Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - SVG is Ready to BOUNCE BACK in California

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

From a three-time V8 Supercars Champion in Oceania to a dominant force in American stock car racing—Shane van Gisbergen’s journey to NASCAR is one of the greatest gambles in modern motorsport history. In this exclusive FOX Sports interview, the "Runaway Kiwi" opens up about the massive decision to leave a legendary career behind to start completely over in the United States. SVG takes us behind the scenes of his partnership with Justin Marks and Trackhouse Racing, explaining how the innovative PROJECT91 initiative changed his life forever. He also reflects on what it means to represent the iconic Red Bull livery on the grid, carrying the family No. 97, and earning his spot among NASCAR's elite drivers. While a chaotic weekend in San Diego shook up his points standing, SVG’s focus is entirely on the bigger picture. Ahead of Sonoma Raceway, Shane breaks down his transition from street courses to heavy American asphalt, his rapid progression on ovals, and why betting on himself was the best decision he ever made. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Wayfair, every style, every home. 80 career wins. You were dominating. You're winning championships. What was the thought process, I said? I mean, the sport was going through some changes there. They had, like, that new car, and it kind of sucked, really. And it just, I was not enjoying life.

I don't know, just timing was perfect to do something different. What's going on, Closers? Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour podcast in the hot seat today. You got your boy, Mamba Smith, and I'm excited because I get to talk to a homie. I like to call him Superman, especially when it comes to the road courses. SVG Shane Van Gisberg and Shane, how are we doing, homie? I'm great. I hope you out too.

I'm good, man. Let's tell the people where you're at right now because we just left San Diego, but you stayed on the West Coast. Where are you at? Yeah, so we're at Santa Monica, which is we're at Red Buller Bay. So we're doing some cool stuff later today. And the guys are doing some pit stops at Red Bull and working out and checking it out there.

So, yeah, I think it's a bit easier than heading home for a week or a couple of days. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. You got anything else playing out there? I know you guys are going to work. And like you just said, you got the pit crews going to be doing their stuff. But I heard maybe some golf trips in order out there. No, not for me. but I have some friends from New Zealand over,

so I'll try to catch up with them tonight and try and go for dinner or something, but yeah, it's pretty quiet couple of days, which is good, and then get ready for Sonoma. For sure, bro. So I want to talk to you about something that we've spent a decent amount of time together, but we've never really got to really cut up like this before. So I watched last night the runaway Kiwi dock,

and I thought that was so cool. I didn't realize that you had come from dirt racing, and then that's kind of how you got to a supercar. Can you explain the gap and how you go from dirt racing with quarter minutes to super supercar racing? I don't understand. Yeah, that was a cool documentary that safety culture did for us. Yeah, I started like the late 90s in cord midgets in New Zealand racing,

and I raced like quad bikes and stuff around then too, and didn't really do much go-karting until I was probably 13 or 14, I think I started. So a little bit late compared to most. and then sort of went the more traditional route of, you know, circuit racing was single-seaters in the junior formula. But, yeah, it was a cool way to start. And I love the quarter midgets and got pretty fond memories of the racing those. It seems like you guys over there, you just have a good time, man.

You guys just put some cars together in a field, make a track, and then just go wreck them. That looks like such a good time over there with your friends. Yeah, we do that. Every year we have a race with bomb cars, we call them. do them up pretend their race cars and go racing and then trash them at the end of the day so yeah that's always one of the highlights of my year is going home racing with my friends and um yeah good to always see everyone and everyone gets competitive but it's a pretty good day too yeah looking at it um and senior dad talk um can you tell me the nickname his nickname is it cheese

his nickname where does that come from yep uh just it's an easy version of our last name i guess kids that when he was a kid, I think that's when he got nicknamed and that stuck with him forever. So most people don't know his first name. So they just call him cheese. Yeah. It was awesome getting to hear him talk about like you and your friends and him teaching you guys how to drive just down around a little quarter midget and then it flipping into you running supercar. So when you got to the supercar level, obviously over there, that that's like the pinnacle, but you were able to keep it the main thing, which is having fun. I think that that's a really important thing. How have you been able to continue that? Yeah, I mean, just having good people

around us and I think in racing, like even an example, just on a weekend gone, like you're pissed and it's the end of the world at the time, but we get to be race car drivers. It's a pretty fun job, really. It's not really a job, but it's pretty fun thing we get to do. So you just got to keep yourself grounded and remember that. And yeah, I love getting to do what I do. And even though it's pretty hard and frustrating sometimes. It's one of the coolest things you can do as a career. I feel like even when you're a little frustrated, somehow you keep a little smile on your face. And you talked about in the dock that your mom always reminded you to make sure you're enjoying it and having fun. Is that kind of her instilling that in you? Yeah, she would never

really tell me what to do or how the race is going to go. She'd just say, make sure you enjoy it or have fun. So, yeah, try and have that. Yeah, even on, as I said, the weekend, like, I'm still pissed today, but you know, got to keep smiling somehow. There's a race in a few more days and hopefully you have a better result next week. So in 2023, you come over, you do the Chicago Street course. You obviously, it's history. We know what happened.

