Trackhouse Confirms Shane van Gisbergen’s Daytona “Practice” Ahead of His Xfinity Debut

When Shane van Gisbergen burst onto the scene in NASCAR at the Chicago street race last year, it was one of the biggest stories of the year. His debut in the 2024 Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing will perhaps have the same potential. But before the Kiwi gets into the thick of NASCAR, he will take part in the ARCA Menards Series race at Daytona.

SVG will race full-time in the Cup Series starting from the 2025 season with Trackhouse Racing. This year in the division below with Kaulig, the Supercars champion will look to gain experience in American stock car racing. The Kiwi will drive the #97 car for the team with Josh Williams and AJ Allmendinger as his teammates.

Shane van Gisbergen has no choice but to take part in ARCA race

As per Trackhouse Racing’s president Ty Norris, the 34-year-old must take part in the ARCA Menards Series race on February 17 to attain approval for the Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway. Norris also mentioned that once the New Zealander was approved at Daytona, he would be approved at any track.

“We’re in the process of getting [van Gisbergen] in the ARCA race for Daytona,” Norris said as per Jayski. “There’s a [pre-race practice] in January and the Xfinity Series has a pretty lengthy practice, so there’s a lot of opportunities to be observed. That’ll lead to an approval for Daytona and once he’s approved at Daytona, we’ll be able to go to any track on the circuit.”

Shave van Gisbergen will be racing for the Pinnacle Racing Group and he will be driving the #28 car. The ARCA Menards Series can be extremely competitive and it will be interesting to see how the Supercars champion deals with the race. It will give fans an insight into the 34-year-old’s racing style in stock cars on ovals.

Yet, the development does not come as a surprise. Eminent motorsports journalist Bob Pockrass expressed his surprise at NASCAR requiring Shane van Gisbergen to run the ARCA race to get his Xfinity Series race approval instead of having him drive in the practice sessions.

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Motorsports is tiring, there’s no two ways about it. Drivers are usually left exhausted after races. For someone to do two races on the same day is taxing to a different level. Unfortunately, that is how Shane van Gisbergen’s full-time journey in NASCAR will begin. The organizers had made it clear that the Kiwi was required to take part in the ARCA race earlier in the day to get approval for the Xfinity Series race afterward on the same day.

Bob Pockrass was not quite on board with this decision. As per the eminent journalist, the Kiwi could have been given another practice session and a test session for the ARCA race ahead of his Xfinity Series debut.

“I am a little surprised considering races are same day but NASCAR will require Shane van Gisbergen to do the ARCA race at Daytona in order to do Xfinity race. Gives him another practice (and also could do the testing for ARCA) and a race,” he had tweeted in December.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how SVG deals with this stern challenge. It might be his first day as a full-timer in NASCAR but his skills and resolve will be tested to the maximum.

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