Shane van Gisbergen is moving full-time to NASCAR.
Trackhouse Racing announced Wednesday night the three-time Australian Supercars champion and Chicago street course winner would make the transition to NASCAR with the team in 2024. Van Gisbergen will run a mix of Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series races.
“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,” van Gisbergen said in a statement.
Van Gisbergen, 34, became the first driver in 60 years to win in his first Cup Series start when he put on a clinic over the final laps of the inaugural Chicago road course race. He returned to the Cup Series six races later for the Indianapolis Grand Prix and finished 10th.
That start at Indianapolis came two days after he made the first Truck Series start of his career. He finished 19th at the Indianapolis Raceway Park oval.
Van Gisbergen has won 78 Australian Supercars races and is the 2016, 2021 and 2022 Supercars champion. He’s run both of his Cup Series races with Trackhouse as part of its part-time program for drivers from other series. Before van Gisbergen piloted the No. 91 car, former Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen made starts in 2022 and a start in 2023 in the No. 91.
“This is going to be a tremendous challenge for Shane but he is a tremendous driver as we have all seen,” Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said in a statement. “Next year will be about getting him acclimated to oval track racing, super speedways, 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.”
The team didn’t detail van Gisbergen’s schedule in its announcement, but it’s safe to say he’ll be running road course races in the Cup Series in 2024 given his immediate success this season.
