Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen couldn’t contain his excitement watching fellow Red Bull racer Shane van Gisbergen win on his NASCAR Cup Series debut.
Verstappen and van Gisbergen are close friends and often spend time racing online together.
In trying conditions, the Kiwi drove from 18th to the lead with a handful of laps to go before surviving a late race restart to beat Justin Haley.
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The three-time Supercars champion received loads of praise for the win, which marked the first time in 60 years any driver has won on debut in NASCAR.
After the Austrian Grand Prix, which Verstappen won, the Dutch driver stayed up to watch van Gisbergen in his first foray.
“I stayed awake to watch it and I’ve never felt so nervous in my life watching someone else race and trying to win it,” said Verstappen ahead of the Silverstone Grand Prix.
“I was literally screaming in front of my monitor for him to win that.
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“I mean, that’s really really impressive to jump in the car and you don’t know … they are very hard cars to drive. And he just goes in there and he absolutely dominates the race.
“I know he’s a great driver. I know what he’s capable of. And I know how good he is in different kinds of disciplines.
“He is great of course in V8s, that is what he knows, he’s great in the rally car as well, and clearly he is great in a NASCAR as well.
“I mean, that’s Shane. He is a crazy right-foot braker still.”
Ahead of the Townsville 500, van Gisbergen revealed his phone had been “blowing up” in response to his groundbreaking win.
Among those to congratulate him was American artist Pitbull, who is a co-owner in Trackhouse Racing.
Verstappen also offered van Gisbergen a congratulatory message.
The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner’s future in Supercars is up in the air with his Triple Eight Race Engineering team boss Jamie Whincup opening the door for him to leave.
After comments made in the wake of the win suggested he wouldn’t stop van Gisbergen from leaving in 2024, the team boss said 2025 was looking more likely.
“It’s too soon yet,” said Whincup on Fox Sports’ Supercars coverage.
“His father plays a manager’s role as well, so he’s here this weekend. I’ll no doubt catch up with him.
“Nothing has changed from our point of view. Shane is contracted here for next year but then he’s got an opportunity to go overseas if he wants to in 2025.
“It seems like he had a lot of fun, seems like he’s been enjoying himself, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he says ‘Hey, I want to go do something else in 2025’.
“But at the same time, it’s a cool place to play car racing here in Australia as well. Not sure how it’s going to pan out, but we’ll see.”
Whincup said he expects van Gisbergen may contest select NASCAR events in 2024 before going full-time in 2025 once his Supercars contract is up.
“I think he’ll see out his commitment for 2024,” said the seven-time Supercars champion.
“It’ll take a little bit of time to get things sorted as well. I can see him maybe doing another couple of one-off events maybe next year and then setting something up for ’25.”
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