Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Shane van Gisbergen Interview Following His Win at the Charlotte Roval | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

Shane van Gisbergen continues to dominate the NASCAR Cup Series road courses, winning his 5th straight at the Charlotte Roval — and he joins Kaitlyn Vincie on this week’s Victory Lap edition of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. SVG reflects on his thrilling Roval victory, what it means to extend his incredible road course streak, and how special this season has been for Trackhouse Racing. He also discusses his goals for the rest of the year, what has surprised him most about racing NASCAR Cup full-time, and why he’s so excited about the future. Plus, SVG reacts to the news that Connor Zilisch will join Trackhouse as a full-time Cup driver in 2026. LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR LAS VEGAS: https://forms.gle/St2E5pkMyJENhBum8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I've never enjoyed my racing so much. I fortunately, I think my car was a bit better than others. We had a dream run, but I don't think it's easy, that's for sure. Hey, everybody, welcome into the Victory Lab. I'm Caitlin Vinci, filling in for Kevin Harvick, and so glad to see Shane Van Gisberg and joining the show once again. This has been a pretty common occurrence, I would say, throughout the course of this year.

Thanks for taking the time for us. I know you're fresh, obviously, off the Roval win. And this one seemed a little more hard fought for you, because you had pressure from Kyle Arson, Christopher Bell in the mix. Did you enjoy that aggression you saw out of the other guys? Yeah, thank you. It was amazing race, plenty of action. And yeah, it was definitely difficult that last stage.

But a lot of fun. And then taking the team photo today with everyone. And again, you know, the feeling never gets old. It's pretty cool. And to have it as a home race, I guess, for the team too. And a lot of them were at the track. They don't get to travel a lot. Yeah, very special to win here at home.

And do you think some of the other competitors are figuring out they have to do things a little differently, maybe even race a little out of their comfort zone if they're going to beat you? Because it seems like that might be what's transpiring here. I feel like everyone's close. You know, it's probably closer than it looks. We've just done a really good job of executing every week. We always seem to qualify well and start up front. That really helps.

And, yeah, just I guess we've had really good luck too. with the caution's falling at the right time and everything sort of come together. We had a dream run, but I don't think it's easy, that's for sure. Like, there's some fast cars out there and really good drivers and just worked out good for us. Yeah, and where does the Roval stack up in terms of technicality and, you know, what's expected out of the driver from the other road courses we visited this year? I think it was, we ran the same tire everywhere, but the fall off was crazy. We would lose three or four seconds a run, which is massive.

So it was a real challenge to try and keep the tires on the car and try and be good on the long run. And that was our strength. But it's crazy how slow you'd go at the end and then you'd still be as fast as other people. It felt like a real struggle. But fortunately, I think my car was a bit better than others. Very good car indeed. Very good driver, of course. And going into the season, drivers obviously always have a big goal list of things they want to achieve.

But did you anticipate that you would have five wins in the 2025? No, of course not. You always dream about it going so well. But yeah, it's been amazing. We've obviously been, had the expectation, I guess, to be the fastest guy at the road courses, but normally in NASCAR, the fastest car doesn't win. There's normally action or someone gets spun out. So to, yeah, get it right.

And to win the races and be genuinely the fastest has been a pretty cool feeling. It's been great to share it with all the people here. Yeah. And obviously you've done your part behind the wheel, but how has your whole team really risen to the occasion as well around you and given you what you need to produce these kinds of results? Oh, 100%. You work with the engineers here and even the pit crew guys. We just had our pit crew meeting. And Kimbrough, our tire carrier, had an issue. So we had Drew fill in last minute and just how the team rallies together and gets behind everyone. It's a pretty cool, fun atmosphere. And then, yeah, had a good little party afterwards. And it's just a fun. fun way to be with everyone. It's a really cool team. It is. And it's the winningness season, of course, in track house's history, which says a lot right there. What does it mean to you personally to be a part of that? And also, what has Justin Marks done for your life and your career? Yeah, well, you see how much

it means to Justin and his family and having them in Victory Lane and then, but also the highs and lows, you know, with Ross missing out on the playoffs. It was a bit of a contrast. But yeah, it's been an amazing year to have six wins for the team and see how stoked the teammates are about it as well. It's, yeah, really, I love my time here. Really enjoy it and looking forward to it continuing for a long time. Yeah, what is surprised you the most about this whole endeavor coming to the United States making a huge statement and now really impacting a major sport that you had no prior experience? And what is, I mean, what has that all been like? It's been what I hoped it would be, but it's been a lot more fun.

