Shane van Gisbergen has proven plenty that his maiden Cup Series victory in Chicago was by no fluke. He had a successful full-time Xfinity Series season in 2024 and is now set to race full-time in the Cup Series. His exploits in NASCAR ask a pressing question. Could Kyle Larson, one of stock car racing’s best, create a similar impact in Supercars?
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Larson himself thinks not. He told Speedcafe, an Australian motorsports channel, “Obviously I would not expect to run very good because Shane van Gisbergen, he came in [to NASCAR] and kicked all of our buts. So I know these Australian racers and Supercars drivers are extremely good. So I would not be surprised to run last.”
Modest words from a man who is considered to be the best race car driver of this generation. Larson’s particular niche is that he learns to drive in multiple disciplines very quickly and excels in them. It is hard to see why he wouldn’t be able to do the same in Supercars if he ever got into the show in the land down under.
Anyhow, Gisbergen is as eager as the rest of the fandom to witness Larson make his debut in Supercars. Back in November, he named the Hendrick Motorsports superstar and Kyle Busch as the two drivers whom he’d like to see race with V8 engines under the hoods of their cars.
How close is Larson to entering a Supercars race?
Larson had won $100,000 in Perth, Australia, in the final days of 2024 for winning an exhibition race put together by the High Limit Racing Series. Following the success, he revealed that talks for him to participate in the Supercars Championship are already underway, albeit still in early stages.
He said, “Nothing is set in stone yet. There’s talks kind of starting but still a lot to work through. I for sure want to get there and run the Supercar, but more than anything I want to get there and run the Sprintcar because just the atmosphere, racing in the city is really cool.”
He dreams of racing a sprint car down the streets of Adelaide and mentioned that he would come to Perth once he got that done. Larson expects him to visit Australia at least twice in 2025 to race and wants to check a Supercars event off his bucket list in one of them. It will never not be cool to watch Kyle Larson running riot in venues outside NASCAR.
