Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
HUNTERSVILLE, NC – Shane van Gisbergen has no goals for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
It will mark the first full Cup season for the three-time Supercars champion, and he will take the same approach that has worked well for him over the years.
“I don’t go racing for goals,” the 35-year-old New Zealander told FOX Sports at his pre-season production day on Wednesday. “I’ve been like that for a while. I just do my best every week and have the same approach every week.
“I know I can do the job. … It’s just a matter of time. I know I can get there. How long will it take on oval side.”
Since winning his Cup debut at the first race in Chicago in 2023, van Gisbergen has followed a path to NASCAR. While under contract last year with Trackhouse, he ran a full Xfinity season last year for Kaulig Racing while competing in 12 Cup races.
He won three Xfinity races — all on road courses — but was eliminated from the playoffs following the opening round. He finished 23rd in his Cup events, where he also drove Kaulig.
With the expansion of Trackhouse to three Cup teams, van Gisbergen will drive the number 88 car in 2025, potentially dangerous in road courses while still trying to understand what he needs when racing in rallies.
“I don’t have any expectations about it. I think it’s another learning year again because the cars are very different,” said van Gisbergen. “Yes, the results will have to start coming and improving, especially on the oval side.”
And even on days when he’s not racing forward, van Gisbergen insists he can find joy. He did last year at the Xfinity race in Bristol, where he finished 18th.
“I was participating, and it was one of the best races I’ve ever had, fighting people all the time on the fence. [up high and then] down – I’ve never learned so much in one day,” said van Gisbergen. “The race was epic. It was the best I’ve ever had. And we were in the middle of nowhere.”
Before his Cup season begins, van Gisbergen will start 2025 with the Rolex 24 sports car race this weekend. Trackhouse has a team with drivers van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch partnering Scott McLaughlin and Ben Keating.
McLaughlin, a Team Penske IndyCar driver, and van Gisbergen know each other after battling big battles in Supercars.
“It’s really strange to have one of your fiercest rivals [as a teammate],” said van Gisbergen. “But now we’re really good friends and working together has been great … just seeing how Scotty does it, we’re very different.
“But what we asked for in the car is the same.”
Among the similarities? The same seat is used by van Gisbergen and McLaughlin, who is not as strong as his official rival.
“We’re not too different in size,” van Gisbergen said. “And the GT [sports] the cars are very small, so I’m quite cramped – but it’s actually one of the GT cars I’ve driven, the Corvette, the way you get confused in it, I think it’s like an open wheel.
“He liked it too. It’s like his IndyCar, I think.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He spent decades covering motorsports, including more than 30 Daytona 500s, working for ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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