NEWTON, Iowa – As Shane van Gisbergen won in his NASCAR Cup Series debut on the streets of Chicago, fellow three-time Australian Supercars champion and New Zealand native Scott McLaughlin was choking back the tears.
Aside from their very similar backgrounds, no one can relate more to van Gisbergen’s long journey from Down Under to the checkered flag in a major U.S. auto racing series than McLaughlin, a three-time NTT IndyCar Series winner whose debut victory came in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to open the 2022 season.
“I was welling up a little bit when Shane crossed the line,” McLaughlin told NBC Sports of watching the Chicago race at home in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It was just amazing. I just knew how big that moment is, because I felt that at St. Pete and winning at other places. It’s just a different feeling winning here than anywhere else. Because you know how hard you’ve got to work for that. It was amazing. It was awesome.
“It was going from three years ago, me and Shane were racing door to door in Australia. No one really knew who we were in America. Now we’ve both thankfully won in America. It’s pretty crazy. I’ve been pushing him. I really hope he comes to America, because I just think it’s so much bigger than over there.”
McLaughlin said a Supercars TV audience of more than a half-million is considered “fantastic.” Nearly 5 million people watched July 2 on NBC as van Gisbergen won the first street race in NASCAR Cup Series history.
“People just don’t understand until they get here how big it is,” McLaughlin said Friday during an interview before IndyCar practice at Iowa Speedway. “Then to do what he did is so significant. And I knew how big it is for his career. I felt very similar to how it felt for me at St. Pete. It just changed the game. You just know how that feels. It was just so cool. Genuinely from a racer to a racer, it’s just very exciting.”
Cheers brother holy cow @shanevg97 pic.twitter.com/tEUAcuyiYs
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) July 3, 2023
Trackhouse Racing recently announced a second Cup start for van Gisbergen, who will race the Project 91 Chevrolet in the Aug. 13 race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (a day after McLaughlin and IndyCar drivers race on the same track).
He will be joined by another Supercars driver as Brodie Kostecki makes his Cup debut for Richard Childress Racing as a teammate to Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon.
The Supercars migration has been surreal for McLaughlin, who competes against Kostecki in iRacing endurance races and hung out with him at the Indy 500 last year.
“It’s crazy, really that on doubleheader weekend, there’s going to be three of us there,” McLaughlin said. “It’s going to be interesting how they go. Especially I think because it was like a perfect storm for Shane at Chicago with being a street track and it rained. Now going to where a lot of NASCAR drivers have raced before and know their setups, it’s going to be very interesting how those two adapt. But I think there’ll be no dramas.”
Unless perhaps van Gisbergen remains unbeaten in NASCAR’s premier series – which a two-time Cup champion thinks could happen.
Kyle Busch told reporters Friday at Pocono Raceway that van Gisbergen “is the favorite going in for sure ” at the IMS road course event.
“I would say that the gap will be closer to the rest of the field that he had (at Chicago),” Busch said. “He had us all beat by 6 to 8 tenths of a second a lap. I would say going into Indy we should all be within two to three tenths, but he will still be the best guy.”
Another win certainly would open more doors in NASCAR for van Gisbergen, whose IMS race was a recent addition (after Trackhouse co-owner Justin Marks said after the Chicago win that there were no other events scheduled).
“I think a lot of this has been on the fly,” McLaughlin said of van Gisbergen’s NASCAR progression. “And I think Justin’s an amazing person for doing this for the sport and for motorsports in general, especially in America.
“I was texting with Justin over the Chicago weekend just saying, ‘Watch this, he’s a wheelman. He’s a wheelman.’ It’s exciting for them. And it’s just very much one of those things where it’s just going to evolve over time with results and support. I think he’s just going to get bigger and bigger.”
Though his Supercars contract runs through next year, van Gisbergen reportedly would be allowed to leave in 2024.
McLaughlin, who left Supercars after the 2020 season to race full time in IndyCar, believes van Gisbergen is “very interested” in trying NASCAR
“I think he’s got nothing left to prove there, very similar to the position I was back in the day,” McLaughlin said. “It’s just a whole bigger world outside of that. I think Shane can be really awesome with it.
“He’s a world-class racer. Very, very good. Very analytical. Very smart. I think it wouldn’t take him long. It would take some time to get used to the ovals and stuff, but I have no doubt in my mind that if there’s anyone that could do it, he could easily transition (to NASCAR).
“He’s won two Bathursts, three championships, 78 race wins. He’s done. He’s got to go. Unless he wants to just smash every record up there, which he will do if he stays. I think he’s in the same position as me. He could easily make a lot of money over there racing into his mid-40s, close to 50, but the next thing is competitively, do you want a challenge? That’s where I was.”
Just a couple of kiwis in Charlotte. Go well this weekend bro 🇳🇿 @shanevg97 pic.twitter.com/OtRvlDYn2n
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) June 29, 2023
Would van Gibsbergen take a full-time Cup ride if available next year?
“I know Shane,” McLaughlin said. “I don’t know what his process would be, whether he’d just jump straight into Cup, or whether he’d do other stuff to get ready for 2025. I don’t know. I know Shane is very focused, and he doesn’t want to just do this half-assed. So if he does come over, he’s going to want to do it very properly.”
McLaughlin is sure of one thing: You won’t see a third Supercars veteran in the Cup race at Indy – though he recently lobbied team owner Roger Penske about adding a fourth car for the race as a teammate to Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric (who intimated after the Chicago race that McLaughlin could duplicate van Gisbergen’s feat).
“It was funny at Mid-Ohio, I saw (Penske) on the grid, and I was like, ‘Yeah, come on man! Put me in coach!” McLaughlin said with a laugh. “But I’m very happy where I’m at, and I don’t want to distract what I’m doing here in IndyCar. And ultimately, if I do anything during the season, it’s probably going to distract from (IndyCar).
“I think I’m just very focused on what I’m doing here. If anything evolves, I wouldn’t say no, because it would be an amazing opportunity, but I’m not really stressed about it at the same time. Because I’m very happy trying to be successful in IndyCar.
Love my chats with the captain @Team_Penske pic.twitter.com/O0q8jOWVl5
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) July 3, 2023
“The whole reason I went to IndyCar was it was a new challenge, very different to what I’ve ever done, and I’ve really enjoyed that. There’s no reason for me to go, ‘Oh my God, just because Shane’s gone, well, I need to jump into NASCAR.’ Yes, it would be cool just to try it. Even if Shane hadn’t come over, I’d love to just try it. But so would Josef (Newgarden), so would Will (Power).”
Just like his Penske teammates, McLaughlin would like to win an Indy 500 and IndyCar title before trying NASCAR.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I’m a long way away from being able to demand anything like that. And I’m very happy where I’m at.”