Shane van Gisbergen may still be learning the ropes of oval racing, but Trackhouse Racing are standing squarely behind their Kiwi star, confident the doubters will soon be proven wrong.
Fresh off his second win of the season in Chicago, van Gisbergen once again showed the NASCAR world what he’s capable of on a street circuit, having already opened his 2025 account with a victory in Mexico City.
While some critics continue to question his consistency on ovals, his team sees a much bigger picture.
Trackhouse founder Justin Marks has made it clear: van Gisbergen is no short-term experiment. The project is about building a complete Cup driver, and he believes they’ve got the right person for the job.
“Well, I think it’s a unique project with Shane,” said Marks after the Chicago triumph.
“We wouldn’t be doing this if we thought we could go win road courses, and we know we’re not going to run that good on the ovals because he’s never done it before. At this level of the game, you have to be a complete package.”
Want to know more about the rising NASCAR star? Check out our feature article that tells the story of Shane Van Gisbergen from start to finish HERE
That complete package includes mastering NASCAR’s diverse mix of tracks, something Marks is confident van Gisbergen is steadily achieving.
The New Zealander, a three-time Supercars champion, has recently closed the gap to more experienced teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez.
That progress has translated into stronger oval results, including a career-best 14th-place finish and a notable drive at Atlanta.
“For his level of intelligence and how he studies and how he adapts and how he learns, there’s a real opportunity here for him to figure the ovals out and get fast at the ovals and be a complete Cup driver,” Marks explained.
“We’ve seen him coming that way just in the last month and a half. He’s pretty consistently top 20 now on the ovals when he started running kind of like 30, 32nd, and that development is just going to continue.
“When you think about the project, we’ve got somebody who’s talented and that we can make a Cup driver out of, and while he learns in the meantime, we can win a ton of road courses and punch that ticket to the playoffs and give our sponsors a ton of return for their investment.”
On road and street courses, van Gisbergen’s natural flair continues to shine. According to Marks, it’s not just raw pace, but his mental sharpness and situational awareness that set him apart.
“It’s how strategic he can think while he’s on the limit of the race car,” said Marks.
“A lot of drivers, it takes all of your mental bandwidth to drive the car fast, and Shane is one of these guys that can drive the car at the limit but be thinking bigger picture stuff.
“He knows where he is in the race. He’s great at managing his tyres, his equipment, all that kind of stuff.
“Plus, I think for his talent profile specifically, street races come very, very naturally to him. He’s got a lot of experience doing it in the V8 Supercars series.
“I think in races like this where everybody is working so hard just to get the apexes and get out of the corner and right way and all of that, he does that just naturally while he’s thinking about bigger picture stuff so he can really put the whole race together in a super impressive way.”
As van Gisbergen prepares for his next road course outing at Sonoma on July 14 (AEST), Trackhouse Racing remain resolute: the best is yet to come.
Header Image: Logan Riely/Getty Images
