Amid a barren calendar and discontent with the new Gen3 racer, Shane van Gisbergen is on the cusp of leaving the series that made him famous.
The Kiwi admits he’s fallen out of love with Supercars.
Publicly, van Gisbergen says he’s frustrated by the lack of racing. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the series has featured just 12 events per year.
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Behind the scenes, van Gisbergen is annoyed with the new-for-2023 touring car, which is uncomfortable, temperamental, and blighted by an ongoing parity imbalance.
Now, a full-time switch to the NASCAR Cup Series is being tabled.
Ahead of his NASCAR debut on the streets of Chicago, van Gisbergen told the media his interest in the USA has grown exponentially in the past 12 months.
This weekend, he’ll compete with Trackhouse Racing, a team that is owned in part by artist Pitbull. At the moment, it’s a one-off. However, that could quickly change.
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Last year, NASCAR introduced a new specification car that has some similarities to Supercars. That has meant a much easier transition for van Gisbergen, who said the previous generation of car would have been much harder to get to grips with.
Speculation has been rife that van Gisbergen could be out of Supercars as soon as the end of this season, although he said he remains committed to his 2024 contractual obligations.
“I guess Supercars isn’t that fun at the moment. (I’m) not really enjoying it as much and starting to think about other things and look around,” said van Gisbergen.
“But my motivation for Supercars is high. Like I’m still trying hard and pushing as hard as I can. It’s complicated. Now I’ve started watching NASCAR more again this year that the opportunities come up and it’s appealing.
“Like you see so many more road courses. The cars are so similar now, like two seasons ago the cars were so foreign. Like you couldn’t jump in them straight away. You’d have to have done a couple of years of trucks or Xfinity (second tier) – like Marcus (Ambrose) did up the ladder. These cars are much more relevant for any driver through the world.
“It looks appealing though. They’re doing more road courses, more variation, and seeing this week the routine; like you go to a race, you have a day off, then you spend the week debriefing and then focus on the next race and go travelling and do it all again.
“Like the routine of racing and every weekend is, it’s pretty appealing. It’s mid-year now, past mid-year, and we’ve only done five races in Supercars. So that’s the appeal for me just to go, try it out and race every week. It would be, it would be pretty cool maybe. But yeah, see how this week goes.”
NASCAR is famed for its prolific calendar, which is the largest of any motorsport series at that level.
The season begins in February and concludes in November, with a total of 36 points-paying races and four exhibition races.
Van Gisbergen said a shift to NASCAR was not something that he was actively pursuing while he was in the United States but said he was open to offers.
“Just open eyes and ears this week, just try and take it all in and enjoy myself really,” he explained.
“I’ve got no pressure on myself for results and I know that my preparation is good and if I have fun maybe it’s something I will look at.
“I’m fully focused on Supercars for this year and next, for sure. Maybe if something comes up, I’ll definitely entertain it.”
After initially earmarking IndyCar as an option – declaring “never say never” – van Gisbergen said he’s more interested in NASCAR given it wouldn’t be as big a switch to make.
That’s despite Scott McLaughlin having successfully moved from Supercars to IndyCar and won in the single-seater series.
“The oval stuff doesn’t really excite me much in those cars, not like NASCAR does,” said van Gisbergen.
“NASCAR looks really appealing and something I’d sort of jump at. Whereas IndyCar you’d have to think about.
“It’s a massive, massive change in career driving style. For me, I’d have to break with the other foot. It’s huge, huge departure from what I do now.
“The NASCAR stuff is a massive change, but not as big.”
Van Gisbergen will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at the inaugural Chicago street race on Monday.
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