The #88 Trackhouse Racing driver is just two points-paying races into his first season as a Cup Series full-time and has shown promise.
His results at Daytona and Atlanta don’t paint the full picture of what has been a promising start to the season with Trackhouse Racing.
He ran towards the front at Daytona before a logjam of cars resulted in the nose of his Camaro being caved in.
Then, at Atlanta, he was taken out on the last lap but prior to that had led laps on two occasions.
Heading to Austin, there’s an air of expectation.
“I miss that, going there and no one knows who I am,” said van Gisbergen in reference to his breakout Chicago win.
“I could fly under the radar and do my own thing.
“Obviously, there’s an expectation now but I’m pretty good at that myself, keeping that under control and just focusing on my own thing.
“Hopefully it makes for some good racing though.”
Van Gisbergen is a known quantity on anything with more than four corners, but it’s the ovals where he wants to succeed. Until then, he won’t be satisfied.
“I just want to be someone you think of at an oval,” he said
“I really want to get better at ovals and every week be a contender, not just five times a year.
“So that’s kind of my focus.”
So how does van Gisbergen get better? Naturally, the sheer volume of racing will help his cause.
The quietly-spoken Kiwi knows his way around the data too and isn’t afraid to admit that’s where he’s pouring a lot of time and energy.
“The guys here are just so talented. When you race every week you’re going to get so good at it,” said van Gisbergen.
“I just see the prep and the level here is so high. It’s cool to race with guys on every style of track.
“I try and study everyone I can. After practice, I go through all of it.
“That’s the problem with that SMT, you can get lost watching what people do because you can see everyone’s stuff.
“Everyone is doing it, all the good guys are doing it, so you have to.”
Van Gisbergen will race at Circuit of the Americas in the Cup Series on Monday, March 3 at 7:30am AEDT.
