Shane van Gisbergen understands NASCAR’s reasoning behind shortening the COTA track as he looks for his 2nd Cup win

Shane van Gisbergen recently revealed his thoughts on NASCAR shortening the COTA track ahead of the 2025 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. Supercars Championship legend and the rest of the Nascar Cup Series drivers will head to Austin, Texas, this weekend for the first road course of the season: the Circuit of the Americas.

Shane van Gisbergen, a New Zealand native, won Australia's most important motorsports championship three times with Triple Eight Race Engineering: 2016, 2021, and 2022. In 2023, at his Cup Series debut in Chicago, he stunned the NASCAR world by winning the Grant Park 220 and became the first driver in the circuit's modern era to win on his debut.

This week, NASCAR officials decided to shorten COTA's track layout, making it 1.1 miles shorter. As a consequence, lap times will drop by around a minute. In turn, 27 laps were added to the contest, allowing fans to see their favorite drivers more often. Shane van Gisbergen, the betting favorite to take the chequered flag because of his racing history (+500 via SportsLine), weighed in on NASCAR's decision:

“I did like the long track, but I see why they shortened it. More time past the stands and more action. And the cut-through that’s done (from Turn 6), we don’t lose any passing spots. That extra bit (Turns 7 through 11), there’s only one real passing spot, and they’re kept one with the cut-through," van Gisbergen said via NASCAR Wire Service.

After van Gisbergen, rookie Connor Zilisch sits at +600, then Tyler Reddick at +700, and William Byron. This comes as major news as Zilisch looks to replicate Shane's feat by winning in his Cup Series debut. Having set a track record and won pole in his Truck Series debut at the same course, it's only fitting that the youngster would be next-to-favorite.

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Shane van Gisbergen looks to score first major points of the season

After a complicated start to 2025, Shane van Gisbergen looks ahead to the first road course of the season to score his first major points. With a P33 finish in Daytona and P23 in Atlanta, the Auckland-born is positioned 34th in the overall championship standings with only 18 points to his name.

As part of the press release given by van Gisbergen to the NASCAR Wire Service, he said that even though there are much more expectations from him, he has his emotions under control and has no trouble focusing on his performance:

"I miss that: going there and no one knows who I am; I could kind of fly under the radar and do my own thing. Obviously, there are expectations now, but I’m pretty good at keeping that under control myself and focusing on my own thing," Shane van Gisbergen said via NASCAR Wire Service.

The green flag at COTA is scheduled to wave on Sunday, March 2, at 3:30 p.m. ET.