Shane van Gisbergen has a blunt response about NASCAR Cup Series leap

After winning his very first NASCAR race in Chicago last year, Shane van Gisbergen began to consider the idea of switching from V8 Supercars to the Next Gen car. A few months later, he was announced to have a full-time seat in the Xfinity Series, and some part-time runs in the Cup Series.

But Gisbergen's focus and goal in NASCAR is pretty simple. This was something he recently opened up on in a very straightforward way to Jayski.

"That’s why I moved here,” SVG said about him racing full-time in the Cup Series in 2025.

SVG's talent, while it's evident on the track, is also one which has convinced his boss Chris Rice of his potential.

"SVG is a special driver. He has more talent than we’ve seen in a long time come from anywhere else. He’s going to do very well," Rice said (via Jayski).

However, the president of Kaulig Racing mentioned that racing in the Cup is "way harder" than Xfinity. But still, Rice was impressed with SVG's "unbelievable" prowess in controlling the car.

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Shane van Gisbergen was only meant to do one race in NASCAR before his historic Chicago win

As the second edition of the street race at Chicago nears, Shane van Gisbergen revealed that his appearance in the inaugural Chicago street race was as far as his foray into NASCAR was supposed to go (via Jayski):

“It was only meant to be a one off and then it went so well and I enjoyed it. I started thinking it would be a cool thing to come and do."

But Gisbergen made history by taking the checkered flag and instantly started the conversation about him making more runs in NASCAR. He would make one more appearance in 2023 after Chicago at Brickyard where Gisbergen finished inside the top 10.

In December of 2023, Kaulig Racing and Trackhouse Racing announced SVG's NASCAR schedule for 2024.

Now that he has more experience under his belt racing in NASCAR, Gisbergen mentioned the difference he has felt from back home. The Kiwi claimed that it's been "a massive change", but said that on the racing side, things have been great.

As for how he thinks his season has been so far, SVG said it has been "pretty good" and going as he imagined.

"I’ve gone a bit under the radar, which is what I planned to do. Just do my own thing and get better and better. The second half of the year, especially when we go back to tracks that I’ve been to, that’s where I want to start pressing on and getting better," Gisbergen added.

Shane van Gisbergen has most notably won back to back races this season at Portland and Sonoma. Apart from that, he has one finish inside the top 5 and one inside the top 10.

He is currently 13th on the points table and 4th on the playoff standings.