NASCAR Cup Series racing is a different ballgame compared to other motorsport events and leagues. One of the biggest differentiators for NASCAR races is how widespread and challenging the travel is for teams and drivers. One week you are in Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and next week you find yourself in Charlotte. The entire team, along with the cars in their haulers, travels from one state to another in fractions of days.
Evidently, a race car driver coming from a foreign country to the United States has to deal with the demanding schedule of traveling. And, even for someone experienced like Shane van Gisbergen, the reality of demanding travel takes time to get used to. SVG who has seen his fair share of racing travels back in Australia, underlined some of the key differences and how he’s getting the hang of it.
Shane van Gisbergen compares NASCAR and Supercar travel week
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The Kiwi speedster is just getting used to his new life in the United States after his surprise move to feature full-time in the Xfinity Series. Racing under the Kaulig Racing banner in partnership with Trackhouse Racing, the three-time Supercars champion is not too fazed by the challenge of moving across the country, catering to a hectic travel schedule, and at the same time delivering on the race track.
Speaking in a pre-race press conference, Van Gisbergen stated, “I guess the distance is pretty similar to Australia, the countryside but it’s just every week and weeks are a lot shorter here. We would normally fly out to a race on Tuesday or Wednesday and not come till Monday. So it was quite weird flying out Friday morning, and then I was home the next night after my race.
“The weekends are so condensed, and then during the weeks you have one or two days debriefing, thinking about it, and then instantly you are thinking about the next race. The routine of it is very different, but it’s something that I’m enjoying. You’re constantly thinking about the race cars, and it’s pretty cool so far.”
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Most of the drivers have been throwing fits for not liking to race at the newly paved Atlanta track. However, for Shane Van Gisbergen, it was a rather enjoyable experience at the track.
For him, Atlanta is more enjoyable than Daytona
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There were early scares for the Kiwi Speedster during his ARCA feature at Daytona International Speedway. But given his experience and racing craft, the driver has managed to bounce back in style. 12th at Daytona and a top-five finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway, SVG is truly showing signs of improvement and quickly learning his trade of racing on different tracks and venues.
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Speaking about his past two races, Shane van Gisbergen added, “I enjoyed Atlanta a lot more than Daytona. You had to pedal it a it more and search for the air to try and get the car to handle, so I enjoyed that. I enjoyed qualifying at Atlanta, having not seen the track before, having a go down a wide open, I kept it flat but you know it was on the edge and I was hanging on pretty tight.”
With two superspeedway package races out of the way, SVG will get a chance to express himself more on tracks such as Vegas. It will be interesting to see if he manages to keep up his good performance going into the third race of the Xfinity Series season.