NASCAR CUP SERIES: BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL 400

October 5, 2025

Shane van Gisbergen

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by tonight's winner of the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, Shane van Gisbergen. Congrats on the win with this victory. You become just the second driver since Jeff Gordon 25 years ago to win five street road course races. Speak about that sentiment and ultimately how you pulled off the win early today.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, amazing day. Kyle was just unbelievable. Yeah, I think we did a pretty good job making some tweaks from yesterday, and first two stages it was pretty nice balance and able to make some gaps. Then start of that third stage, Kyle and Christopher were really good. I lost the lead, lost control of the race, and just couldn't match them really. They were a bit better than me.

And then whatever we did, or whatever Stephen did at the pit stop, our car just came alive. And, yeah, the last two stints were just magic. Just ran them down and able to pass them and had some really good battles, pretty aggressive, but a lot of fun too.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Shane, those skirmishes you had there with Larson, how concerned were you about possible fender damage, tire damage, whatever? Was that close at all?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: No, it all felt fine. I gave him a bump into 7. I thought he was going to give me some space, and he didn't, and I couldn't back out of it.

Then straight away it was, like, a switch flipped, and he was angry, and he swiped at me, but probably fair enough. Then was pretty aggressive from there on.

Yeah, tried to stand my ground. Then he kind of pushed me off a couple of times. Yeah, I thought it was good, hard racing. Once I got back to him, I think he kind of just gave me the spot.

Q. Along those lines, similarly, I asked Larson about that battle, and he said you were just so much faster than everybody and that he said what a lot of people think, that you are out there toying with the field when you're not out there leading the field by 20 seconds or whatever. How good was the car at that point through the day and stuff and the adjustments you had to make, and even though you win these races, it is a challenge for you at times, and you're not just toying with the field in those moments?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, especially the start of stage three, I didn't feel like I was toying with them. I felt like I was struggling, and we didn't have the pace. They kind of drove away from me.

But, yeah, every other stint and every other set of tires I felt like we were fine. Not sure if we made a bad adjustment or bad set of tires, whatever it was. But yeah, once the next tires came on, I drove out of the pits and I'm back on again. Away we went.

Q. I have two quick questions for you: First off, with the advantage that you had crossing the finish line, had you already made it back to the garage before everyone else finished?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I sort of was watching the big screen trying to see how Ross was going. I saw most of the last stint there. I focused on them. I was just hoping Ross went through.

As I was going through NASCAR one and two, I saw smoke and cars spinning and wondered what was going on. So I was a bit of a race fan for the last ten laps or so trying to see what was happening on the big screen. That took my mind, hoping a caution wasn't going to come out. I was trying to just watch the race.

Q. Then on an actual serious note, I asked Justin about kind of like benchmarks for you after Richmond, New Hampshire, last week at Kansas. He said it's not a benchmark situation anymore. It's more of just he believes you'll be very dangerous as long as you keep immersing yourself with Stephen, with film study, all that different stuff. So where does that process go from here heading towards the end of the season and into the offseason?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I think it's still just time. I feel like every race weekend I'm learning something. Even on a road course. These next few weeks are a contrast of tracks. All three tracks are very different from each other.

That's the hard part where you've got to transition from the mile and a half to the short track or superspeedway. It's going to be a pretty crazy finish to the year. But, yeah, I need to be better at all disciplines of what NASCAR Cup racing is. That will help us do better in the playoffs next year.

Yeah, I really think we are getting a lot better, but we needed to execute, and we didn't in the playoffs, but yeah, I think my learning curve is still pretty steep. I feel like as a driver I'm getting more comfortable and understanding the car dynamics, the setup every week. Yeah, I feel like I'm always learning.

So, yeah, as long as that doesn't stop, I'll keep getting better.

Q. Shane, the race wasn't easy. You talked about that in one of your other answers. How important is it to you to have a little adversity like that so that you have to kind of learn things about racing these other guys like Kyle and Christopher, and does that apply -- does that kind of adversity apply to when you go to an oval and try to run closer to the front?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I always enjoy a battle, but you also want to win by half a minute as well, you know, but yeah, I was having fun in that battle. Especially it was frustrating at the start of the last stage when they passed me, but it's still enjoyable.

Then trying to understand how to be better and I was trying to study them, see what they were doing better to me, so yeah, battling like that is a lot of fun, but you also want to win easily too.

Q. A lot of times when we all post these stories online here, there, and everywhere, we get a lot of comments and remarks from your fans around the world, fans down in New Zealand and Australia. Do you pay attention to any of that in your perusal of social media or of the internet? What do you think about all of that?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, of course. It's amazing. The support, as I say, like how much people follow me over here and watch every Monday, it is there. It's amazing the comments and support I get. Even when I've had a bad weekend, the messages are pretty cool.

