“I do miss home a lot”: Shane van Gisbergen opens up on the ‘commitment’ required to move to ‘the other side of the world’

NASCAR driver Shane van Gisbergen spoke in an interview recently about the challenges he's faced since moving across the world from his home in New Zealand. The Kiwi driver, who raced in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity series for Kaulig Racing, spoke about missing his close ones after his move to America.

Speaking with Australian podcast Speedcafe.tv, van Gisbergen shared some of his experiences since moving to the US to pursue his NASCAR career:

“It's been a lot, it's been different, I do miss home a lot [...] it was a very tough start to the year. We probably could have left in a little bit of a better spot. It took [girlfriend, Jessica Dane] a bit to get comfortable as well and then my mom was quite sick early in the year as well as soon as I moved over so it was very difficult in the first half of the year.” [4:56 - 5:19]

Also talking about the possibility of having fellow V8 Supercar championship drivers move to the US and join NASCAR, Shane said:

“It's a huge commitment, especially for guys with families to move across the other side of the world and and start something fresh.” [4:11 - 4:18]

Further, the #97 driver spoke about what has helped to make things more comfortable.

“Once we got settled and some momentum with racing and then we found our own place where we wanted to live, it's really been a lot better these last few months on the off-track stuff,” Shane van Gisbergen said. [5:21 - 5:35]

The 35-year-old debuted in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this past year, finished the season with three wins, and ranked 12th in the points standings. He also completed his debut season with seven top fives, and 10 top 10s. He is also the first driver in the last 60 years to have won his Cup Series race as a rookie when he won the Chicago Street Race in 2023.

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Shane Van Gisbergen reflects on his Xfinity Season

Earlier this year it was announced that Shane Van Gisbergen would race as Trackhouse Racing's third charter car in the Cup Series for the 2025 season. The 35-year-old driver, who will be teammates with Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez, will race the #88 Chevrolet next year.

Talking about how his Xfinity season helped him for his full-time run in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen said (via Speedcafe.tv):

"I'm definitely glad I did a season of Xfinity, even though the cars are night and day different, I think jumping straight into cup would have been a brutal initiation so to have a year to transition to life, and then the cars, the series, the way the the tracks are, the weekends work, the flow of it all, is very different. So I think it's not an under the radar year but it was good to have a year to learn before moving into the Cup Series." [7:20 - 7:51]

Shane van Gisbergen raced select Cup races during the 2023 and 2024 seasons for Kaulig Racing, but will be making his full-time debut next year for the North Carolina-based Trackhouse Racing.