Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Shane van Gisbergen Interview following win at Sonoma | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

On this week’s Victory Lap, Kaitlyn Vincie sits down with back-to-back NASCAR winner Shane van Gisbergen. Fresh off his win at Sonoma, SVG breaks down why he’s been so dominant on road courses, what makes Trackhouse Racing such a strong fit, and how he plans to improve on ovals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's an unbelievable run that we're on. You know, I know, obviously it's not ovals, but it's still cup series, you know. It's not easy to win this stuff. It's an amazing feeling to be doing so well. And I feel like we've got a lot to improve on as well. Welcome into the Victory Lab. I'm Caitlin Vinci, filling in for Kevin Harvick. So excited to have Shane Van Gisberg and once again joining the show.

You're becoming a familiar face on here. Yeah, it's cool. Thanks for having me. It's been amazing couple of weeks. and pretty stuck at the moment. I'm sure you are. So I wanted to tell you this first. Kevin always rates the burnout on every happy hour show.

And I wanted to let you know there is a new winner in the house. He gave your burnout from Sonoma P1 honors for all the style points and giving the high fives to the guys. Did you come up with that just on the fly to do all that? That's awesome. Yeah. Well, I've never done it before. And then I kind of drifted a bit of the track and then, yeah,

just celebrating on the front straight. to see them all on the wall and tried to get there as quick as I could to do it. It just special, you know, to share it with all these guys and girls. It's been, it was a tough start to the year, but, you know, we've been getting better and better in the atmosphere of everyone. And yeah, it's just cool momentum at the moment and stoked to celebrate with them. Yeah, it was a very cool celebration for sure. When people describe your Sonoma performance, they say things like effortless, made it look easy.

but I know it's probably anything but that from your vantage point. What was the Sonoma race like for you from the driver's seat? Yeah, it certainly wasn't the easiest. We had to manage the whole time, and our car wasn't very good on practice day. We really struggled. Qualifying was amazing. That was one of the best cars I've had in qualifying,

and then, yeah, what they did overnight with the work and the tuning it, I got into the race, and it was so much better. So, yeah, it was definitely not easy. It's hard to have an incident-free NASCAR race. So much stuff happens. There's always so much action. And, yeah, just try to stay out of trouble and keep clean most of the day. Yeah, it all worked out in the end.

You've kind of spurred this whole conversation about who's been the best road course racer to come through NASCAR. You're obviously well on your way. But I'm curious, what is it about your talents? Oh, I see you got a friend there. Ronald's, yeah. About your talents that have allowed you to take to these cars in, you know, in the NASCAR side on road courses so quickly? Yeah, I guess they're, you know, they're very different to a supercar,

but the style is similar in some ways. And I guess it's just sort of what I've always driven. And then this year in particular, really worked hard to kind of personalize the car a little bit. We've set up and guided a little bit our own direction. And it's been great, you know, working with the same guys every week and tailoring the car to what we need. And yeah, straight from, you know, Coda was a battle.

all but Mexico we really tried some different stuff and it's been amazing how much it's worked and got what I needed from the car and it's kind of showing. It's clearly made a, you know, a big difference. The stat, I think that is so amazing. It's the last driver who's won this many races in this short of time frame was Parnelly Jones back in 1967, which mind you was 31 years ago. So when you heard that stat, how did that kind of put into perspective what you and your team are doing? Yeah, it's an unbelievable run that we're on. You know, I know, obviously, it's not ovals, but it's still the cup series, you know. It's not easy to win this stuff.

Everyone's very good. The teams are good. The crew chiefs all around. So, yeah, it's an amazing feeling to be doing so well. And I feel like we've got a lot to improve on as well. So it's a really cool spot that we're in. So you come to this country, you learn our culture, you learn our sport, you learn our race, vehicles. That's a lot of change in a pretty short period of time. Was there ever a moment that was

like a little bit overwhelming for you with all of this transition? About overwhelming, but it certainly hasn't been easy. Like all last year, like it's an intense calendar. The schedule is crazy racing every week. And then now in the Cups series, it's even more so, like the prep that we're doing. And, you know, it's almost, you know, I think I have one day off a week, you know, kind of thing. You know, but I sound like I'm complaining. I'm not. It's an amazing job, but it's just so intense. Every week there's something to do, something to learn, something to improve on, simulator time, prep time.

