DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: Trackhouse Racing officially announced on Saturday at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway that Shane van Gisbergen will be elevated to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2025 beginning with next February‘s Daytona 500.
Van Gisbergen will drive a third full-time NASCAR Cup Series entry, fielding the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE alongside Ross Chastain (No. 1 Chevrolet) and Daniel Suarez (No. 99 Chevrolet). The team is expected to acquire one of Stewart-Haas Racing charters who is shuttering its four-car Cup team at the end of the season.
The No. 88 car number has been driven to Victory Lane 76 times in NASCAR history by legends including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Donnie Allison, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Buddy Baker and others.
“This is what I have planned for and I am ready,” said the 35-year-old Auckland, New Zealand native.
“I know there is a tough learning curve ahead, but the best way to learn is to go out and do it. I feel I have made progress running the Xfinity Series this year with Kaulig Racing and I can’t thank everyone there enough. I look forward to the Cup Series. Those drivers and teams are the best in the world and it will be an honor to be part of their races.”
Stephen Doran, 38, will serve as the No. 88 crew chief in 2025. Doran is in his first year as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief, working with driver Zane Smith on the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. The Butler, Pennsylvania native began his NASCAR career in 2006 at Petty Enterprises and worked as Kevin Harvick’s lead engineer at Stewart-Haas Racing from 2014 to 2023.
Trackhouse Racing will announce the No. 88’s sponsors in the upcoming weeks.
On Friday, the Concord, N.C.-based organization announced that the 35-year-old driver will add two additional Cup Series races to his 2004, driving a Kaulig Racing entry at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, respectively.
Van Gisbergen is a graduate of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 initiative.
Though popular around the world, he was little known to most of the NASCAR audience despite a resume that includes Supercars Championships for Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, 2021, and 2022, plus 78 wins and 47 pole positions, making him the fourth most successful driver in series history. He also won the Bathurst 1000 in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
The NASCAR world took notice at Chicago in 2023 when he led nine laps and won the race by 1.259 seconds in overtime.
Van Gisbergen 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. He returned later in the season to finish 10th on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“This is a big day in so many ways for Trackhouse Racing, Shane, Chevrolet and race fans around the world,” said Trackhouse Racing founder and owner Justin Marks. “This is an important step for our organization and it’s a credit to the men and women at Trackhouse Racing whose hard work and success the last few years has led to us expanding to three Cup teams in 2025.
“It’s also a big step up for Shane who took a chance on Trackhouse Racing, moved here from New Zealand and now joins the most competitive stock car racing series in the world. Everyone will get to watch one of the world’s racing superstars compete in the NASCAR Cup Series next year.”
Marks indicated Saturday at Daytona International Speedway that he hopes the Project 91 program will continue next season despite the growth of the organization.
Marks told CATCHFENCE.com, “We have a few really interesting programs coming together for that.”
“Shane is the type of driver we had in mind when we created PROJECT91,” said Marks who expects another PROJECT91 entry in 2025. “He took advantage of his opportunity and that experience in Chicago launched a whole new chapter in an already successful story.”
Trackhouse Racing made its debut in 2021, with Suárez as a single-car team housed at Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, North Carolina.
After purchasing the NASCAR assets of Chip Ganassi Racing later that season it expanded to a two-car team in 2022 with Suárez and Chastain.
Entering Saturday night’s Cup Series race at Daytona, In 232 races, Trackhouse has won seven races, posted 41 top-five and 78 top-10 finishes.
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
