Trackhouse Racing is well-advanced on working out Shane van Gisbergen’s 2024 NASCAR programme based on comments from co-owner Justin Marks.
Van Gisbergen has now made two Cup Series starts in the ‘Project91’ entry as well as a debut oval appearance in the Trucks Series with Niece Motorsports, with which Trackhouse has an alliance.
Before his two races in Indianapolis, the New Zealander spoke of a “pretty exciting” future at the team which gave him his NASCAR debut, although he maintains that no deal is yet done.
Despite Speedcafe’s understanding that multiple teams, including at least one each from the Ford and Toyota ranks, made a play for SVG, Trackhouse is the firm favourite.
Still, consistent with comments from the man himself, van Gisbergen would likely be only part-time in the Cup Series initially, and would learn the oval craft with starts in Trucks and/or the second-tier Xfinity Series.
“We’re working hard right now on putting a deal together for him,” Marks told reporters in Indianapolis.
“It’s my plan that he will race at Trackhouse next year alongside some of our partners and Chevrolet family.
“He wants to do this. He’s done everything he wants to do in Australia, and he’s really excited, and he’s really, really good.
“His rate of adaptation is such that we really believe that this is a guy that can be a star in this sport.
“We’re working on a transition next year for him, get him a lot of experience, a lot of track time in different divisions, and really be intelligent and methodical about how we build that programme,” he added.
“And then we’ll see what the future holds.”
Trackhouse currently fields two Cup Series entries on a full-time basis, namely those driven by last-start pole-sitter Daniel Suarez and also Ross Chastain.
In a broadly similar situation to Supercars, NASCAR operates to a system of charters, which are presently thought to be valued at tens of millions of dollars.
Racing unchartered is not uncommon, as Project91 demonstrates, but it forces drivers to qualify for a race on merit.
“I don’t have a [third] charter, [and] I don’t know if it matters,” commented Marks.
“The charter thing is a funny business right now. I think that there’s probably a tipping point. I’m running a racing business here. I don’t have a billion-dollar company that I can lean on like that.
“The barrier of entry is high financially right now for a charter. I’m not convinced you have to have one to go and race.
“We’re going to try and expand and grow as a business; it’s not 100 percent dependent on us [buying] a charter.”
Marks also hailed van Gisbergen’s oval debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park, where practice, qualifying, and the race were packed into an eight-hour period.
“I think that his talent, when he goes through the learning process on an oval, I think really quickly he’ll get up to speed,” predicted the Trackhouse boss.
“I continue to learn about him and continue to be impressed by him. To me, the big thing this weekend was his truck race at IRP. That was the biggest part of the weekend as far as his development and learning.
“He’d never driven an oval track in his life. He woke up on Friday morning and had 15 laps of truck practice, finished in the top 20, stayed on the lead lap until 10 laps to go.
“That was an indication of how quickly he can adapt and learn.”
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