After his shocking victory on debut in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Chicago Street Course earlier this month, things have progressed rapidly for Shane Van Gisbergen, as far as the prospects of a discipline change for 2024.
Having reportedly received “multiple full-time Cup Series offers”, it seems like only a matter of time before the three-time Supercars champion is making an official announcement surrounding his NASCAR-centralized destination for next season.
Speaking candidly to the Australian media following his 81st Supercars victory on Sunday, the Auckland, New Zealand native made it clear that his intentions are to compete in NASCAR in 2024, whether that be on a full-time or part-time basis.
One thing is for certain, though, as Van Gisbergen made clear on Sunday, is that he isn’t leaving as a result of poor performance, or anything that the organization has done, but rather a new career path that has opened up in the United States.
“There’s obviously a lot happening in the background, but I’m not leaving because of this team,” said Van Gisbergen on Sunday. “I love this team and, when I leave, I want to make sure that there’s someone here to replace me that’s going to do a good job in the car. You don’t want to leave the team with nothing, and scrambling to find someone. A lot of the good drivers here are signed up, so, yeah, I want to leave with the team in a good spot. Hopefully, the team has someone soon.”
The organization in question is Triple Eight Race Engineering, who since Van Gisbergen’s victory in the Chicago Street Race, have been honest about not wanting to hold the driver back from any potential opportunities in the United States.
In the meantime, Van Gisbergen, who now sits third in Supercars point standings, will travel to the United States once again in August to make his second start in the NASCAR Cup Series in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
The series’ newest first-time winner will return to the seat of the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro for Trackhouse Racing, but will also be joined by Brodie Kostecki, who will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the No. 33 for Richard Childress Racing.
As far as which division he’ll compete in next season, Van Gisbergen isn’t totally sure which way his NASCAR ambitions will lead him but cites the career paths of Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya, two drivers who moved from other disciplines of racing to NASCAR.
“When I study it, Marcos [Ambrose] did three years before he went to Cup full-time. [Juan Pablo] Montoya was pretty much a full season as well. Nobody has ever gone into Cup,” said Van Gisbergen. “And I have no illusion that those ovals are going to be easy. It’s going to take a lot of time to learn. I don’t have a plan – hopefully, I’ll work it out when I’m over there.”
While there isn’t anything set in stone, at the moment, it looks as though the odds of Shane Van Gisbergen having an increased presence in NASCAR’s top-three series for 2024 are looking pretty solid.
Though, the questions of which series, and more specifically, which team continue to hang in the balance as NASCAR approaches its annual onslaught of silly season and off-season announcements.
