SVG Going Cup Racing With Trackhouse In 2025

Shane van Gisbergen will be a NASCAR Cup Series rookie next season. (Ben Earp/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After a strong opening season of stock-car competition, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen will jump up to NASCAR’s premier level full time in 2025.

Announced Saturday evening at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Trackhouse Racing has acquired a third NASCAR Cup Series charter and will field the No. 88 Chevrolet for the 35-year-old Kiwi next year.

The move comes as the Justin Marks-owned organization expands to a three-car team for the first time, with van Gisbergen joining teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez under the Trackhouse umbrella.

It’s the latest leap in a stellar motorsports career for van Gisbergen, a three-time Australian Supercars champion who transitioned to stock cars this year in the wake of a shock victory in his Cup Series debut last July at the Chicago (Ill.) Street Course.

He’s already won three Xfinity Series races this season, driving for Kaulig Racing in partnership with Trackhouse, and qualified for the Xfinity Series playoffs as a Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year contender.

Now, as he contends for a championship in his first full season of stock car racing, van Gisbergen will also set his sights toward building a long-term future for himself in Cup Series competition.

“This is what I have planned for since coming to America, and I am ready,” said van Gisbergen. “I know there is a tough learning curve ahead, but the best way to learn is to go out and do it. I feel I have made progress running the Xfinity Series this year with Kaulig Racing and I can’t thank everyone there enough.

“I look forward to the Cup Series. Those drivers and teams are the best in the world, and it will be an honor to be part of their races.”

Marks, a former driver in his own right who transitioned to ownership and founded Trackhouse Racing and entertainment operations, is eager to see what van Gisbergen is capable of against NASCAR’s top drivers over the course of a full year.

“This is a big day in so many ways for Trackhouse Racing, Shane, Chevrolet and race fans around the world,” said Marks. “This is an important step for our organization and it’s a credit to the men and women at Trackhouse Racing whose hard work and success the last few years has led to us expanding to three Cup teams in 2025.

“It’s also a big step up for Shane, who took a chance on Trackhouse Racing, moved here from New Zealand, and now joins the most competitive stock car racing series in the world. Everyone will get to watch one of the world’s racing superstars compete in the NASCAR Cup Series next year.”

One of the most diverse drivers on the planet, van Gisbergen earned the Supercars championship with Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, ’21, and ’22, notching 80 race wins along the way to rank fourth on the series’ all-time list. Three of those wins came in Australia’s premier event, the Bathurst 1000.

In addition, van Gisbergen co-drove to a victory in the 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hours, alongside Alvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb.

Since moving to NASCAR, van Gisbergen has been a road racing savant, notching three straight Xfinity Series wins on road courses at Portland (Ore.) Int’l Raceway, Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, and the Chicago (Ill.) Street Course.

Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona will mark his fifth Cup Series start of the season, all coming in Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet as part of their association with Trackhouse.

He’ll have six more Cup Series races before the end of the year as well, growing his part-time slate from an originally scheduled six races to 11 in total.

Those events will be at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Sept. 1, Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway on Sept. 8, Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l on Sept. 15, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Oct. 6, Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway on Oct. 20, and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Nov. 3.

Watkins Glen and Las Vegas were the two races left on van Gisbergen’s original Cup Series calendar.

“I didn’t come to America to sit and watch racing,” van Gisbergen told RACER.com Friday afternoon. “I came to race.”

In carrying the No. 88, van Gisbergen will race a car number that has driven to victory in 76 Cup Series races, with a legendary list of names including NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Donnie Allison, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, and Buddy Baker.

Though he raced the No. 97 for the majority of his motorsports career, switching to the No. 88 does still provide a parallel to van Gisbergen’s time in Supercars, as Triple Eight Race Engineering – with whom he won all three of his championships – continues to carry the No. 88 as one of its primary car numbers.

Of note, 38-year-old Stephen Doran will serve as van Gisbergen’s crew chief next season. The Butler, Pa., native is currently Zane Smith’s crew chief on the No. 71 Chevrolet at Spire Motorsports.

Doran began his NASCAR career in 2006 at Petty Enterprises and worked as Kevin Harvick’s lead engineer at Stewart-Haas Racing from 2014 to 2023.

Sponsors for van Gisbergen’s No. 88 entry will be announced in the coming weeks.

Van Gisbergen’s first start as a full-time Cup Series driver will come in the 67th annual Daytona 500, set for Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025 on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.