The last time Shane van Gisbergen raced in the NASCAR Cup Series, he schooled the Cup regulars in winning the Grant Park 220 on the streets of Chicago on July 2.
Well, the Cup regulars will get a shot at revenge against the driver many now just call “SVG” when van Gisbergen makes his return to the Trackhouse Racing and that team’s Project 91 car for the race on the road course of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 13.
The 34-year-old Auckland, New Zealand native will again race the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
At Indianapolis, van Gisbergen will battle a fellow Australian Supercar racer, as
Brodie Kostecki has signed on to race for Richard Childress Racing. Kostecki is currently second in the Supercars standings, while van Gisbergen is fourth.
“I never dreamed this could have all rolled out this way,” said van Gisbergen who returned to Supercar competition in Australia days after leading nine laps and winning by 1.259 seconds in overtime at Chicago.
“Just getting to race in NASCAR is an opportunity I never thought I would get, but then to win and get another chance this year is beyond anything I imagined. I can’t thank (Trackhouse founder and owner) Justin Marks, everyone at Trackhouse Racing and NASCAR for this opportunity. Everyone in NASCAR welcomed me to Chicago and it’s been awesome to see how big the reception from that race has been around the world. I am honored to be part of it.”
Van Gisbergen became one of six foreign born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start. It was just the latest entry in a resume that includes Supercars Championships for Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, 2021 and 2022 plus 78 wins and 47 pole positions making him the fourth most successful driver in series history. He also won the Bathurst 1000 in 2020 and 2022.
With the addition of van Gisbergen, Marks is seeing if lightning can strike twice in the same season for his Project 91 entry that the team co-owner has reserved for international racers from other series.
“After a performance like that it’s only natural to want to keep this going,” said Marks. “Shane showed he is a world-class talent and what he did in Chicago was truly remarkable. Project 91, Trackhouse Racing and the fans of NASCAR benefit by bringing him back. I don’t think I am being overly dramatic when I say the entire motorsports world will be watching the No. 91 Chevrolet at Indianapolis.”
Van Gisbergen will join Trackhouse Cup drivers Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain at Indianapolis.
Mike Pryson
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
Keyword: Trackhouse Racing Hopes NASCAR Lightning Strikes Twice, Brings Back van Gisbergen for Indy