Shane van Gisbergen to Cup in 2025
SvG will run in Trackhouse's #88 full-time in NASCAR's Cup series next season. He's been dominant on road courses, but is he ready for the highest level?
Trackhouse Racing has announced that Shane van Gisbergen will compete full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2025 season. Van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion from New Zealand, will join Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez in the Trackhouse Racing lineup. The team has acquired a third charter to facilitate this expansion.
Van Gisbergen has competed in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing this season, securing wins at Portland International Raceway, Sonoma Raceway, and the Chicago Street Race. He also participated in four Cup Series races in 2024 and plans to run in seven more races before the end of the season.
Van Gisbergen's car will carry the number 88 in 2025. Stephen Doran, who is currently a crew chief at Spire Motorsports, will serve as the crew chief for van Gisbergen's team next year.
Analysis
Van Gisbergen has been good but not great in Xfinity this season. While he's won three races, they've all been on road courses, his specialty. On non-drafting ovals, his ASP / ARP / AFP slash is 23 / 20 / 19. While the underlying numbers are there, with a 77% success rate and a 3 PFAE, those results are unimpressive.
In the past, we've seen several drivers with successful careers outside of NASCAR jump to Cup too quickly. The concern, given those results, is that SvG will be yet another. There's promise, but I'd have liked to see him run a dominant year in Xfinity before jumping.