How long does Shane van Gisbergen plan to race in NASCAR?

When Shane van Gisbergen made the switch from Supercars to NASCAR, no one was sure how long he would stick around the sport. Well, after three wins in his rookie season, the New Zealander recently signed a multi-year contract extension with the Trackhouse Racing.

The 36-year-old is now locked into a NASCAR Cup seat until at least the end of 2027. Fellow Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose became a full-time Cup driver at 32 years old, and returned home to Australia after the 2014 season when he was 38.

“I don’t really know,” said van Gisbergen in a Saturday press conference at Watkins Glen. “I haven’t thought about it. I definitely have a lot of years left in me. We’re lucky as race car drivers. We have a very long shelf life, you know? You see guys competitive till their late 40s, so I can go as long as I want. But I do have other things in racing I want to try. I still want to do some European stuff. I want to do Nürburgring 24. That’s on my list to do that properly. I want to do a bit more rally car driving. I got into that 2021-22. That’s a crazy sport, so I’d love to do more of that. But definitely for now, I want to stay in NASCAR and concentrate on that, but I don’t have a timeline.

“Two years ago, I wasn’t meant to be here, so I’m really happy here at the moment and can see myself doing it for a while. But it is a sport that fully consumes you, you know? I am very homesick. I miss home a lot, and there’s no time to get back there. I’m a long way from home. I’ll move back there as soon as I’m done racing, but yeah, to answer your question, there’s no timeline. I’m happy here for now.”

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Van Gisbergen also talked about how much fun he is having driving a NASCAR stock car, saying he knew this was what he wanted to do ever since he made his oval debut in a NASCAR Truck race at IRP in 2023.

“I had the most fun of my life just battling people all race on the oval there,” said van Gisbergen. “Yeah, the truck race was awesome and I thought — this is going to be really cool to do. After Indy, I think we did a deal pretty quickly after that. Like I said, just right from the start, I’ve enjoyed life here and racing every week and the challenge. It was probably time for me to have a new challenge in my career. I’ve raced Supercars for 15 years or something, so yeah, the timing was just perfect and I don’t regret any minute. It’s been the most fun I’ve had in racing for a long time. It’s been really cool.”