“You Get Judged for Everything”: Shane van Gisbergen Underlines Biggest Difference Between NASCAR and Supercars

With the entry of Kiwi icon Shane van Gisbergen, NASCAR is basking under the international spotlight. In a recent Gypsy Tales interview, SVG opened up about how things were different in NASCAR than they were back in Australia.

During the season, Gisbergen admitted that he would be doing a year in V8 Supercars before switching full-time to NASCAR. But it seems like that’s happening quicker than expected. On that note, he said that NASCAR has given him the freedom to be open about his feelings.

Back in the world of Australian supercar racing, anything one says becomes headlines. The problem with that is one needs to think before they act or speak because of how harshly they are judged over there.

“You get judged for everything. You qualify 12, it’s a headline. You say something and it becomes a headline on speed cafe,” said the Supercar driver.

“It seems like a different mentality, you can say what you want and every week there’s so many stories that come out of a NASCAR weekend but it’s a mix of everything, good, bad,” he said, reflecting on NASCAR.

Shane van Gisbergen is on Trackhouse Racing’s development program for 2024

Shane van Gisbergen also thanked team owner Justin Marks, saying, “The atmosphere they put on, the leadership from Justin is very different to any other team I’ve ever been a part of.”

The three-time Australian Supercar champion is undergoing the NASCAR development program for the upcoming season. Trackhouse revealed that the program will include races in all three national tiers of NASCAR, including a few late models and other grassroots-level races.

Justin Marks is optimistic about SVG’s NASCAR journey. “This is going to be a tremendous challenge for Shane but he is a tremendous driver as we have all seen. Next year will be about getting him acclimated to oval track racing, superspeedways, 1.5-mile tracks and everything he has never experienced in his career,” Marks said,