Shane van Gisbergen arrived in the land of opportunities quite recently. Away from his home turf in New Zealand, you might expect the Kiwi to stumble on his first attempt. But it was quite the contrary, as he roared into glory at his first-ever Cup race last year in Chicago. This year he started on an equally energetic note, securing 12th place in Daytona and 3rd place in Atlanta in the Xfinity Series. But Las Vegas had other plans for him.

The #97 Kaulig Racing Camaro driver drove the first 25 laps of 200, before being handed his first DNF due to a technical snag. Gisbergen ended in a dismal 37th place but did not let his spirits drop. His bad result had no relation to his first trip to Sin City, though.

Shane van Gisbergen steered clear of any Sin City stain

When any NASCAR racer attends a race in Las Vegas, they get attracted to what the city is famous for. Sin City is infamous for a number of wild activities, including gambling. As they say, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But Shane van Gisbergen did not let anything happen in the first place.

In a recent interview on ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’ on Fox, Harvick threw the question at Gisbergen frankly: “Did you find anywhere intriguing while you were there?”

Shane replied with a straight mind: “I kept my money in my pocket. No gambling, no. You know, I’m just there for racing. It’s tempting, of course. But I behaved.” The three-time Supercars champion is dedicated to building a career in NASCAR. Hence it is understandable that Las Vegas has not cast its spell on him.

This little anecdote is sure to make one remember the world of betting within NASCAR. Bill France, NASCAR founder and head, had vehemently opposed parimutuel betting. He made his stance clear in a statement released in 1961 and published in the book ‘Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, The Superspeedway Boom 1959-1964’ by Greg Fielden. “Organized gambling would be bad for our sport – and would spill innocent blood on our race track—I’ll fight it to the end!”

However, the tides seem to have turned. Betting on NASCAR is growing “faster than in any other sport,” as Joe Solosky, NASCAR’s managing director of sports betting, said.

Shane van Gisbergen may have made the right choice to not let Sin City haunt him with its charms. He has a new sponsor to showcase his unique talents to.

SafetyCulture to support SVG in his 2024 ventures

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Gisbergen has recently landed a sponsorship deal with global technology and software company SafetyCulture. The brand will light up SVG’s path in three NASCAR Xfinity Series races and one race in the NASCAR Cup Series. The new sponsor’s colors will be splashed on Gisbergen’s No. 16 Kaulig Cup car in Daytona later this year.

“We’re thrilled to have SafetyCulture join Team Trackhouse and support Shane van Gisbergen,” Trackhouse’s Justin Marks said in a team release. “There’s a lot of synergy between our brands, and we look forward to putting SafetyCulture’s technology to good use across our team operations.”

As Shane van Gisbergen is putting his foot in the right places, we are all pumped to see him defend his Chicago crown in July this year.

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