Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Find your frequency hereSVG: The Kiwi ‘rookie’ conquering NASCAR
Kieran Bingham • August 13th, 2025 11:46 am
Photo: Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire
Shane van Gisbergen is no stranger to speed, but 2025 has taken the Kiwi driver into an entirely new kind of racing intensity.
With four road course wins already under his belt in his first full-time NASCAR season, SVG is settling into for though the learning curve remains steep, especially on oval tracks.
"It's been amazing," van Gisbergen told Sport Nation’s Scotty & Izzy.
"The last couple of months, we've really built up, feel like our ovals are really improving, but the road courses, they've just been so special to win, four now, so really, really cool."
While his road course background gives him an edge in certain races, the challenge of mastering ovals continues to stretch the 36-year-old driver.
Unlike the V8 Supercars he dominated back home, NASCAR demands a different kind of precision, especially at nearly 300 kilometers per hour.
"It's just difficult. You'd think two corners only would be easier, but the style of racing over here is just so different," he explained, laughing at the contrast.
"The average speed is almost 300 kilometers for most of the tracks. It's ridiculous how fast we're doing and then how close you are to everyone. So it's just the smaller details make a difference and it just takes time to learn how the tracks react, how things change."
Izzy Dagg's kicking tips for SVG | Scotty & Izzy
Still, for SVG, this is exactly the kind of professional reset he was seeking when he left Supercars for America.
"It's been really good for me to try something else. V8s had gotten a little bit stale and things had changed. And yeah, and I'd done it for 15, 16 years. I still love my racing, but it's just good to get a new motivation and a new challenge.
"It's been good actually being below average at something and knowing that you can get to better. It's just going to take time. So I've enjoyed being at the back, struggling and trying to make myself better."
Those struggles have come with some raw adrenaline too. SVG recalls the moment at Las Vegas where his instincts were put to the ultimate test.
"When you got a place like Vegas and it's your first lap of the place and you're coming up to a corner flat out and it's almost, you know, you're doing just over 300 and you got to tip it into this corner flat out that looks like a wall you're driving into with the banking and you gotta hold it flat and hope it sticks.
"It's pretty nerve wracking. I'm doing my belts up tighter than I ever have. It's a cool feeling. And just that rush, it's outside my comfort zone."
Entering the playoffs on September 1 (NZ time), van Gisbergen knows there's still work to do, but he believes the foundation is there.
"It's just time, really. I feel like I'm making big leaps and bounds every week. What's going to help us in the playoffs is generally we're pretty consistent, try and stay out of accidents, and just keep getting points. And that should help us hopefully get through a round or two."
From street circuits in Australia to high-speed ovals in the US, Shane van Gisbergen is proving that with each lap, he's closing the gap.
Listen to the full interview below:
