Shane van Gisbergen wasn’t in victory lane after his second NASCAR Cup Series start in Indianapolis, but he left the Brickyard pleased as a top 10 finisher.
“I guess everyone’s expectations are high because of Chicago, but the top-10 is still awesome,” van Gisbergen said. “Just had a ball with the PROJECT91 guys all week, and Enhance Health coming onboard – they were excited to be on board the Chevy. Just had a ball.
“The race was pretty tough; a lot more contact and pushing around and stuff. I got pushed out of the way by Alex Bowman, but I blocked him, and then he pushed me straight away. Hey, learned pretty quick not to block that early. It’s all part of it. I was enjoying it the whole time.”
The Kiwi started eighth and was a consistent top-10 contender throughout the afternoon. The race had just one natural caution, so van Gisbergen got experience running a race with a long green flag run.
“Just a different type of pace,” he said of what happened Sunday compared to an Australian Supercars event. “Here it’s very intense the way you have to drive the car, and V8s at the moment — you’re driving very slowly and delicately. These things you have to hustle the whole time. It’s really fun.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
Another new experience for van Gisbergen was the start of the race being double file as well as a double file restart after the first caution. In Chicago, NASCAR ran single-file because of the rain.
“It was pretty good; everyone was a lot more aggressive than Chicago, but I expected that,” he said. “It wasn’t bad stuff or overly aggressive, it’s just how the racing is that I expected. Everyone was fair. It was all good.”
Van Gisbergen puts Indianapolis in the rearview mirror plenty satisfied after running two races. Friday night, he couldn’t contain his excitement while competing in his first NASCAR oval race in the Craftsman Truck Series before capping it off Sunday on the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I had a smile on my face all weekend,” van Gisbergen said. “The truck race was fun, constantly learning and getting better and better all week. And understanding the lingo and stop saying understeer and oversteer; it’s loose and tight. It’s been fun.”
On the continued wait on his future plans in NASCAR, van Gisbergen said things progressed over the weekend.
“We’re closer, but I haven’t closed anything out,” he said. “I really have to sort Australia first — that’s looking promising — and then coming up with something here and hopefully move over soon.”