Shane van Gisbergen’s racing future has been confirmed, with the three-time Supercars champion signing on with Nascar team Trackhouse Racing for 2024.
The team confirmed van Gisbergen’s signing today, with the Kiwi set to compete in a combination of Nascar’s three national series. The team has will builda programme that will see the 34-year-old compete in select races in the Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series, as well as some late model and other races.
“This announcement means so many things to me,” van Gisbergen said in a team release. “I’m proud of what I have achieved here in Australia, but I’m excited by this new chapter in my career and the opportunities that it brings.”
“I’m so thankful to everyone who has played a role in my career so far, especially Triple Eight Race Engineering, and looking forward to finishing our year with a few more highlights.
“It is time for a new challenge and this adventure into NASCAR will be the biggest challenge of my career and one I’m really looking forward to.
“I want to thank Justin Marks and everyone at Trackhouse Racing who have taken a chance on me and given me this opportunity. I’m excited to get to America and getting the season started.”
The move seemed likely as van Gisbergen had previously expressed his desire to move on from Supercars and became the first driver to win on Nascar debut in 60 years when he took out the Chicago street race in July.
Fuel was added to that fire when Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup confirmed van Gisbergen would be replaced by Will Brown for the 2024 Supercars season last month, allowing the Kiwi an early exit from his contract which was due to run until the end of next season.
Van Gisbergen has competed in a few Nascar events this season as part of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 initiative, which was designed to help showcase international talent on American soil.
The team will announce exact details of his 2024 schedule in due course, but it is believed Trackhouse are set to fast-track van Gisbergen’s experience.
“This is going to be a tremendous challenge for Shane but he is a tremendous driver as we have all seen,” Trackhouse team owner Marks said in a team statement.
“Next year will be about getting him acclimated to oval track racing, superspeedways, 1.5-mile tracks and everything he has never experienced in his career.
“It’s obviously going to be a learning process, but we think Shane will perform quite well.”
