Van Gisbergen has been a force on road courses, winning five of the six this year in a record-breaking rookie season with Trackhouse Racing.

While van Gisbergen made the switch from Supercars to NASCAR full-time, several NASCAR drivers have been linked to Supercars cameos.

Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, and Connor Zilisch have all been courted, though Cindric is the first to make a deal come to fruition for the Adelaide Grand Final.

Cindric, who drives for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series, will drive a Tickford Racing-prepared Ford Mustang at Adelaide on November 27-30.

Asked by Speedcafe about the uptick in interest from NASCAR drivers to compete in Supercars, Cindric said it’s hard not to pay attention to the Australian category.

“I think the fact that he’s kicking everybody’s ass on road courses makes them more aware of Supercars. That’s the bottom line,” Cindric said.

“I mean, I’ve been aware of the championship my whole life and been a big fan, but as far as within our industry, I think you take an awareness any time you’re getting beat.

“The way NASCAR works, until you get beat, you don’t change your ways, and then you change your ways when you start getting beat.

“It’s a bit reactionary in that sense, but I’ve wanted to do this for a long time and it’s cool that it’s worked out that way.

“As I’ve said in the past, the series, the categories, the philosophies of the championships have never been more aligned than they are now.”

Austin Cindric reacts to ‘really weird’ first Supercars laps

Van Gisbergen is among a throng of drivers eager to help Cindric get up to speed as quickly as possible.

Cindric said his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin has also been ultra enthusiastic about the wildcard.

“He’s texted me every day,” said Cindric of McLaughlin.

“I think he’s excited about this as much as I am. He’s been really cool. I’ve quizzed him a ton on Adelaide and what it takes to get around that track. Looking forward to applying it.

“He’s like, ‘Man, I’m going to stay up, I’m going to watch the race. Text me after every session. If they let you, send me data, I want to help as much as I can’. That’s been really cool.

“Scott’s a great teammate. He’s a great mate. He’s a good dude and loves the sport anyway.

“I was probably going to reach out to Shane after I drove the car and understand what I’m in for for the racetrack,” Cindric added.

“I think learning the car is the first piece, but what’s going to be really challenging is having a 30-minute session and going straight into qualifying on Friday.

“Learning the racetrack is going to be my biggest challenge to whether or not if I’m as competitive as I want to be.”

As for whether more NASCAR drivers might look to make the jump, Cindric said a lot has to align to make it happen.

Cindric’s program is a collaboration between Supercars and the South Australian Motor Sport Board as well as Tickford Racing and partners Repco, Armor All and Ford.

The 27-year-old said the time to commit himself fully is potentially prohibitive to other NASCAR drivers.

Cindric arrived in Australia on Friday, November 14 and will stay at least until December 1.

“I think where this becomes difficult for my peers is the commitment it would take to do it correctly,” he explained.

“I’m here for three weeks and that’s half of my off-season. A lot of guys that I race against have families, have been on the road for a long time, and are probably in the middle of their career.

“For me, I’m hardcore into racing and I want to do this and I’m glad that I’m here.

“I can’t think of a better way to spend my off-season than three weeks Down Under learning how to drive another race car.

“Hopefully it can springboard some of those things. I’d love to see other guys come over and try it and do it.”

The timing of Cindric’s wildcard also coincides with Thanksgiving, a public holiday in the United States.

“I think that could be a factor for sure,” said Cindric.

“I can’t think of a time that I’ve ever not had Thanksgiving with my parents, so with our family – not that that was really a deterrent.

“In the Cup Series, you have a wide range of drivers that are just in their early 20s to getting into their 40s who’ve been doing it for 20 years.

“The priorities of my competitors are very wide ranging toward just sitting here and saying to generalise, if I come out here and do well, they’re all going to kind of want to come do this.

“I think all of them might want to vacation to Australia if they could and go try something new, but as you all know there is a lot that goes into making something like this happen with teams and partners and sponsorship and manufacturers.

“It takes an entire army.”

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