Trackhouse Racing and Kaulig Racing have joined forces to give Shane van Gisbergen a full slate of races in NASCAR in 2024.
The teams came together Wednesday to announce that van Gisbergen will compete fulltime in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024. They also revealed that van Gisbergen will be entered in seven Cup Series races under the partnership.
Kaulig Racing will field the No. 97 Chevrolet full-time entry for the 34-year-old New Zealander known as “SVG.” Trackhouse signed the New Zealand native and Australian Supercars Champion to start his fulltime NASCAR career last September.
Primary sponsorship for 17 of van Gisbergen’s Xfinity races will come from WeatherTech; the company recently extended its entitlement sponsorship deal with the IMSA sports-car series through the 2030 season. It was also announced that WeatherTech will be the primary sponsor for Zane Smith for the Daytona 500 in the No. 71 Chevrolet fielded by Spire Motorsports and for four of van Gisbergen’s Cup races (Circuit of The Americas, Charlotte, Watkins Glen, fall Talladega).
The seven Cup races for van Gisbergen in 2024 include COTA, both Talladega Superspeedway races, Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600, the Chicago Street Race, Watkins Glen International and the October race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Trackhouse founder Justin Marks said in September after the signing that van Gisbergen’s 2024 itinerary would be a curated combination of events from all three of NASCAR’s national series. With a full Xfinity Series schedule ahead of him, SVG will be entered in 33 races — including superspeedways, intermediate-sized layouts, short tracks and road courses.
Van Gisbergen was recruited for stock-car racing in the United States last year by Marks through his Trackhouse Project 91 initiative. SVG helped that part-time program — designed to showcase international racing stars — to break through in its second year of operation, wowing the Cup Series regulars with a victory at the inaugural Chicago Street Race.
At Kaulig, van Gisbergen will partner with Xfinity Series teammates AJ Allmendinger, who stays with the organization but shifts from the Cup series, and newcomer Josh Williams.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.