CLERMONT, Ind. — Shane van Gisbergen smiled and laughed — in his truck — during his first oval race Friday night.
A caution slowed Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series playoff opener after 15 laps and van Gisbergen radioed his team: “This is fun as hell.”
The three-time Supercars champion who won the Chicago Cup race in his NASCAR debut last month, smiled and laughed after his 19th-place finish in a race won by Ty Majeski.
“I was laughing a fair bit,” van Gisbergen said after exiting his truck. “I had some mates in the infield, I was waving at them. It was a blast.”
He was calm and had fun on the radio with his team. When crew chief Mike Hillman asked him about his truck, van Gisbergen complimented it and then said: “I guess I’m a greedy driver. I need more grip.”
Hillman replied: “You’re like any driver. Welcome to IRP.”
Don’t get the sense van Gisbergen was goofing off Friday night. This was start of journey for the New Zealand native. He is expected to sign a deal with Trackhouse Racing that will have him run various NASCAR series.
“I got a lot to learn,” van Gisbergen said. “I need to try all different cars, all different types of ovals. It’s going to be a huge learning curve.”
He’s back in a Cup car this weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, driving the No. 91 for Trackhouse Racing in Sunday’s race (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC).
Earlier this week, the 34-year-old van Gisbergen told NBC Sports about his NASCAR aspirations: “I’ve done Supercars full-time since 2007 … so a good time to change, try something new. I’ve got a lot of good years left in me, I guess. Come and try something different.”
And this was. He had never raced on an oval. And to be dropped into a playoff race in the Truck Series created the potential for peril.
When he watched video of last year’s Truck race, he worried about all the contact and chaos. That race featured 10 cautions and had more than 35% of the event run under caution.
“I wondered what have I got myself into,” van Gisbergen said. “But everyone I raced (Friday) was good.
Friday’s race featured five cautions and only about 20% of the race was run under caution.
One incident happened in front of him, leading van Gisbergen to radio his team and say “Holy.” A team team member filled in the rest.
“I just stood on the brakes and went to where I couldn’t see smoke,” he later said.
He also experienced the beating and banging so common to NASCAR short-track racing.
A quarter of the way through the race, van Gisbergen was bumped by Logan Bearden.
“I thought I’d hit a a bit of water,” van Gisbergen said of the contact that got his truck loose off Turn 4 before he quickly regained control. “When you hit the grass, it was putting water on the track. I thought it was my fault. And then (spotter Stevie Reeves) told me it was someone else. Yeah, pretty fun.”
Van Gisbergen said that “at the moment” this weekend is it for him in NASCAR before his expected return in 2024.
Then again, Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks said after van Gisbergen’s Chicago win that there were’t any more races scheduled for the No. 91 car the rest of this season and here is van Gisbergen back for Sunday’s Cup race, so anything is possible.
“We’ll see,” van Gisbergen said of any more NASCAR races this season beyond Sunday. “Hopefully, do some more, but it’s all about timing.”
Friday night, van Gisbergen had the time of his life in NASCAR.
#NASCAR … Shane van Gisbergen said he was having so much fun in his first Truck race, he was laughing in the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/xuolHX4ijM
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) August 12, 2023