It fills your days up really quick, but I love the sport. I'm really enjoying myself. I'm really loving, yeah, new challenges. Every single week, it's something different. So it's really fun so far. What is surprised you the most about being a part of the NASCAR world? Just like the culture is really fun. Like, it's still intense and, you know, super serious every week, but you can't, you know,

everyone's enjoying themselves, and that's what sort of gets them through. If you weren't enjoying yourself, it would be a real grind, you know, but I find the culture and the atmosphere here at Trackhouse really is fun. And every week, you're, I don't know, you're going racing with a great bunch of people on all three teams. It's really cool. I saw where Justin Marks post on Instagram, thank you for saying yes, obviously in reference to you agree.

to do this whole endeavor. When you think back to that initial conversation, is it a little bit surreal how all of this has transpired and also what impact he's had on your career? Yeah, but that's Justin. He's such a forward thinking out-of-the-box person. You know, I would, I never imagined I'd be here, you know, and even after the Chicago win, I never thought this was going to happen, you know.

I thought it might lead to more races, but not being doing this full-time. You know, it's a huge risk he took, you know, bringing me over, but also at the time he brought me over, we didn't have three charters here at track house, you know. It was a huge gamble and a huge risk by him. And it's been amazing the belief he's had in me and also some patience as well. Start of this year, it wasn't easy, but he knows himself, you know, being a driver, what this is like. So, yeah, amazing person, Justin and amazing boss, I guess, too. It's really cool to have a good relationship with him and what he's believed in me and challenged myself to do. He finally refers to himself as a disruptor in this sport, just doing things a little bit differently.

You're now the big disruptor. I mean, Chase Briscoe compared you to Michael Jordan. I'm not sure if you heard that. What has that been like for you kind of taking on this very unique role that we have not seen this in a long time in this sport? It's pretty cool. I guess that's back to Justin, you know. He's kind of changed the. sport, I guess, with his thinking and the way our team operates.

And it's a big thing getting in the playoffs, but even bigger thing winning three races. Like, it's unbelievable. It's really cool to do something special and change the sport a bit and be a part of something like that. It's, yeah, like some of the names people have been thrown around. Like, I know it's completely different, but you're getting compared to people like, you know, the Jimmy Johnson's and Tony Stewart's.

It's pretty amazing. It's amazing company to be in for sure. I know you mentioned the ovals in your victory lane interview that you obviously want to be better at those. But how does just all of the momentum you have over the last couple of weeks give you extra confidence, even as you approach those type of tracks as well? Yeah, like I felt like we were really making some gains, you know, like especially from the 600 onward. We were really getting better as a team and also the 88 car. So, yeah, we just have to keep it going.

Like each step we make, you know, now we're in the top 20 most races, and hopefully that becomes top 15 and then top 10. You just, it's baby steps for us, you know. It doesn't sound like much at top 20, but when we come from running in the 30s every week at the start of the year, it's a massive game. And we just got to keep chipping away with it and don't get impatient, don't force it, and just keep getting better.

Your next opportunity to keep getting better is Dover, which is a very challenging racetrack. You were 18th there, though, in the Expany Series last year. Did you enjoy the place? I mean, how did you feel about it once you left the Monster Mile? Yeah, it's a crazy track. We struggled as a team last year with Colig Racing, but I enjoyed the place. It was really tough and challenging.

And I think that's a good, it's going to be a good prep for Bristol for us, kind of. It's like a big Bristol with the concrete and the banking. And we're as a team, not the strongest on those kind of tracks. So it's going to be a good weekend for us to just keep learning, keep trying to make our concrete car a little better. And for myself as well, it's mind-blowing that place when you go there and the drop into the banking, the compression that you feel. And you just can't believe that a car's going to stick when you throw it in there.

So yeah, I like that. I like that kind of place. Well, thank you so much for your time. It's amazing to see what you've accomplished. It's been great having you a part of NASCAR. Keep doing what you're doing. And thanks again for your time today. No problem.

Thanks for having me.