Shane van Gisbergen wins his heat as he enjoys off-season racing 

NASCAR driver Shane van Gisbergen is competing in off-season races in his home country and recently won the SADDA Round 5.

Van Gisbergen, who will race full-time in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing, returned to New Zealand to participate in the local dirt and midget race series. He raced at the Western Springs Speedway last week and in a series of Instagram stories, Gisbergen shared videos of his "3-Hour Endurance race".

"@svg97 up on the wheel for the heat win," the post read.

Shane Van Gisbergen's Instagram stories (@svg97)

Van Gisbergen also shared a post with other interesting photos and videos from the event.

"SADDA Round 5 was a ripper. Epic turnout of cars and drivers. Great racing all day!! Excellent result for the Choice Performance #97 winning the big trophy in the 3 Hour Endurance race, cheers," he wrote.

Last week at Western Springs Speedway, Van Gisbergen had driven the No. 97A United Truck Parts Sprintcar and finished in the top three in two heats as well as the feature race.

The 35-year-old plans to return to Western Springs for the Boxing Day races on December 26.

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"Everything is different, especially on the oval side" - Shane van Gisbergen on racing in NASCAR

Shane Van Gisbergen started racing ATVs, quarter midgets, and go-karts and signed with Stone Brothers Racing to race in the V8 Supercar Championship at the age of 17. He later won three championships with Triple Eight Race Engineering.

"I’ll do seven Sprintcar races in New Zealand with the United Truck Parts team. That is who I drove for in Sprintcars two seasons ago over there. I love Sprintcars, I grew up racing quarter midgets at Western Springs,” Shane Van Gisbergen said (via autosport.com).

He debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series last year at the Chicago Street Course and won the race in Trackhouse Racing's No. 91 Chevy. In his second race at the Indianapolis road course in July, he had a top-10 finish.

"Everything is different, especially on the oval side. That has been a huge learning experience... It’s a completely different sport. A different style of racing to anything that I have ever done. I was open-minded, and I had no expectations about results. For me, I felt like I got competitive at some points of the year. But I have a lot to learn and a lot to get better at," he added.

Van Gisbergen made his NASCAR Truck Series debut in 2023 and began racing full-time in the Xfinity Series this year. He also ran some Cup Series races this season with Kaulig Racing.