There were two aspects to last weekend’s Iowa race. First was fuel mileage, which William Byron molded to perfection. After pitting for the last time on lap 206, Byron stretched his fuel window longer than expected. The second one was the astonishing number of crashes. Iowa Speedway is a short track with less tire fall-off, so 11 caution flags were more than surprising here. Hence, there can only be one reason for it, as Shane van Gisbergen recently highlighted – NASCAR’s Next-Gen car.
The Kiwi speedster was heavily involved in the Iowa mess. In fact, he kicked off the maelstrom after his No. 88 Chevrolet wrecked on lap 171. Although he made up for lost ground, a second wreck undid his progress. This prompted Shane van Gisbergen to reflect on his conflicting experience in NASCAR.
A glaring disparity for Shane van Gisbergen
When Shane van Gisbergen first debuted through Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 program, he was learning. Yet he managed to slip into a winning zone anyway, picking up his debut victory at the inaugural Chicago Street Race. This Cup Series spectacle immediately pushed the 80-time Supercars race winner into the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but therein lay a problem. “I got in the Xfinity car and had no idea what was happening. It drives like a forklift, the way the rear end moves,” he confessed. Being a fast learner, SVG picked up three Xfinity wins in 2024; in 2025, he simultaneously won three Cup races and one Xfinity race.
Shane van Gisbergen has already conquered both Xfinity and Cup cars, at least on road courses. However, he cannot help but admit to the world of differences between the two. That is what he emphasized in a recent episode of ‘Stacking Pennies’: “I’m glad I did a learning year rather than jump straight into Cup, ‘cause I would have got swallowed up even more. But the cars (Xfinity and Cup) are chalk and cheese. It’s so different…Night and day is probably better.”
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Xfinity Series: July 06 The Loop 110 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, Shane van Gisbergen, races for position for the The Loop 110 in Chicago, IL, USA.
Although SVG had initially preferred the Cup Series car, now, its egregious faults are afflicting him. The Next-Gen car’s passing problems and aerodynamic issues have time and again annoyed drivers. Dale Jr. and Kevin Harvick bashed it after the latest Iowa race. Now, Shane van Gisbergen admitted to it, drawing a parallel between the two series. “Like you hang out in an Xfinity car, you can upset the guy in front of you, and if you get a bit of an aero wash, you can hang out to the right, and it’s not too bad. You know, it kind of helps you turn. Whereas if you hang out to the right in a Cup car, you’re having a big crash.” Then he issued a 6-word blunt confession, “It’s like a little death zone.”
Nevertheless, Shane van Gisbergen is not ceasing his learning. As he maintains a stranglehold over road courses, ovals are his next target. But in the process of adapting to NASCAR, SVG is also adapting to the sport’s home turf.
Leading a comfortable life
When Shane van Gisbergen left his booming Supercars career in 2023, he had a purpose. The Kiwi speedster was drawn to the NASCAR world and was determined to make himself at home here. And he is doing so both on and off the racetrack! Away from the 38-race Cup Series schedule, SVG has built for himself a peaceful farm having paddock bashers. SVG reflected on his animal haven recently: “We’ve got a place in Mooresville; it’s got plenty of animals and a little space. People can come and have their horses there. There are about 14 horses, there are five cats, ten chickens, three goats, and we’ve got two dogs now. We rescued one last year. His name is Steve, a little Aussie red heeler. He’s a menace; he’s pretty cool.”
He has even transformed one paddock into a racetrack, removing the fences to race every now and then. SVG continued, “When we got all the land, I said, one paddock, I’m claiming. And that’s going to be a racetrack…We’ve got a little S10 BJ McLeod brought around, and we race every couple of weeks. There’s a couple of little Hondas and there’s a Chrysler…We need more cars. If anyone’s got some donor cars, that would be good!”
Clearly, Shane van Gisbergen is adapting to more than just the racetrack. With him making himself at home in NASCAR, the sky is the limit for SVG. Who knows, maybe he can tackle the Next-Gen on ovals next?
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