Shane van Gisbergen mourns death of his mother

NASCAR driver Shane van Gisbergen shared the emotional news that his mother died. On X (formerly known as Twitter), van Gisbergen revealed that he had his mother’s last name on the door of his No. 97 car for the last two races to honor her.

“Been a pretty tough couple of weeks here with my Mum passing back home in [New Zealand],” van Gisbergen wrote. “Thanks to my teams for letting me run her last name on my door the past couple of weekends.”

Been a pretty tough couple of weeks here with my Mum passing back home in NZ. Thanks to my teams for letting me run her last name on my door the past couple of weekends. pic.twitter.com/K18U7LH4Ai

— Shane van Gisbergen (@shanevg97) April 29, 2024

Many of van Gisbergen’s fans showed their support for the 34-year-old driver. “Very sorry for the loss of your mum/mom!” one fan wrote. “Sending prayers to you and your family!”

Another fan added: “Oh my god brother. That is terrible news. I’m so sorry. Just prayed for you and your family.”

The news was shared one day after van Gisbergen competed in the Xfinity Series race at Dover Motor Speedway. After the race, he said that he “struggled a bit, but fought all day” to finish 18th. Van Gisbergen, who won 81 races in the Supercars Championship, is in his first year competing in the Xfinity Series full-time. His best finish was in February when he placed third at the Atlanta Motor Speedway race.

Shane van Gisbergen talks getting into NASCAR

Along with racing in the Xfinity Series full-time, van Gisbergen will compete in seven Cup Series races. Back in March, van Gisbergen talked about how he got involved with NASCAR and Trackhouse Racing.

“Initially, so I obviously saw the Project 91 stuff last year or year before happening. Just thought I asked Paul Morris if he knew anyone in the states to reach out and he spoke to, I think Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] and also Max Papis to try and introduce us and yeah, Justin [Marks] rang me,” van Gisbergen told Kevin Harvick on Harvick’s Happy Hour.

“Must have been the end of 2022. And just said, ‘Yeah, there’s a chance we could race together. I think the Chicago street race will be a perfect place for it,’ and then said, ‘Give me a couple of months and I’ll see if I can make it work.’ He rang me early that year. I was at the Australian Grand Prix when he gave me the go-ahead and said, ‘We’re doing it.’ Yeah, I thought it would just be a one-off, but obviously, it went pretty well. We came back a month or two later and did Indianapolis. I thought I thought it’d be one more year in Australia. I’ve just signed a one-year extension. But then things just snowballed. And it’s been a crazy whirlwind.”

On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this report.