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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShane van Gisbergen celebrates winning at Sonoma. Image: Daylon Barr \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShane van Gisbergen celebrates winning at Sonoma. Image: Daylon Barr \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n
Van Gisbergen has been a force on road courses, winning five of the six this year in a record-breaking rookie season with Trackhouse Racing.<\/p>\n
While van Gisbergen made the switch from Supercars to NASCAR full-time, several NASCAR drivers have been linked to Supercars cameos.<\/p>\n
Kyle Busch<\/a>, Kyle Larson<\/a>, and Connor Zilisch<\/a> have all been courted, though Cindric is the first to make a deal come to fruition for the Adelaide Grand Final.<\/p>\n Cindric, who drives for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series, will drive a Tickford Racing-prepared Ford Mustang at Adelaide on November 27-30.<\/p>\n Asked by Speedcafe about the uptick in interest from NASCAR drivers to compete in Supercars, Cindric said it\u2019s hard not to pay attention to the Australian category.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the fact that he\u2019s kicking everybody\u2019s ass on road courses makes them more aware of Supercars. That\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d Cindric said.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I\u2019ve been aware of the championship my whole life and been a big fan, but as far as within our industry, I think you take an awareness any time you\u2019re getting beat.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way NASCAR works, until you get beat, you don\u2019t change your ways, and then you change your ways when you start getting beat.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bit reactionary in that sense, but I\u2019ve wanted to do this for a long time and it\u2019s cool that it\u2019s worked out that way.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I\u2019ve said in the past, the series, the categories, the philosophies of the championships have never been more aligned than they are now.\u201d<\/p>\n Austin Cindric reacts to \u2018really weird\u2019 first Supercars laps<\/a><\/p>\n Van Gisbergen is among a throng of drivers eager to help Cindric get up to speed as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n Cindric said his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin has also been ultra enthusiastic about the wildcard.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s texted me every day,\u201d said Cindric of McLaughlin.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s excited about this as much as I am. He\u2019s been really cool. I\u2019ve quizzed him a ton on Adelaide and what it takes to get around that track. Looking forward to applying it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018Man, I\u2019m going to stay up, I\u2019m going to watch the race. Text me after every session. If they let you, send me data, I want to help as much as I can\u2019. That\u2019s been really cool.<\/p>\n \u201cScott\u2019s a great teammate. He\u2019s a great mate. He\u2019s a good dude and loves the sport anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cI was probably going to reach out to Shane after I drove the car and understand what I\u2019m in for for the racetrack,\u201d Cindric added.<\/p>\n \u201cI think learning the car is the first piece, but what\u2019s going to be really challenging is having a 30-minute session and going straight into qualifying on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cLearning the racetrack is going to be my biggest challenge to whether or not if I\u2019m as competitive as I want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Cindric with Tickford team manager Matt Roberts. Image: InSyde Media<\/p>\n As for whether more NASCAR drivers might look to make the jump, Cindric said a lot has to align to make it happen.<\/p>\n Cindric\u2019s program is a collaboration between Supercars and the South Australian Motor Sport Board as well as Tickford Racing and partners Repco, Armor All and Ford.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old said the time to commit himself fully is potentially prohibitive to other NASCAR drivers.<\/p>\n Cindric arrived in Australia on Friday, November 14 and will stay at least until December 1.<\/p>\n \u201cI think where this becomes difficult for my peers is the commitment it would take to do it correctly,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here for three weeks and that\u2019s half of my off-season. A lot of guys that I race against have families, have been on the road for a long time, and are probably in the middle of their career.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, I\u2019m hardcore into racing and I want to do this and I\u2019m glad that I\u2019m here.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t think of a better way to spend my off-season than three weeks Down Under learning how to drive another race car.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully it can springboard some of those things. I\u2019d love to see other guys come over and try it and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n The timing of Cindric\u2019s wildcard also coincides with Thanksgiving, a public holiday in the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that could be a factor for sure,\u201d said Cindric.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t think of a time that I\u2019ve ever not had Thanksgiving with my parents, so with our family \u2013 not that that was really a deterrent.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the Cup Series, you have a wide range of drivers that are just in their early 20s to getting into their 40s who\u2019ve been doing it for 20 years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe priorities of my competitors are very wide ranging toward just sitting here and saying to generalise, if I come out here and do well, they\u2019re all going to kind of want to come do this.<\/p>\n \u201cI think all of them might want to vacation to Australia if they could and go try something new, but as you all know there is a lot that goes into making something like this happen with teams and partners and sponsorship and manufacturers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes an entire army.\u201d<\/p>\n For more of the latest NASCAR news stories, visit MotorRacing.com<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Austin-Cindric-Sandown.jpg\")
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