{"id":737259,"date":"2026-06-15T03:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T03:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737259\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T03:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T03:15:23","slug":"nascar-news-shane-van-gisbergens-first-in-season-challenge-opponent-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737259\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR news: Shane van Gisbergen\u2019s first In-Season Challenge opponent revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Van
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShane van Gisbergen in the #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro at Michigan.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\"\"\/
<\/a><\/p>\n

The bracket-based competition pits the top 32 drivers against each other in a five-race swing as part of TNT Sports\u2019 broadcast deal.<\/p>\n

The In-Season Challenge is NASCAR\u2019s race within a race, adding another element to the Cup Series for fans to keep tabs on.<\/p>\n

The goal is simple \u2013 finish ahead of your rival and progress to the next round until only two drivers are left.<\/p>\n

The winner will be decided at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the highest-placed of the two remaining drivers will earn $1 million USD ($1.42 million AUD).<\/p>\n

Van Gisbergen is something of a dark horse coming into the In-Season Challenge for the first time.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s almost a lock to win the first round at Sonoma but faces a tricky assignment at Chicagoland where he has never raced before.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the 2026 NTI Townsville 500 are on sale now. Secure your spot today.
\n Buy tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

Assuming he defeats Preece in the first round, he will go head-to-head with either Team Penske\u2019s Ryan Blaney or Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry.<\/p>\n

Blaney is undoubtedly the short-priced favourite over Berry.<\/p>\n

After visiting Chicagoland, stock car racing\u2019s premier series will head to Atlanta, then North Wilkesboro, and finally Indianapolis for the decider.<\/p>\n

Chicagoland is arguably the toughest track for van Gisbergen on the schedule given his inexperience, though intermediate ovals have been a strong suit for SVG.<\/p>\n

Atlanta is another speedway where van Gisbergen has gone well too, so a run deep into the challenge isn\u2019t out of the question.<\/p>\n

Before the In-Season Challenge begins, the NASCAR Cup Series will head to San Diego for the Anduril 250 Race the Base at the Coronado Naval Base.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge bracket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane van Gisbergen in the #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro at Michigan. The bracket-based competition pits the top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,9909,9910,85],"class_list":["post-737259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-shane-van-gisbergen","tag-slot2","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737259","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=737259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}