NASCAR: Shane van Gisbergen to Drive No. 41 Truck at IRP

Shane van Gisbergen will drive the No. 41 Worldwide Express Chevy Truck for Niece Motorsports at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) on Aug. 11.

The 200-lap truck race on IRP’s 0.686-mile track will be the 34-year-old Auckland, New Zealander’s first NASCAR oval experience and it kicks off a busy weekend for van Gisbergen in the Hoosier state. He will return to the Cup Series Sunday, Aug. 13 on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to drive the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the Trackhouse Racing team’s PROJECT91 program. Van Gisbergen’s Cup series sponsors, Enhance Health and Quad Lock will also carry associate positions on the No. 41 Chevrolet truck.

“The weekend will certainly be a challenge,” said van Gisbergen. “I’ve seen the trucks race on television and know it’s very competitive and that I’ll have a lot to learn on a short track at IRP. I’m used to doing doubleheaders in Supercars, but this will be a little bit different. I’m honored to join Niece Motorsports and thrilled at getting a chance to climb in a truck.”

Van Gisbergen is joining the successful Niece team whose 20-year-old driver Carson Hocevar became the first truck series driver to win three races this season when he won the Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway on July 29. It marked the seventh win for Niece Motorsports.

“We are so excited and so honored to have Shane drive for us at IRP,” said Niece Motorsports General Manager Cody Efaw. “He’s a legend in Australia and New Zealand, but what he did at Chicago has everyone in America talking about his talent. We will help him experience oval racing and I am guessing we will learn a lot from him as well.”

What van Gisbergen did at the inaugural Chicago Street race on July 2 is one of the highlights of the 2023 NASCAR season. Following a pit stop under caution, which came after NASCAR shortened the race from 100 to 75 laps due to looming darkness, van Gisbergen restarted 18th in his No. 91 Chevrolet. He drove to the front and made an overtime pass on a damp track to seal the victory.

He became one of six foreign born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start. It was just the latest entry in a resume that includes Supercars Championships for Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, 2021 and 2022, plus 79 wins and 48 pole positions making him the fourth most successful driver in series history. He also won the Bathurst 1000 in 2020 and 2022.

IRP is a multipurpose auto racing facility that includes the 30,000-seat oval along with a 2.5-mile road course and a drag strip where the NHRA has held its US Nationals since 1961. The track is seven miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Van Gisbergen will practice and qualify Friday afternoon at IRP with FS1 televising the truck race at 9 p.m. EDT.

He will practice and qualify at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Saturday and NBC will televise Sunday’s race on the road course at 2:30 p.m. EDT.