Yeah, I love how much people are following NASCAR now, and also it's all kinds of disciplines around the world in motorsport. The Kiwis seem to support anyone who goes overseas.

Yeah, hopefully I'm doing a good job representing the country. And it's amazing how many people in the stands and go to the merch signings that are from Australia and New Zealand coming to watch races. Pretty cool to have them here.

Q. When you were racing Larson, and Larson said for a bit there he thought maybe he was going to get it, what did he do right? How was it racing him? How difficult was he to race? What did he do right? It was a little aggressive there.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I think he was just really strong at the start, and the 20 was as well. Maybe my car was just weak. You know, I struggled and then I think it was A.J. in the 16 started attacking me. I think we were just weak at that stage.

Yeah, they do very well. You can see when you drive them, they have good awareness, good car placement. Yeah, they're exceptional race drivers. They're really sharp people.

Then I guess when I got to them at the end there, he kind of gave up and just said, all right, it's time to go. Then they came out with another strategy just in case the yellow come out.

Yeah, the races here are -- yeah, there's always something happening. But I like racing the top guys here. They're very, very good.

Q. So when you lost the lead and he was thinking, maybe I have a chance, was there a moment you thought maybe I'm not going to get this? Or were you like, hey, I got it, just got to be patient?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I said that the other day, those two were going to be the fastest guys. When they drove away from me at the start of that stage, I thought it's just like last year when I lost the lead. The 20 and 5 drove away into the sunset.

Yeah, it was a cool feeling when I matched them at the end. As soon as I got the second set of tires on in that last stage I was, like, okay, there was something wrong in the last one. Just drove back to them, which was a pretty cool feeling as well.

Q. As you were talking about the different tracks that are coming up and gaining ground, what track do you feel like style-wise that you are gaining ground on... short track, intermediate, superspeedway? Then, also, your critique of this year expectations, the good, the bad?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Oh, yeah, I think all tracks are difficult. Like Vegas next week going there and having to hold it wide open at 320 and 190, probably, whatever miles that is, it's a crazy feeling and something I'm not comfortable with. It's so fast when you hook into those corners there.

Then when you do it in the race around other cars, that's where I'm learning trying to get comfortable, know where to place the car in the air and try and understand what's happening. It's just taking time.

Martinsville, the short tracks, they're getting better for me, and finally starting to get results at them too. Martinsville, I think I did a decent result last year, and hopefully we just build on that. We had a bit of a shocker at the start of the year with wheels falling off literally, so hopefully we can be better.

Q. (Off microphone.)

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I think it's two sort of stories. The road courses obviously have been amazing, and then the ovals -- I started the year in the 30s, genuinely, which is very average, but I feel like we've grounded out, and yeah, now we're a 15th to 10th place car on most weeks.

Yeah, I think how much better we've gotten is, yeah, a pretty awesome feeling, but certainly those first ten weeks of the year was eye-opening, yeah.

Q. Shane, what does it mean to you to be in the company -- after winning five straight road course races, what does it mean to you? How do you absorb the fact that you are in the same company as Jeff Gordon and other NASCAR legends like that?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I never care about that stuff, to be honest. It might be a weird thing to say, but yeah, I just try and do my best. But yeah, when I retire, I guess I'll look at that stuff and be pretty stoked, but at the moment I just want to keep doing the best I can and try and add to that stuff.

Q. What exactly was the problem you felt with your tire, because Steve said he wasn't concerned about it, but what did it feel like to you there?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I just felt like I had no grip. I turned the wheel, and it's just lazy, and the front tires wouldn't bite. Then out of seven I was just slipping the tire, and it was a high tire wear track. As soon as you started slipping, it would just be a losing battle. Your tires would just drop off.

Right from the first lap I couldn't get the tires to grip up. So, yeah, I just don't understand. Then on that first lap out, as I said, the car was back on rails. Something definitely was different and put us back a bit.

Q. The tires this weekend, obviously it threw everything for a loop yesterday with just how much slower it was compared to last year and then the fall-off on top of that. What was your perspective? How much did that change what you had to do behind the wheel?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, it was a bit of a shock. I think our outright pace was two seconds slower than last year, and then you would fall off another four seconds off what we did last year. That was a big surprise.

I don't think anyone expected that. Yeah, as a driver, you want to be flat-out the whole time and pushing hard, but also, those races create mixed strategies and different pit cycles and stuff.

Probably more interesting as a fan and seeing people come and go and a lot more passing. Yeah, I'm all for whatever makes better racing. It's frustrating having to drive and save the tire the whole time, but if it makes good racing, I'm all for that.