You win the race. And then, but what I didn't realize is you went from winning that race to two months later getting flipped over to having a full-time ride. How quickly did that really happen? And like, how did you even get your mind wrapped around making the move to America? I mean, it's a whirl and how it happened. And it's a bit of a blur now because it did happen so fast. And, yeah, just, I remember Justin just, you know, laying it out there and saying,

this is what we should probably do and do you want to do it. And yeah, just the process behind it, giving me kind of a year to settle and learn in the Xfinity series at the time. And, yeah, man, it was unbelievable how it went from being a life. up in VA supercars. I'd been there for 16 years or so, I think, and was happy to keep going there to, yeah, moving to the other side of the world and changing, uprooting my whole life.

It was pretty crazy, but I'm very, very glad I did it. Yeah, being able to race in some cool places, meet some cool people, and, you know, I love the NASCAR series. And, yeah, I really enjoy it. What was the main factor to you deciding to make the move? because obviously 80 career wins, you were dominating,

you were winning championships. And to your point, I remember you said winning championships is everything to you. So you kind of left that to kind of reset. What was the thought process there? I mean, the sport was going through some changes there. They had like their new car, and it kind of sucked, really. And it just, I was not enjoying life, you know. And it just timing was perfect to do something different.

And it's amazing when you hear, you know, the stuff I was going through was like, you hear what people went through when they went to the next-gen car here, you know, how it, how it drove and how they didn't like it. And it, you know, it was kind of similar to what I was going through. It's kind of interesting reading it now, but I come here and it's a refresh for me, you know, whereas the other guys aren't liking it here. It's just whatever world you're in, I guess.

But yeah, the timing was just perfect. The sport was making some changes there. And, yeah, I needed a fresh start and I didn't know it. But it's been amazing. Like these are the, you know, I love my racing there, love the people I work with. But these last two or three years is some of the most fun up had in racing. And you were able to bring Red Bull with you over.

I was actually got to spend a lot of time at the Red Bull energy station, which is super cool. And if anyone ever gets a chance to go to it, you definitely need to hang out there at the racetrack. But they basically were like talking about how you were like, hey, I want to go try this America thing out. Like, are you interested in coming with me? and they were like, absolutely, you're a guy.

That's so cool to be able to bring them back to the sport. I mean, yeah, it's amazing to be one of the people, I guess, that's brought them back. But, yeah, I had an amazing time with them in Australia and becoming a Red Bull athlete and being part of that brand. But, yeah, to run, have them come back over here, especially how, you know, I didn't realize at the time how bad NASCAR was 10 or 15 years ago when they were in the sport, how bad of a time they had, I guess. amazing to bring them back and we won a couple of races now with them and just seeing the activations and how involved they are in the sport

having two cars on the weekend, the energy station and yeah, I've never seen so many fans excited to have a sponsor back in the sport and having a brand like such as Red Bull back in the sport was amazing and yeah, proud to represent them

and yeah, it's a bit of a privilege really to wear the Red Bull helmet. I'm stuck with that. You talk about how excited the fans were for Red Bull to be back. And the branding internationally is just amazing, obviously. But you yourself, I don't think you understand how many closures we have that are from New Zealand in the Australia area. Like, we have a lot of people that are always tuned into the show. What does it mean to you to be able to represent for those people?

And we had New Zealand people that were at the track that came to the stage where I was at coming by and there are SVG stuff on everywhere. What does that mean to you that you have so much support from back home? Yeah, I mean it was amazing. I'm surprised they let so many New Zealand flags on the naval base all weekend. It was awesome. You know, I guess this is the closest race to home and had a lot of people come over and obviously some road courses as well.

So they expect some results. And yeah, it's been been amazing. And even when I have a bad race like the weekend, seeing the comments and the supporters. So it's awesome. It's amazing how many people back home watch this racing. pretty stoked to represent my country. Speaking of up in the country, you got your countrymen

were over this past weekend, the New Zealand soccer team, the all they call it the all whites. That is, what was that like being to hang out with them? I mean, you guys are basically holding the flag for New Zealand over here together.