Like, I really enjoy going to the racetrack every week. I love how versatile, I guess, the series is. Like every week there's a different type of track. It doesn't get monotonous. You always got new challenges. And it seems to be an ever-evolving sport. Like, there's just new things happening every week. There's storylines every week.

It's, I find it's a really fascinating sport to be a part of. I enjoy it a lot. That's probably the biggest thing. I've never enjoyed my racing so much. It's really cool. That is very neat to hear you say that. So we know you have the road courses dialed in, obviously. We're going to a mile and a half race track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend.

How do you feel your progress has been on the other style of tracks? Yeah, steady, I think. We obviously had a pretty low bar at the start of the year, and I think we're getting better. And I feel more comfortable on those tracks. Vegas is a pretty tough one, the speed and the bumps, and it's going to be a real challenge. It's not going to be easy. Yeah, I feel like I'm getting there, but I still have a lot to learn.

Every week I'm out there, I learn something and then have thoughts how to be better again. So, yeah, I know I have a long way to go, that's for sure, but I'm enjoying that process. Well, Justin Marks told me just last week he's seen a lot of progress on the other style track. So he's obviously very happy with what you're doing. There's been a lot of talk about Connor Zillage coming over to the program next year. And you two are arguably the best road course racers in your respective series. What do you think that dynamic is going to be like with the two of you and this internal battle friendly competition you're going to be having on these road courses?

Yeah, well, I think we just got to keep that attitude of, you know, it's friendly competition and we have to, you know, one of the cars has to win. You know, we have to make sure the team comes first, right? and we don't want what happened at Watkins to happen all the time because that wasn't very good, you know, so yeah, I think it's going to, I think it's going to be really cool. He's an awesome young guy and everything we've done with each other so far. We get along really well and bounce ideas off each other too when we've been on the Sim or teammates. So, yeah, I'm really excited and interested to see how it's going to go next year, but I do think it would be really good.

I think it's been very entertaining. We talk about it on a happy hour all the time, how we're exactly. to see the two of you paired up together. So we're down to the home stretch, three very different tracks left to go in the Cup series. What's still kind of on the goal list for you or what you kind of still want to achieve as you close out 2025?

Well, I think the next three weeks are completely different. You know, you've got a mile and a half, a super speedway there in a short track. So, yeah, it'd be nice to get, be fast at all of them, you know, show our progress and finish off the year on a high with some great results. So it's going to be tough. It's three, as I said, three completely different tracks.

So it's going to be a hard, hard one to get right. But we're up for that challenge. Yeah. And we've talked about the strengths of your team. Was there any area you've identified that you're like, all right, this is a weaker spot for us that I really want to focus in on for the final remaining stretch of races? Yeah, the driver.

That's the main thing. Like, I'm fortunate I have very good benchmark teammates. You know, Ross and Daniel are, you know, obviously very good at. at what they do. And I just try and get as close to them as I can every week. And a lot of weeks it's Ross, a lot of weeks it's Daniel. And I just, yeah, reference them. And if I can get close to them, I'm doing a good job. So that's kind of my, my aim, I guess. You referenced the shop and the fact you guys just did a big team photo today. How's the vibe over there at Trackhouse? Everybody pumped up to head off to the next race? Oh, 100%. It's cool. And as I said, it was a home race too. So a lot of them

went to the race and got to see the car they helped build or have influence on and really cool just yeah it's a special time here at the moment and cool to be a part of that very cool to watch you as well it's been such a bright spot seeing you coming into your own in your career and joining us here in the NASCAR world congratulations on yet another win and best of luck to you as you close out the rest of 2025 great thank you