Van Gisbergen “most anxious” about superspeedways in NASCAR

Van Gisbergen became the first driver in over 60 years to win a NASCAR Cup race on debut when he took the checkered flag at the inaugural Chicago Street Course race.

Now just a few months later, he’s uprooted his entire life with just one year to learn stock car racing before an anticipated full-time move to the Cup Series.

“It’s been a whirlwind since Chicago,” he said during a Thursday media availability, noting how quickly everything has come together since then.

“Packing up everything. My whole life. Moving from Australia to America. It’s been massive, but pretty exciting the way the program sort of escalated from ten races to now a full season and seven Cup races. What Justin [Marks] and Ty [Norris] and the Trackhouse team have put together is really exciting and I got a lot of learning to do and a lot of experience to gain quickly, but I think it’s the best way to do it to prepare myself for a 2025 Cup opportunity.”

Perhaps learning to race ovals at the pinnacle of stock car racing will be the easy part, as SVG spoke on finding a house, getting a visa, social security number, bank account, and even a drivers license. 

“Starting a whole new life from scratch, really. But it’s exciting.”

His 2024 season will include the full 33-race Xfinity schedule, as well as seven Cup races. Among them are two superspeedway races, two intermediate tracks, and two road courses. 

‘Anxious’ about superspeedway racing

He’ll be thrown straight into the deep-end, making his Xfinity debut in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and his Cup oval debut at Talladega Superspeedway a couple months later.

“You watch them and it just looks like cars driving around flat-out, but now I’ve been trying to study it as much as I can,” said van Gisbergen.

He watched three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin via his onboard camera at Talladega last year, paying close attention as he cut his way back through the field after a penalty. 

“Watching that is like a high-speed chess match, but also a lottery I guess,” he said. “Our first race. I don’t really know how to approach it or what to expect. We get a little bit of practice so I can get a feel for the car and the cars around me at that speed, but that style of racing is so far removed from everything I’ve ever done. Superspeedways is probably what I’m most anxious about, or unsure about what’s going to happen or how the cars race. That’s going to be a tough first one.”