He Tweeted: “I won’t be available in the morning please try me in the afternoon. Thanks.”
It turns out he and his Trackhouse Racing team were making up for lost time, celebrating their Mexico and Chicago wins.
“Well, I don’t remember sending that Tweet – so there you go! It was a great night,” he said on NASCAR show The Day After.
“We had most of the team guys. Came around to my place and we just celebrated.
“We didn’t get to celebrate Mexico together. I got sick and so were a lot of the other guys.
“Got home at an okay hour. We had a good weekend. Good to get it together and celebrate it.”
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In 2022, van Gisbergen famously abandoned an interview with Nine’s Today Show, leaving Triple Eight co-driver Garth Tander on his own while the Kiwi threw up off-camera.
The Trackhouse Racing driver has had plenty to celebrate lately, enjoying a purple patch on road and street courses.
This year, he has won two of the three non-oval races this year. He’ll have a chance to equal Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell on three wins apiece if he takes victory at Sonoma this weekend.
However, van Gisbergen has poured cold water on the idea that he is the favourite for Sonoma, despite being at short odds.
The hillside California circuit is one of the oldest road courses on the calendar — second only to Watkins Glen.
understandable 👍
— NASCAR Chicago Street Race (@NASCARChicago) July 7, 2025
Van Gisbergen has had success at Sonoma, winning the Xfinity Series race on his 2024 debut in a thriller against Austin Hill, but the Kiwi has never raced at the Sears Point circuit in the Cup Series. Last year, he played spotter for Will Brown and Richard Childress Racing.
“I feel like we’re going to be strong at every road course we go to, but this one will be tough,” sadi van Gisbergen.
“I’ve never raced there in the Cup car and everyone has multiple times.
“I don’t know how it races, what the cars will be like. I’m at a deficit this week, so I don’t feel like I’d be the favourite, but I’m motivated to do well.”
It was put to van Gisbergen that three-time Daytona 500 Denny Hamlin hailed the New Zealander one of the sport’s greatest road course racers.
Van Gisbergen was taken aback by the comments, noting Hamlin’s own prowess on certain circuits.
“Some tracks and some styles suit the driver – like him at Pocono or Martinsville. He’s amazing at those two tracks,” said van Gisbergen.
“I’ve grown up with a car that’s not the same but has a lot of similar features and techniques I guess to get the speed out of it.
“Still use those to my advantage and I’m really still learning what this car needs and the team is still catering towards that.
“I really feel like we made some gains on our road course car in the last couple of weeks and I’m learning what I need from the car and still there’s a lot more room for improvement.
“Hopefully we get better too.”
Like he did in Chicago, Van Gisbergen will do double duty between the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series.
He’ll join JR Motorsports in the Quad Lock-backed #9 Chevrolet Camaro on Saturday (local time) before getting in the Red Bull-backed #88 Chevrolet Camaro on Sunday.
As far as preparation goes, van Gisbergen said he wouldn’t be getting on the simulator.
“I don’t know if I’ll do too much. I haven’t done much sim lately. We’ve sort of been struggling with it and as soon as I stopped doing sim, I started going a lot better,” he laughed.
“I don’t really know. We’ll see how it goes.”
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