Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Camaro ZL1 and the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Silverado RST, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series at Richmond Raceway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
| NASCAR Cup SeriesRichmond RacewayTeam Chevy Driver QuotesAugust 14, 2026 |
Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Camaro ZL1 and the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Silverado RST, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series at Richmond Raceway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: To start off, last time you came to a short-track and did the Truck and Cup race, you left with a pair of top-fives. How are you looking to accomplish that same sort of success this time around?“Yeah, it was a good time. I think the Truck race definitely helps me, so yeah, it’s good to do that again. Thank you to Spire Motorsports for having me. Hopefully, I can get a good feel for the track first before the Cup race and have two good cars this weekend.” Along those lines, are you very specific in what you choose to do outside of Cup, like a track that you want to get to know a little bit better? How do you decide which of these other races that you’re doing?“It is hard to get opportunities in other things, especially for me trying to do ovals. Thankfully, my runs have been getting better, which helps. I’d love to do more, but obviously it’s hard to get good opportunities. But yeah, selfishly, I’d love to do more tracks I struggle at… like I’d love to do Bristol more and even Iowa last week. There are a couple of other tracks that I need more laps at to get better. Hopefully, next year I can work on doing some of them. It sounds like things might be happening, so hopefully I can do that and not just go back to the tracks I’m good at. I need to work on my weaknesses.” You’ve mentioned in the past the short-tracks for you have translated the best, but Iowa for some reason hasn’t been. Why is that?“If I knew, I would fix it (laughs). I don’t know. I feel comfortable there, but then for whatever reason, I’ve always struggled with the car. In O’Reilly, as well, I was weak there. Every time it seems to be an adventure and I seem to have a bad result. But yeah, thankfully, all the guys I was points racing last week, I was around, so it kind of minimized the damage a little bit, which was really good. But yeah, certainly we’d love to know or I’d love to know why I’m not that great there.” Just looking at this weekend in general, I know it’s only one race here that you’ve had the opportunity of doing, but what did you learn from last year that maybe you’re able to take into the second go this year?“Yeah, I had a lot of fun last year. I managed to run the top lane quite a lot and made that work for me. I’s a fun race. I remember my first year here in O’Reilly, too, I really enjoyed it. It’s a fun track with how you can move around, but then you really have to be disciplined and wrap the line. It’s quite fun to hit your marks and be precise every lap. And there’s a lot of time management, too, so you have to have a good balance. I find it one of the more fun tracks. I always remember watching this on TV, especially the end of the race with everyone coming across the line sideways, is always pretty cool here too. It’s one of one of the fun tracks, I think.” I wanted to ask you if you feel like this season has been your greatest improvement from Daytona to where we are now, or do you feel like it’s consistent with what you’ve done before? Do you feel like you’ve really kind of raised your gain and feel much more confident after the work you’ve done this year?“Yeah, I think so. I think the last third of last year, we really took some steps forward, and I think we’ve just continued on that. I feel like I’m a lot closer to Ross (Chastain) this year. You know, he’s a pretty good benchmark, I think as a teammate, and I feel like I’ve been able to match him a lot. Still some areas he’s really good at. He’s really good at not having bad days and dragging results out of cars that probably shouldn’t be up there. He’s someone I’m really trying to learn off and match closely. It’s been good to be around or just in front of him in the points this year Kind of pushing each other along has been really cool. So yeah, just got to keep the improvement going. I feel like every week, I’m learning stuff and still trying new things. I still have a lot to learn.” Obviously, you’ve been dominant on the road courses, but some of your best oval finishes have been on the short-tracks. What is it about road courses and short-tracks that translate so well?“I feel like you can have a little more influence on the car, like you can manipulate it with the brake or brake bias and whatever gear you’re running. You can vary your line a little more. I feel like there’s a little more as a driver you can do. But also, that just means on the big tracks, I’m not good enough of knowing what I want from the car yet or how to get the car to do what I want, whether that’s with feedback to my engineer or just in general. I feel like these tracks, you can kind of make up for a deficiency in the car, as well, with whatever tools you have, whereas on a big track, you’re kind of just stuck with what you got sometimes. So yeah, it seems to help me.” Broadcast mentioned how your strength is your tire management and saving tires. Austin Dillon’s won the past two races, and he said that his biggest strength and how he’s so good here is because he’s able to save tires so well. Does that give you any confidence heading into this weekend?