Once fierce rivals in Supercars, the Kiwis have been able to bond over their respective moves to the United States.
McLaughlin left Australia to pursue an IndyCar career and now van Gisbergen finds himself in the early throes of his NASCAR journey.
The duo have come a long way since van Gisbegren parked McLaughlin in at Pukekohe Park all those years ago — so much so that they’ll share the same car in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
“It’s super weird,” said McLaughlin on the KTM Summer Grill about his relationship with van Gisbergen.
“We were always friends, like to a point, but you know, obviously our teams hated each other, so it was just one of those things. We were sort of looking after that part.”
McLaughlin and van Gisbergen shared a photo to social media of them watching the NFL together.
The Team Penske driver revealed the photos caused some drama after the Trackhouse Racing star was caught drinking a rival brand’s beer.
“I think I got him in trouble because he was drinking Coors Light, and he’s a Busch Light guy, so he had to delete that photo,” McLaughlin laughed.
“American life, right? We’ve had a ball. He actually went to his first [NFL] game on the weekend. He’s slowly starting to like American football.
“It’s kind of like AFL or rugby league back home or whatnot. You’ve gotta kind of get into it, because it’s quite a good conversation starter with people over here.”
The pair have plenty of interest in what the other is doing, but they could have shared the same circuit.
The IndyCar star was rumoured to make his NASCAR debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
Even though it never came to pass, McLaughlin admitted he’s happy to watch on from the sidelines and live vicariously through van Gisbergen’s success.
“I’d love to run something,” said McLaughlin of NASCAR.
“For me, I’ve trusted what Roger [Penske] and Tim [Cindric] have put forward for me for so long, and it’s always been the right move for me. So I just trust the process.
“Obviously, I’m itching to drive something. I certainly would love to try other things. There’s definitely things on my bucket list, but at the same time, I just don’t think I’ve got my finger on the pulse right now, on IndyCar.
“I feel like I need to get that sort a little bit more. I’m fully interested but I think in some ways, Shane’s filled that void for me. I’m really enjoying watching him and seeing him go about.
“I’m excited for his first full [Cup Series] season, like he’s absolutely loving it over here and it’s awesome to see the background of that and talk to him about it and see his progression.
“I guess I’m living through him a little bit, which is filling the void and I’ll just worry about my IndyCar stuff. Maybe if you know, we do a couple of good things in IndyCar here in the next few years, hopefully we can, you know, end up with something else.”
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