Shane van Gisbergen will make his first NASCAR career start at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois as he lines up for the eero 400. In his most recent start on a 1.5-mile oval, van Gisbergen finished 11th at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“It’s going to be good, I think,” said SVG. “It (Chicagoland Speedway) looks really challenging, really bumpy. There is a bit of footage going around from the tyre test that I’ve been watching.
“It looks awesome, really rough in these next gen cars. In all the testing footage, they are wrapped around the bottom in one lane, but I’ve gone back and watched the 2019 race there, and they are all over the track.
“It looks like a really cool racetrack. I’m looking forward to going somewhere new and having a long practice as well, it will definitely help me.”
Van Gisbergen is now tied with Tony Stewart for most road course wins in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“It’s really cool,” commented SVG! “Obviously, the road courses are a very different part of the sport but really cool to have the privilege to win with Trackhouse and winning these races has been awesome.
“I’m not really a stats or numbers person but I did see that New Zealand became the second winningest country in the Cup Series (laughs), so that’s awesome. It’s so cool to be competing in this series and have a stat like that but also be so welcomed. I’m proud to be a part of this sport. I know when I finish racing, those numbers will mean something to me.
“Every week we are looking at the points. I just need to execute. I need to go to these next eight races and do the best I can on the ovals, stop making little mistakes.
“I had some painful days at Pocono, I put myself in a bad spot and cost us quite a few points. I need to stop doing things like that. We need to continue getting better and get to the point where we can score stage points on an oval regularly, and run in that top 10, top five. We can do it when we get it right.
“For me, it’s not going to come while forcing it. We just need to prepare every week, do the best we can, and it will come naturally. I’m still improving a lot, and I know I have a lot to learn.”
The 267 lap/400 mile race gets underway Sunday 5 July 2026 6pm local time (11am Mon NZ time).
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