Ross Chastain, a NASCAR road course race winner, has mentioned that he gained insights from Shane van Gisbergen, his teammate at Trackhouse Racing.
Chastain intends to apply these lessons during the upcoming Indy road course race. Van Gisbergen surprised the NASCAR community by winning his first race at the Chicago street race last month.
Although Chastain has already won at the Circuit of The Americas in 2022, he believes there's valuable knowledge to be gleaned from how van Gisbergen approached his sole NASCAR race.
This weekend, van Gisbergen will once again drive Trackhouse's Project91 Chevrolet Camaro at the Indianapolis circuit, a track where his competitors have more familiarity.
According to Speedcafe, Ross Chastain made a statement where he said:
"It’s a constant evolution and labor love, I had never turned right before until I was in the Truck in 2013 at Mosport. I realized that weekend I had a lot of work to do. I’m not satisfied with how I turn right at all.
"Shane opened our eyes to a lot of things and we’ve looked at that. Going to tracks without walls everywhere like Chicago and tracks that I’ve been to before, like the next two coming up will help. It’s constant work for me though. I’ve been putting in the work, so we’ll see if it pays off."
Although it's been widely discussed that van Gisbergen had an advantage with his street circuit experience that his competitors lacked in Chicago.
Ross Chastain reflects on Shane van Gisbergen's challenges
Chastain pointed out an additional challenge that the three-time Supercars champion had to contend with during his time in the Windy City.
One of the most striking revelations for Chastain was the advantage van Gisbergen's street circuit experience provided in the Chicago race.
Ross Chastain admitted that his teammate's familiarity with navigating street circuits, a rarity in NASCAR, had opened his eyes to a dimension of racing that he had not fully grasped before.
Acknowledging his shortcomings, Ross Chastain pointed out that van Gisbergen's debut in NASCAR was compounded by a lack of familiarity with the intricacies of the NASCAR format itself.
This additional challenge emphasized the depth of van Gisbergen's achievement and, in turn, prompted Chastain to reassess his understanding of the sport.
The camaraderie and humility displayed by Chastain in openly acknowledging these insights from van Gisbergen is a testament to the sportsmanship that defines motorsports.
This weekend, Van Gisbergen has a busy schedule, as he will be participating in two different events.
He will be making his first appearance on an oval track in the Trucks Series at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday (according to the local time). It was followed by his participation in the Cup Series action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting on Saturday.