Yeah, we're a pretty small country, but I guess we've got above our weight on the international stage. And I don't know, there's a thing about us, Kiwis, when you see each other overseas, you just naturally gravitate towards them

and support them. So it's been awesome to see them a couple of times in the last week over here in the West Coast. And, yeah, it had an awesome time. But unfortunately, they lost on Sunday, too. So it was a pretty devastating day all around. But, yeah, they got one more game. And hopefully it's a good result and they can get through to the next round. You got some other friends here, one of our mutual friends, Scotty Mac,

Scottie McLaughlin that races for Team Penske in the IndyCar series. You guys both raced legend cars last year. And the team was, it was. sheep shaggers racing was that what it was? No, no, it was Scott Shane racing. Oh, Scott Shane racing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, okay, just making sure. How much fun has it been kind of living this experience with one of your good buddies over in America? Because you don't get that opportunity to do anything with your friends like that, but you guys get to live your racing dreams together out here.

Yeah, and he was one of the influences, I guess, to get me over here, the way he talked about it and how different it is. So, yeah, really thankful to that. And, yeah, getting to know him again as a friend the last few years has been cool. And we did some fun racing in the legend car. And he didn't want to do it again this year.

Him and Bubba had a bad time getting beaten up by 12-year-olds. I actually won the last race. So I got fond memories of it. The weeks before that, I had some crashes, so I didn't either. But it was a lot of fun doing that. And I think that was a good skill to learn as well, the short oval stuff. But I had fun too. When you look at looking at the season, I feel like you've made some huge gains throughout this year, especially on the ovals, obviously, because that was where you had the most of gain.

But I feel like you've done everything that we expect you to do, which is to get better and improve. Where do you feel like your season's at? How do you feel like you've improved on the oval stuff? Yeah, thanks. We made a lot of games, but I still have so much to learn as well. but there's definitely been more glimpses this year of big progression. But yeah, I still have a lot to learn and it's been cool to lead some races. And, you know, a lot of it's obviously down to, you know, strategy or qualifying being ran

out. You know, we're not naive about that. But it's still being good to run up front and keep learning. I feel like we have a lot to go with our car performance. All three of us kind of struggle sometimes. But there's been flashes of getting it right. So, yeah, it'll come. We've just got to keep our heads down, keep working.

But really, it's all about points accumulation at the moment. We're so close to the cut line and, you know, we can't afford more bad weeks on these points days, you know. So we're watching that closely and I just got to try and keep scoring as many points as I can. Last year, I think it was after Vegas. You had a really cool tweet that broke down like the air bubble in the pocket up against the wall. And I was like, wow, he really is seeing it. Now he's seeing it. So now at least you know he knows what he's up against.

But Nashville, you really put together a good race. You were able to run up front. Have some of those things that you were talking about in that tweet, is it being able to be able to put it in practice now for things like Nashville? Yeah, it just adds up. You know, every week I have, I'm still having a lightball moment, still learning things and still seeing things on the track or what people are doing.

And, yeah, I still feel like I'm a sponge, just taking it all in, you know, even after this is my second season. in cup now I'm still learning so much it's yeah it's it's a really difficult series where so many little details add up and yeah I'm still I'm still getting there but yeah I feel like I feel like I'm certainly getting closer when you look at the racecraft and the things that you do you know inside the car is there what has helped you the most get acclimated to the oval racing is it more you know we look at Kyle Larson Christopher Bell Chase Briscoe they have a dirt background and we always talk about how much that's helped them.

Do you think it's your dirt background that's helped you the most? Or being in the supercars? Like, what do you think you get the most help from a racecraft? None of it. I think it's a completely different sport. Like, I've never, I'm just learning from zero. Like, it's, yeah, none of it really relates or translates on the ovals. A little bit like at a Martinsville or something where you're breaking and changing gear,

but at these big tracks, nothing is like it. You know, maybe sprint car a little bit where you're, moving around trying to get clean air but all the tracks I race sprint car on were quite slow so it's not really not really relative yeah like I've had to learn so much like I can't believe it still blows my mind how much air makes a difference you know like moving your car around where you place it compared to other people and how they can affect you or you can affect them like it blows my mind at the speeds we do how much air affects the car and and you know the aerodynamic set up it's it's ridiculous um And yeah, I've told people, you know, it's like football versus football, where it's American football versus soccer football. It's, you're playing with a ball, but it's two completely different sports. It's crazy different. For sure.

You talk about a team in the group that you have around you and how much fun it's been. And trackhouse is doing stuff differently. And honestly, you are one of the main components of doing stuff differently with Project 91. How has it been growing with the team as you're growing. as a driver and they're growing as a team. Everything's new. So how has that been? And where is it now compared to where it was when you started?

