{"id":623016,"date":"2026-04-22T06:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/623016\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T06:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:58:19","slug":"shane-van-gisbergen-nascar-cup-series-talladega-superspeedway-preview-spring-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/623016\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane van Gisbergen NASCAR Cup Series Talladega Superspeedway Preview Spring 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SHANE van Gisbergen will be looking to steady the ship in the NASCAR Cup Series, although a wildcard will be thrown into the mix with the Talladega Superspeedway, where any outcome is on the table.<\/p>\n<p>After nine races contested, van Gisbergen has slipped outside of the all-important top 16, which would lock him into the post-season Chase.<\/p>\n<p>The last two races at Bristol and Kansas have netted results of 34th and 36th, respectively, which have seen the #97 Chevrolet drop to 18th in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Returning to the colours of WeatherTech for this weekend, the three-time Bathurst 1000 champion is looking for a solid result to get back on track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes and no,\u201d van Gisbergen said when asked if he looking forward to Talladega.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI enjoy that kind of racing, until it goes wrong! It will be interesting to see what the new strategy does and how that works. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been studying this week. I feel like that type of racing I\u2019m getting better at too. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got some things in the works to try to make our cars quicker. We normally qualify in the 30s, so hopefully we see a step up there on Saturday. That will mean we have a faster car and it\u2019s easier to make moves. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like we are a bit hamstrung there so hopefully we are a bit quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/superstore.v8sleuth.com.au\/products\/v8-sleuth-magazine-issue-3?utm_source=SRBuyButton&amp;utm_medium=website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/v8sleuth-mag-issue3_1024x1024.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Talladega is one of the rare venues where van Gisbergen has made four previous Cup Series starts.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024 for Kaulig Racing, he finished 28th and 11th, while last year for Trackhouse, he claimed 29th and 11th.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, his Kaulig qualifying pace was staunch \u2013 driving the #16, he started 17th for both races, while last year in the #88, the Kiwi started 36th and 31st.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, from the two races in 2024, he led a combined 12 laps.<\/p>\n<p>From his pair of O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at the venue, he netted results of 22nd and 35th, with the latter crash affected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe superspeedway racing, I feel like I\u2019ve gotten better at, but my results aren\u2019t great yet,\u201d van Gisbergen added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to finish these races. There is so much unpredictability, but you still see those guys that are there every time and put their selves in good places. I\u2019m getting better at it, just need to keep getting those finishes and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This weekend, aside from qualifying, no practice will be held for the Cup Series.<\/p>\n<p>RAW: 2001 BOC Gases Australian Super Touring finale at Oran Park, Race 1 highlights<\/p>\n<p>No commentary, just engine sounds and atmosphere!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SHANE van Gisbergen will be looking to steady the ship in the NASCAR Cup Series, although a wildcard&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-623016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}