“Yeah, I don’t know how it works on an oval, but it does seem to translate a little bit, like my end of run speed is a little stronger than how I start. But yeah, I don’t know why, I drive flat out the whole time (laughs). But yeah, these high tire wear tracks, I do seem to be a little stronger, and hopefully, that’s the case next couple of nights.” With the new NASCAR points format change, what was your reaction when you initially heard about that? How do you feel like your driving style has kind of evolved a little bit to match necessarily not having the ‘win and you’re in’ style?“I guess initially, it’s probably a good thing for the sport. I guess initially, I was brought over here for that ‘win and you’re in’ to guarantee a spot in the playoffs, so yeah, I certainly knew I had to get better at ovals, and I think we’ve done that. I don’t think my mindset has changed every race. I think, you know, maybe these couple of races, I’m points racing a little bit, but the rest of the year, you’re just driving flat out. I don’t think I’ve ever really points raced trying to stay out of trouble. I think that when you’re not driving naturally, you find yourself in trouble, I guess. So yeah, I just try and drive every race flat out.” You came over here from New Zealand. You were a three-time champion in Supercars, and then, you come here and you are trying to master this whole new discipline of oval racing. You’re 37 years old. When you run so well in these ovals, you’re top-five and you’re racing against the best drivers in the world at oval racing, is that how rewarding or what’s it make you feel at 37 to still be accomplishing these things at such a high level? “You’re saying 37 is old? (laughs). Yeah, I don’t feel old. Yeah, it’s been cool. I’ve had a really awesome last few years changing careers, I guess, and trying something different. It’s been rewarding, as you put it, to show glimpses and be able to show I can do it. I really was a long way away from that my first year and a half in the sport. It’s a very foreign type of driving to me. I certainly feel more comfortable and like I know what I’m doing most of the time now. So yeah, it’s been really awesome to get better. As I sort of said earlier, I know I still have a lot to learn, as well. It’s cool to see it coming along.” This is going to be your fourth start this year in the Truck Series. What is it about the Trucks that helps you translate those skills into Cup?“I actually think they’re a little bit closer to the Cup car than the O’Reilly car nowadays. I haven’t driven one for a little while, but yeah, the Cup car and the Truck kind of races similar with how you have to search for the air and how much it kind of moves and feels. The O’Reilly car always felt disconnected in the way the rearends were set up. So yeah, certainly has felt more relative in the few races that I’ve done, that’s for sure.” You have another short-track next week in New Hampshire. What kind of challenges does that track pose for you?“Yeah, that’s a very different track. I was going pretty decent there last year until I wasn’t. But it’s tough; long straights and short corners. It is a little bit like a road course, the way you approach the corners, trying to make them shorter and straights longer, I guess, so that theory kind of works. But yeah, I enjoy it. It’s a weird oval being so flat. But yeah, that’s a pretty decent track.” With three races left in the regular season and a 47 point margin over the over the cutline right now, are you starting to pay attention specifically to certain drivers that are maybe a threat?“Yeah, 100 percent, especially last week. As I said earlier, I was having a pretty subpar day, to put it nicely, and all the guys around me were points racing guys or guys close to me in the points. So yeah, that was nice, but I can’t afford to have another day like that. But certainly, you have your eyes on those three or four guys who are around us. It’s a pretty tight battle, really. Ross (Chastain) had a pretty good day last week, and he’s sort of clawing his way back into it, so it’s going to be an interesting battle. We just need to not make mistakes the next three weeks.” Do you expect the racing to get any different the next three weeks, in terms of people doing things you might not expect them to do?“I don’t really know how it’s going to play out. I feel like Daytona will be a weird one, especially with the new format with no practice and not knowing how the cars are going to drive. And if it’s a close battle there, you know, you have to decide if you’re going for stage points or not, so that one’s pretty intriguing. But hopefully, the next two weeks are kind of standard and we don’t have to worry about it as much at Daytona. But yeah, I guess the big unknown is why people watch, which is cool.” |