of experience in managing racing pressures, and the growing support from fans back home in New Zealand and Australia. The conversation offers insight into his transition from other racing disciplines and his outlook on competing in the highly competitive NASCAR environment.
Original notes
Shane van Gisbergen joins Kevin Harvick on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour to break down his transition to NASCAR and the strong start to his season as he continues to prove himself on both road courses and oval tracks. In this episode, Harvick sits down with the former Supercars champion to discuss the biggest adjustments he has faced moving into NASCAR, how he has improved on ovals, and why switching to the No. 97 car carries personal significance for him. SVG also shares how his success in NASCAR is growing the sport’s popularity in Australia and New Zealand, what challenges he continues to face adapting to stock car racing in the United States, and what goals he has set for the remainder of the season.
0:00 - Intro
1:52 - Offseason Conversations With Trackhouse Racing
3:20 - Transitioning To Racing In NASCAR
8:27 - First Time Racing A Car
9:28 - International Support As A NASCAR Driver
12:42 - Cultural Differences Of Racing In The US
14:32 - Expectations At Trackhouse Racing
18:32 - Favorite Oval Races
20:05 - Significance Of Number 97
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