The #88 Chevrolet Camaro driver had a relatively sluggish start to the season but has improved markedly as the year has wore on.

Even before the crash that took out more than a dozen cars from the race, van Gisbergen was running comfortably inside the top 10 last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

That, he said, was a much-needed run to prove he and the team has made marked gains.

“It is a long year. I don’t even know if we’re halfway yet. I’ve been enjoying every week. I love the challenge,” van Gisbergen said on NASCAR’s Inside The Race.

“It’s good. It’s weird to say, but it’s good being bad at something and having to improve every week. I feel like we’re making huge leaps.

“Every week we seem to be learning something and still moving forward. Even at Atlanta, running in the top 10 most of that race was really cool until it went wrong.

“I feel like we’re getting a lot better and as a team as well, sometimes we haven’t been that fast. I just try and match my teammates.

“I’ve got some quality teammates, Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain, and I just try and match those guys. I’ve certainly got a lot closer to them.

“I feel like we’ve gone through a lot of races where I’ve been competitive and pushing towards the top 15 even top 10 on the weekends.

“The road courses, obviously everyone expects us to be up the front, but it’s really, really cool to be putting in some encouraging results on the ovals now.”

Van Gisbergen is the bona fide favourite for the Chicago street race where he took his breakout 2023 win under the Project91 banner with Trackhouse Racing.

However, the Kiwi has his eyes on several races beyond that, namely Darlington.

It’ll be just the third time he has raced a Cup Series car there.

“The Darlington track is so challenging but I really enjoyed that,” he explained.

“When you do a lap that’s on the limit there – and it’s so hard, because you only get one lap on the tyre to really maximise it, especially in practice – when you can run that close to the wall and you feel like the wall kind of saves you with the air, it’s baffling how it works for me still.

“How you can still drive and how the air works, I’m still learning that every week.

“Darlington is one of the coolest race tracks I’ve ever been to. How you move around and search for the grip. I really, really enjoy that. It’s kind of like dirt racing. It’s a lot of fun.”

The two-day NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 begins with practice at 3am (AEST) on Sunday followed by qualifying at 4am (AEST). Monday’s race, which takes in 75 laps begins at 4:25am (AEST).

For more of the latest NASCAR news and analysis, visit Speedcafe US