NASCAR star compares series to 'driving a forklift'

Shane van Gisbergen has provided a rather unusual explanation for his dream start to life racing in the NASCAR Cup series.

Van Gisbergen became the first driver for 60 years to win on his Cup series debut, when he claimed victory at the inaugural event at the Chicago Street Course in 2023.

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That stunning achievement was backed up by being confirmed as a more regular part of the motorsport series, as well as back-to-back wins in the NASCAR Xfinitiy series earlier in 2024.

Van Gisbergen is a highly experienced racer, having won Supercars championships in 2016, 2021, and 2022. Now, however, he has admitted a steep learning curve in the jump up to NASCAR.

Van Gisbergen's dream NASCAR debut

The New Zealander has revealed some of his initial thoughts on the series, and compared it to a much slower mode of transport.

"Sometimes it feels like you're driving a forklift," he told ESPN.

"I had the perfect opportunity to come in and be on a reasonably equal playing field at Chicago, since street circuits are sort of my deal.

"America's a massive place, and there are so many young, talented drivers coming through. It's hard for people to come over here and break into it, so I'm pretty lucky.

"[I've learned] a huge amount of things, like just how funky the Xfinity car is to drive," he continued. "The biggest thing is that the Cup car, it feels like a race car. It feels like every other car I've driven around the world, with the aero and the rear end. It's a huge evolution of a NASCAR, I guess, to go the whole different route that they have. Even on the oval, it kind of feels like a normal car.

"Whereas the Xfinity car, it's only specific to oval racing, basically. The style of car that has been designed and developed for years, that NASCAR type of stock car. The rear end is really, really interesting, how it moves around. I've never driven a car like that."

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