Shane van Gisbergen takes blame for playoff performance error, setting sights on recovery at Bristol

Trackhouse Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen was recently featured in an interview with Frontstretch Media ahead of this weekend's Bristol Motor Speedway race. During the pre-race interview, van Gisbergen opened up about his performance in the first round of the playoffs.

The Auckland native made his first appearance in the Cup Series in 2023 with Trackhouse Racing and competed in two events. Following that, two years later, van Gisbergen made his full-time Cup Series debut with the team, piloting the #88 Chevy Camaro ZL1, and showcased his remarkable skills in his rookie season. He was the second driver from Trackhouse Racing to lock in his playoff spot after winning the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez race.

Despite delivering a strong performance throughout the season, Shane van Gisbergen struggled at the World Wide Technology Raceway event last weekend. He lost a few spots after being suspected of a flat tire before he spun on lap 156 of the 240-lap race and finished the event in P25. Similarly, van Gisbergen struggled in the Darlington Raceway event and finished in P32.

Reflecting on the same, the Trackhouse Racing driver took the blame for poor performance in both races and told the media [01:34]:

"I didn't, uh, didn't do very well last week. I had potential to do well, but yeah, I made a couple of errors myself and just put ourself in bad spots, you know, and made a mistake when we should have got stage points and we didn't. So, uh, last week only myself to blame. So, beat myself up for a couple days and reset; try again tomorrow."

Despite ranking 15 points below the cut-off line, Shane van Gisbergen has high hopes for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race scheduled for Saturday, September 13, 2025, at Bristol Motor Speedway. USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and HBO Max will broadcast the 500-lap event live.

---

“We’ve gotten a ton better”: Stephen Doran opened up about Shane van Gisbergen’s oval program in his rookie season

Earlier this season, former Supercar Series champion Shane van Gisbergen's crew chief, Stephen Dooran, sat down with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90. During the interaction, the #88 Chevy's crew chief pointed out Gisbergen's improving performance on oval tracks from the oval track program.

Despite having a rich history in motorsports, the New Zealand-based driver had never competed on oval tracks before debuting in NASCAR. Learning to drive in an oval has its own learning curve, and the Trackhouse Racing driver struggled with it in the early 2025 season. Since then, the #88 Chevy driver has competed in multiple oval track events to work on his skills, and he even won his maiden oval track race in July 2025 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Reflecting on the same, Doran told the media:

"He's equally as good of a student on the ovals, and I think you've seen the progress from the beginning of the year until now. Really, I think since in the All Star race, our oval program has continued to get better. Even Iowa, we had a really good race going, gotten the fence, got the car fixed, and he drove back through the field to 16th with a kind of a dinged up race car, and then ended up getting wrecked again towards the end."

The Trackhouse Racing driver has secured four wins at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Chicago Street Course, Sonoma Raceway, and Watkins Glen International. Additionally, he has amassed five top tens, four top fives, and three pole positions in 28 starts this season. Shane van Gisbergen needs to secure enough points to sit above the cutoff line or win the Bristol race to advance in the next round.