NASCAR CUP SERIES NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES MAY 30, 2026 |
Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Nashville Superspeedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
NASCAR CUP SERIESNASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTESMAY 30, 2026 |
Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Nashville Superspeedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: I’m curious, just following up on our conversation last week in the garage; I know you’re upset with the miscommunication with the choose cone. But a couple days removed from that, how are you looking back at last week’s race and just how the team performed overall?“It was a decent day (at Charlott Motor Speedway). I was just frustrated at the moment because our finishing position wasn’t as good as we probably deserved. We ran pretty decent all day, but I just mucked up at the end. We had a bad pit stop, and then with the strategy, maybe we could have done better. But yeah, proud of our day and how we ran. Everyone was pretty stoked all week, and we just got to keep that momentum going. Even when we fell out of the top-10 last weekend, we were able to get back in it. It was pretty awesome racing up there.” Looking forward to tomorrow’s race, they’re treating the track similar to how they did at Dover, where they have the resin width of the track in each of the turns. I was curious, based on what you guys learned during that race, what do you think will happen tomorrow with different lanes?“Yeah, Dover definitely was different to how I remembered it the year before. It widened out quite a lot and you could race everywhere. The truck race looked like they got pretty wide in some stages last night, so hopefully it does the same tomorrow night. It certainly rubbers up a lot quicker, and then you find yourself moving around. So yeah, hopefully that makes good racing. More lanes always seems to be better.” It might depend on the track, but when you go to ovals now, how much confidence do you have? “It depends on the track. To this one (Nashville Superspeedway), not much. Concrete tracks are definitely my weakness at the moment. The Bristol’s and the Dover’s, I find them very difficult, like how dynamic the track is and just knowing how much grip there’s going to be. So yeah, really hope we get to practice today. That would be nice. And even if qualifying is cancelled like last week and we get a long practice, that would be even better, so a little bit more rain would be nice. But yeah, these tracks are difficult, so I need to keep working hard at them.” Overall though, with being at the front more frequently, where have you seen the biggest improvement?“I think it’s always just time and always learning stuff. Even last week, just learning stuff throughout the race and learning the flow of the race better. And then the further up front you are, the better people race you, as well, so that’s always nice. It’s a real dogfight in the back, so getting away from that is a nice break. I think it really shows the importance of qualifying, getting up front, making no mistakes, and you can stay out there all day.” Earlier in the season, we were wondering about Trackhouse’s speed, but then Connor Zilisch has a fifth-place finish at Dover. You were battling for the win last week and you got a lot of stage points. What has clicked for that team over the last couple of weeks and where have you found that speed at?“I think we’ve had a little reset or a change in philosophy in some areas of our car. We started decent on our side, but the other guys have really battled. Now, I think there’s more glimpses of pure performance, which is good, and we really needed that. So yeah, we’ve kind of battled a bit. It’s good to flip things around and hopefully that continues because it’s been difficult, all three of us, having our struggles at different times.” I wanted to follow up about you mentioning that you’ve noticed that the other drivers, how they’re responding to you running up front. I mean, you’ve won championships before. It’s not like you’re just coming in. Could you talk a little bit about having the confidence of knowing that other drivers can respect that your learning curve has gone way up?“Yeah, I was thinking when I just sat down in this beautiful chair, it was only two or three years ago now that I came here right before Chicago. It was the last time I was in this room, I think. So yeah, it’s been cool getting to know everyone and I definitely feel part of it now. Everyone I race, I don’t really have a problem with anyone. The racing is always good. I find here if you have a problem with someone or a hard race, you can sort it out afterwards and reset for the next week. I love the series and love racing everyone in it. Certainly, the good guys in this series and the level they’re at is pretty impressive to see how they’re just always up there every week, so I’m trying to emulate that a bit.” Are you putting a lot of emphasis on qualifying so you kind of get over that challenge and can stay up front and just race those guys? And secondly, what’s it like racing those guys? “Yeah, firstly qualifying, obviously you’re trying to get better. You need pure performance, but I struggle with that. I’ve come from a world where, in qualifying, you have two or three sets of tires. You can kind of build up and get better as you go. Here, you practice and you have a lot of fall off at the end of practice. And then, you’ve got to go qualify and you have one corner, basically, to feel what you’ve got and you’ve got to rip a lap that’s two or three seconds quicker than what you’ve finished on. It’s just that switch, I’m not quite there at getting it or judging what grip I’m going to have yet. That will come with time and I feel like I’m certainly getting closer. But yeah, if you can place yourself in that front-half, you get out of that dogfight. Everyone’s just fighting for everything they can get at the back. I think that’s where the good guys show their difference. When you see them drop back, they’re so much better at getting through traffic, whereas I seem to find myself stuck there. I’ve got to work on my maneuverability, I guess, and work on getting through traffic better.” You’re driving the Tootsies car this weekend. There may be some people here from Nashville who may not know NASCAR, but identify you in the Tootsies brand. What does that mean to be part of that here at Team Trackhouse, as well?“Yeah, I’ve certainly had a couple of bright suits the last few weeks, which is pretty special. But yeah, it’s good to represent Tootsies. They’ve been a friend of Trackhouse Racing for many years. I’ll be going there tonight, and I’ll try and behave myself so I’m fresh for tomorrow. But it’d be cool to go and see it and check it out. The car looks awesome. It’s really cool to have brands like that and represent them, and hopefully we can get it up the front where it should be.” |