In 2025, Shane van Gisbergen came straight out of a heroic tale. The Trackhouse Racing driver blazed his rookie NASCAR Cup Series season, living up to his road course racing talents. At the same time, however, SVG was also warming up to stock car racing’s primary form of racing. SVG and ovals do not see eye to eye, at least not yet. And SVG is anticipating a tough season in that regard.

Shane van Gisbergen gets candid about ongoing challenge

“Like a lot of races this year we went into, and you’re just stuck with what setup you had as well. And you just feel the car’s not going to turn, and the only way you’re going to make it turn is by taking the rear out of the track, and that’s an even worse issue. So, we were struggling a lot this year to make the right calls. I didn’t know yet what tools were in the toolbox to ask for to make the car better,” Shane van Gisbergen told Speedcafe in a December 29, 2025, video for the KTM Summer Grill.

For a significant portion of 2025, Shane van Gisbergen was outside the top 30 in Cup Series points. That was due to his drab finishes on oval tracks. Tracks like Las Vegas really challenged him, as SVG himself admitted. The cars do not feel well in sync while going slowly into corners, and the need to drive in flat stretches and land in the banking perplexed SVG.

Nevertheless, the Trackhouse star was part of a maturation process. Shane van Gisbergen went back to his weaker tracks a second time and established trust in his car’s behavior, especially on the intermediate-sized ovals. Steadily, SVG improved his oval races in the latter half of the season. He secured his first oval-track top 10 in 10th place in September at Kansas Speedway. Soon after, he finished 11th in October at Talladega Superspeedway and 14th at Martinsville Speedway.

Shane van Gisbergen won five road course races and clinched the Rookie of the Year honors. But like a true motorsports legend, he will not rest until his oval madness comes under control. “I think it’s just everything,” SVG said in November. “I’ve gotten a lot better, the cars have gotten better, and yeah, just as the confidence grows, things start to snowball and momentum forms. It’s just a continuation of many things. It’s not just one thing, and it’s all added up.”

Meanwhile, Shane van Gisbergen is also looking forward to a grand showdown with his new teammate.

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Dissecting his rival’s challenge

In 2025, Shane van Gisbergen admittedly had a hard time adjusting to the Cup Series. In 2024, he excelled in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, winning three races and finishing 12th in the standings. The difficulty mainly stemmed from the wildly different nature of the Xfinity and Cup cars—a challenge that Connor Zilisch now faces. The young prodigy picked up ten race trophies and missed the championship by a hair’s breadth. But Zilisch’s 2026 Cup Series season may be very different.

“It’s hard jumping between the cars as they’re so different,” Shane van Gisbergen said. “You know, you’re not with the same guys every week, the car’s still prepared like, it was still the same as my car setup-wise, but it’s just different. You’re not used to the car, and again, you jump in, and it’s a short practice straight into qualifying. Once you’re buried in the pack, it’s hard to get through. So, yeah, I’m sure racing it every week this year, he’ll definitely be up front.”

Shane van Gisbergen’s focus is on not only his progress but also that of his teammate. As the 2026 season rolls around the corner, let’s see how Trackhouse Racing performs.