The Kiwi clinched his second win of the year in the #88 Chevrolet Camaro at Chicago just a few weeks after taking a drought-breaking Mexico City victory.

Speaking post-race on Monday (AEST), Marks reaffirmed his commitment to van Gisbergen.

“Well, I think it’s a unique project with Shane,” said Marks.

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we thought we could go win road courses and we know we’re not going to run that good on the ovals because he’s never done it before.

“At this level of the game, you have to be a complete package.”

The complete package is being competitive on road courses, street circuits, and ovals.

The ovals, which are unique from week to week, are where van Gisbergen has begun to make significant strides forward.

The three-time Supercars champion has noted in recent weeks that the gap to his teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez has come down.

That has coincided with a streak of strong finishes. Through the first eight oval races, van Gisbergen had just one top 20 finish. Three of his last eight oval races have included top 20 finishes, including a career-best 14th and standout run at Atlanta.

Those recent results are reason for optimism, according to Marks.

“For his level of intelligence and how he studies and how he adapts and how he learns, there’s a real opportunity here for him to figure the ovals out and get fast at the ovals and be a complete Cup driver,” Marks explained.

“We’ve seen him coming that way just in the last month and a half. He’s pretty consistently top 20 now on the ovals when he started running kind of like 30, 32nd, and that that development is just going to continue.

“When you think about the project, we’ve got somebody who’s talented and that we can make a Cup driver out of, and while he learns in the meantime, we can win a ton of road courses and punch that ticket to the playoffs and give our sponsors a ton of return for their investment.”

Asked what made van Gisbergen so much more competitive on road courses and street circuits, Marks hailed the New Zealander’s “racing IQ” and ability to read a race.

“It’s how strategic he can think while he’s on the limit of the race car,” said Marks.

“A lot of drivers, it takes all of your mental bandwidth to drive the car fast, and Shane is one of these guys that can drive the car at the limit but be thinking bigger picture stuff.

“He knows where he is in the race. He’s great at managing his tyres, his equipment, all that kind of stuff.

“Plus I think for his talent profile specifically, street races come very, very naturally to him. He’s got a lot of experience doing it in the V8 Supercars series.

“I think in races like this where everybody is working so hard just to get the apexes and get out of the corner and right way and all of that, he does that just naturally while he’s thinking about bigger picture stuff so he can really put the whole race together in a super impressive way.”

Van Gisbergen will have an opportunity to win a third straight non-oval race at Sonoma on Monday, July 14 (AEST).

Van Gisbergen eclipses Ambrose with ‘very special’ NASCAR stat

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