Shane van Gisbergen explains origin of rugby ball celebration, why it went wrong after win at Sonoma

Whenever Shane van Gisbergen wins a race, he celebrates with a rugby ball. On the Stacking Pennies podcast, the New Zealand native explained how the rugby ball celebration got started.

“That’s a Trackhouse thing,” van Gisbergen said. “Daniel [Suárez] has the piñata, Ross [Chastain] has the watermelon. They’re like ‘You got to come up with something.’ I didn’t really know what to do and someone suggested pick a rugby ball.”

Van Gisbergen was then asked why the punt at Sonoma was not as strong as the one in Portland the week before. “It was flat. The ball was flat,” he said. “So they gave it to me and said it’s flat. They said just sign and throw it. I still kicked it, but I put more effort. It didn’t make the stands.”

The last two weeks have been fun for van Gisbergen (also known as SVG). The 35-year-old has won the last two Xfinity Series races and has won three NASCAR races since he began competing last year.

Shane van Gisbergen is ‘adapting to NASCAR well’

This week, Denny Hamlin talked about van Gisbergen’s win at Sonoma this past weekend. “Shane, he took an opportunity,” he said on the Actions Detrimental podcast. “He ran, he wanted to stay beside Austin Hill on that restart. But I think he made a bit of an ambitious move to do it. I think he still had enough speed, and technique, to get around Austin. Because the tires cooled back off. … So I think he could’ve been a little more patient, and picked Austin off cleanly, probably by Turn 11 on that first lap after the restart. But he sees an opportunity, and he’s run in NASCAR enough now. He’s like, ‘These guys just run into each other, so I’m joining the party. I love this.’ … I think he’s adapting to NASCAR well.

“It won’t go over probably as clean and clear on Sundays, as what it is on Saturdays, right now. But he’s taking full advantage of the ‘Rubbin’ is racing’ mantra.”

Van Gisbergen made his NASCAR debut at the Cup Series Chicago Street Race last year and won. He followed that up with a 10th-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway a few weeks later. This year, van Gisbergen has competed in three Cup Series races while driving in the Xfinity Series full-time. Along with the two wins at Portland and Sonoma, SVG, earned a P3 finish at Atlanta and a P6 finish at Phoenix earlier this year.