The New Zealander will now contest those events with Kaulig Racing, with which he had already been placed by Trackhouse Racing for his full, 33-race Xfinity Series campaign.

Trackhouse has an alliance with Kaulig and van Gisbergen will drive the #16 Chevrolet Camaro when he appears in the top flight of NASCAR during 2024.

According to Kaulig’s President, Chris Rice, the reason for the switch is pragmatic.

“I’m excited to work with Trackhouse and have Shane join our Cup program this season,” said Rice, via the announcement issued by Trackhouse.

“When we locked in SVG for the Xfinity Series, it just became a natural next step on the Cup side since we have all the existing infrastructure and a relationship with the pit crews.

“Remember, SVG had to pass our car to win the Chicago race. We finished second.

“So, now we get to race with him which is kind of awesome.”

Van Gisbergen’s slate of Cup races has not changed, with the three-time Supercars champion set to contest the following:

• Circuit of The Americas in Austin on March 24
• Talladega Superspeedway on April 21 and October 6
• Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26
• Chicago Street Race on July 7
• Watkins Glen International on September 15
• Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 20

Trackhouse brought van Gisbergen to NASCAR in 2023, when he won on debut in the Chicago Cup race in July in its ‘Project91’ entry.

He declared, “Shane is one of the best talents I’ve ever seen.

“We know he will be competitive on the road courses, so we needed to challenge him and ourselves on oval tracks against Cup Series drivers.

“This is a big freshman season for Shane, and I really appreciate Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice for helping us bring this to life.”

Kaulig has won two Cup races and 23 Xfinity races since its inception in 2016, including one and four respectively in 2023.

Van Gisbergen will be team-mate to Daniel Hemric, who drives the #31 Camaro in the Cup Series, with AJ Allmendinger and Josh Williams to also drive Car #16 during the season, for which Travis Mack will serve as Crew Chief.

SVG said, “When I first started talking with Trackhouse about moving to the US, we had no idea how many races we could secure but I knew I wanted to be with that team and organisation.

“There has been a lot of hard work to get to this point and I could not be happier to know that I get to race for an Xfinity Series championship and then get a proper go at the Cup Series on road courses and ovals.

“Kaulig is a proven winner in both the Xfinity and the Cup Series, and I know with the alliance with Trackhouse, this will be an incredible first year for me in NASCAR.”

Van Gisbergen will have an association with at least three teams in 2024 given he has also been forced to race in the ARCA series at this month’s Daytona season-opener as part of his licencing requirements for Xfinity.

He will do so with Pinnacle Racing Group, with which he finished in the top 10 on the latter day of a two-day test at the Florida venue in January.

Trackhouse’s two full-time entries in the Cup Series are the #1 Camaro of Ross Chastain and the #99 of Daniel Suarez.

Van Gisbergen was recently named as a new client of KHI Management, the company founded and co-owned by 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.

Also announced in the past 24 hours was a deal for New Zealand streaming service ThreeNow to show Cup and Xfinity races this year, starting with the pre-season Clash at The Coliseum.

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