'It's just bizarre,' Shane van Gisbergen reveals the unique aspect of NASCAR compared to other motorsports

When a guy shows up to his very first NASCAR Cup Series race on the streets of Chicago, politely asks someone to hold his energy drink, and then proceeds to beat the best stock car drivers on the planet, you assume he’s made of something entirely different.

You assume he’s immune to the learning curve. But as it turns out, Shane van Gisbergen is actually human.

The former Australian Supercars champion is currently getting a crash course in the deeply American art of turning left for 3 hours straight, and the transition hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park.

In fact, if you ask the Kiwi driver how he feels about tackling NASCAR’s infamous oval tracks, he’ll give it to you straight: it is absolutely bizarre.

1. The Steep Learning Curve of Turning Left

To understand where van Gisbergen is coming from, you have to look at his resume. Down in Australia, he was the undisputed king of the V8 Supercars. He won championships in 2016, 2021, and 2022 by violently throwing heavy race cars around tight street circuits and sweeping road courses. He is a master of heavy braking, aggressive downshifting, and dancing a car on the edge of grip. But oval racing is a completely different beast. It is a discipline where lifting off the throttle a fraction of a second too early means losing three positions, and where the air coming off the car in front of you can completely destroy your grip. For van Gisbergen, stepping into the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet for a full-time Cup campaign in 2026 has been a humbling experience. He recently opened up about the emotional and physical toll of the transition, noting just how much the tiny, microscopic details matter in this sport.

2. The Physics of the High-Banked Bullring

It isn’t just the flat ovals that are messing with his head. The real culture shock comes when the NASCAR circuit visits the high-banked, high-speed concrete bowls. Imagine taking a 3,400-pound piece of Detroit steel and driving it sideways along the rim of a giant cereal bowl at 130 miles per hour. That is what it feels like to navigate tracks like Bristol Motor Speedway. Van Gisbergen has openly admitted that the sensation of the car loading into the steep banking, flexing under the immense G-forces, and yawing out is something he simply never experienced in Supercars. There is a deep vulnerability in his admission. Here is a guy who has conquered everything he has ever touched in motorsport, sitting mid-pack in the standings (14th in points, with one top-five finish to his name), grinding his teeth, and trying to figure out a puzzle that guys like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have been solving since they were kids in go-karts. It takes a lot of guts to admit when you are out of your depth, and fans have deeply respected his transparency.

3. What the Future Holds for Trackhouse Racing’s Star

So, what comes next for the Trackhouse Racing rookie? The brutal, unforgiving half-mile bullring of Bristol Motor Speedway awaits him. Historically, his best finish there is 26th, which tells you everything you need to know about how tough that place is on newcomers. But if there is one thing you should never do, it is count out Shane van Gisbergen. The guy is a pure racer. He is currently putting in the hours, studying the telemetry, and leaning on his team to understand the dark arts of oval racing. While the flat tracks are starting to make more sense to him, mastering the banking is the final boss in his NASCAR video game. His journey isn’t just a great storyline for the 2026 season; it is a fascinating sociological experiment. Can a global road-racing savant rewire his brain to conquer the uniquely American oval? Every time van Gisbergen straps into that WeatherTech Chevy, we get a front-row seat to find out. And honestly, watching him figure it out in real-time is some of the best television in sports today.

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