SHANE van Gisbergen will partner with NASCAR’s wild child, Carson Hocevar, plus former Cup Series champion Chase Elliot for Spire Motorsports in this weekend’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The start in the #71 Silverado will be backed by NationsGuard, with the highly experienced Kevin Manion calling the shots.

The drive for Spire Motorsports will be the Kiwi’s third Truck Series appearance this season.

SVG’s first start came at the Watkins Glen road course, where, after a troubled run stormed home to finish third for Niece Motorsports.

His next outing at Charlotte came with Spire, with SVG putting in a spirited drive that featured a spin, then front-running pace, ultimately placing 15th.

That weekend, van Gisbergen was originally slated to partner Kyle Busch in the Spire stable, who sadly passed away on the eve of the race weekend.

Outside his Truck Starts, he also has three second-tier O’Reilly Series starts under his belt in 2026, which have netted two wins.

This weekend, the Cup Series returns to North Wilkesboro Speedway for its first points-paying race in three decades.

Van Gisbergen has one previous visit to the short oval, where last year at the All-Star Open, he qualified on pole position and led the opening 54 laps before drifting back to finish 13th.

Yesterday, van Gisbergen was highly impressive, finishing sixth at Atlanta, which has seen him hold on to 15th in the standings.

Hocevar, meanwhile, finished third and holds down eighth in the standings in a breakout season that has seen ‘the Hurricane’ claim his maiden Cup Series win at Talladega.

Elliot, the 2020 Cup Series champion, has two Cup wins to his credit this year and currently sits fifth in the points.

Another Cup Series ring-in for the race will be Christopher Bell, who finished second yesterday.

The Undercut – How hot is too hot?

The Undercut is back for another week, downloading a hot weekend in the Top End for Supercars!