It’s no surprise, but it’s been officially announced by Trackhouse Racing Shane van Gisbergen will make the step up to one of its three full-time NASCAR Cup Series seats in 2025.
Emulating fellow Repco Supercars Championship winner and NASCAR Cup Series race winner Marcos Ambrose, van Gisbergen will take in all 36 events next year.
Already a NASCAR Cup Series race winner courtesy of his win on the streets of Chicago in 2023, van Gisbergen has raced with Kaulig Racing in the second-tier Xfinity Series this season with much success.
The New Zealand ace has scored three wins on road or street courses this season to sit 12th in the standings with four races to go until the Play Offs, which van Gisbergen qualifies for due to scoring a victory.
To add to van Gisbergen’s achievements, he is currently second in the Rookie of the Year standings.
Van Gisbergen will be the first representative from down under to race full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series since Ambrose, who made his Xfinity debut in 2008 after multiple seasons in the Craftsman Truck Series, the acknowledged third-tier.
Ambrose won five times Xfinity finishing including four times at Watkins Glen and scored seventh in the standings in 2007.
He moved full-time in 2009 driving a JTG Daugherty Toyota finishing 18th in the standings finishing best of second at Watkins Glen and third at Bristol.
Racing for Richard Petty Motorsports was where Ambrose won his first NASCAR Cup Series at Watkins Glen in 2011, replicating it the next year.
Ambrose ran six years in the highly competitive NASCAR Cup Series and was far from disgraced with his performance, which has opened the door to van Gisbergen, Cam Waters, Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki to explore options in America.
Here’s hoping van Gisbergen’s potential will be realised at Trackhouse Racing next year.