Yeah, it's been tough this year. You know, everyone's pushing hard, but we're struggling a little bit, to be honest. And I feel like our group within the group, you know, the 97 guys, it's a pretty good atmosphere there. And I guess we've been sort of the best of them, particularly in the start of the year. But yeah, it's frustrating. We're not where we want to be or need to be. So it's cool.

fighting every week and trying to get better but obviously we're frustrated we're not as fast as we want to be so the atmosphere in the team's still good but we we do need to get some speed going that's for sure uh Steve during during your crew chief talked about in the um in the dock how much effort and time you put it in the sim and all the work that you put in uh how are you able to do that out this week because it's a little bit different or is it sonoma and you're like no I feel like I got a good handle on this so we're kind of in a different spot yeah it depends week to week how much sim we do like some weeks is really beneficial and we learn a lot other weeks not so much so uh this week yeah we haven't haven't done too much really but we have a good base setup to rely on we were pretty good

there last year so we kind of just built off that setup and i still had some things i could have done better and wanted from the car as well so yeah we made sort of set up changes based off that and Hopefully we can improve the car a little bit and be a bit faster again. I don't know, man. You've let about 88% of the laps last year. You had a lick last year. That was an amazing performance. But I will say, I feel like you have made everyone better on the road course stuff.

Like, you've made the bar so much further out that everyone had to be better if they wanted to win a championship. And when you look around, you had an amazing quote I felt like over the weekend where you were like, I'm kind of mad that everyone makes me so much the favorite because I feel like it's disrespectful to the competition because there are so many good guys out here. Do you feel like the amount of respect that you get is too much or do you think that it's, you know, that's right where it should be? I feel like it is too much. Like we've obviously had a good run and won a lot of races, but true execution.

There was a lot of races last year where we probably weren't the fastest, you know. I think even Mexico, Ty Gibbs was beating us. until we got him on strategy you know that he got an unlucky yellow there so there's times like that that have added up we've been on the good end of it um even chicago i think rent was faster he was catching us at the end so you know we've just been on the good end of it but i think looking at sonoma you know i think i said on the weekend there's 10 guys probably on a road course who can put it together and win if they get it right on that weekend so you know we're obviously going to be close to the front but there's guys who are going to compete and probably be better than us that point so

I think being such a clear favorite is a little disrespectful to those guys and their teams because, yeah, it's never easy for us, that's for sure. Can you kind of break down San Diego, which was like, obviously, we'd never been there, never seen it. The track changed from the time you guys unloaded to the checker flag to Sonoma and kind of racecraft, is how you're going to approach it two different ways. Yeah, it was amazing seeing practice, you know, normally in NASCAR, everyone goes flat out. from the start in practice and just straight to the limit, even the tough ovals. But yeah, I found that San Diego people started slowly. You know, they gave the track a lot of respect, including myself, and we all sort of built up

to it, you know, gaps to the walls were getting closer and closer. We kind of all started leaving the walls some space and like turn two was crazy with that jump into a big breaking. Oh my God, it was unreal. Unreal. Yeah, but you saw at the start of the weekend, people were lifting or taking it easy over that. and yeah, we kind of all built up and got faster and faster. But yeah, we go to Sonoma and first lap of practice will all be on the limit

because there's a bit more room to make the mistakes. And everyone knows the track and everyone's got sort of a base set up there. So I think we'll find everyone pushes straight to the limit. You'll see a lot more mistakes at Sonoma, whereas San Diego we'd watch. Everyone sort of make mistakes and crash and those practices before us. So I think we all underdrove a little bit in practice. So at Sonoma, you, the feel that you're looking for versus the feel at San Diego, maybe.

Is it all the same footwork? Is everything the same? Or are you floating the car differently? Just how do you approach from that perspective? Yeah, like the car setup will be very different. You know, at San Diego, we were very high, very soft to try and get over the bumps and get the car nice and compliant. When we go to Sonoma, it's very smooth and high grip. So the car will be stiff and low and everyone's cars will be on the edge, you know, you've got to have.

it like that can make grip. So it's cool to watch the differences. It was cool to see differences in the cars on the weekend. And then, yeah, this weekend will be similar again. Everyone will be pushing hard, set up for the high grip. Yeah. Do you look at these tracks and do you have like a favorite corner? I've never asked this before.

I'm like, I wonder if the guys have a favorite corner or favorite section of a track in road course racing. Probably a section, yeah, the end of Sonoma where you leave the hip and you come down the hill. There's those fast right left. And before you get to the hip, and that's a really challenging but rewarding section to get right. There's a lot of time you can gain or lose there.

And, yeah, coming back down the hill's probably pretty spectacular to watch. It is always great to watch. Shane, appreciate your time, man. Enjoy a little bit of time, half time off out in California with your Red Bull family and we're looking forward to seeing you in Sonoma. Cool.

Thanks, man. See you soon. Thanks, buddy.