Shane van Gisbergen rises on ARCA practice charts after second Daytona session

It appears that Shane van Gisbergen’s ARCA practice times improved after the second session of the weekend today. Things got going again today at Daytona International Superspeedway for the NASCAR development series.

SVG will have to race in the ARCA event to get approved for the Xfinity Series race. That means double duty. Part of that process is the pre-race practice sessions. There were over 70 drivers in less than 40 cars participating in the sessions this weekend.

When things were over and done with on Saturday, Jake Finch of Venturini Motorsports led the series. Teammate Toni Breidinger was right behind in second with Kris Wright and Gus Dean giving Venturini the top-four spots.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s William Sawalich was close behind with Patrick Emerling breaking up the Toyta party. Marco Andretti was 8th overall in practice, he will be an interesting addition to this race.

Down in 12th, up from 35th in the Friday session, was Shane van Gisbergen. He really improved his time and was able to turn in laps under 50 seconds. The ARCA Chevy is actually much like the Holden Commodore he drove to his first Supercars championship.

Here are the full ARCA practice results from Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports.

ARCA testing results from Daytona: pic.twitter.com/T3IxT6BZVV

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) January 13, 2024

This is promising for Shane van Gisbergen and his ARCA attempt. The Chicago Street Course winner might be comfortable on the twists and turns of the road courses, but he has learning to do on the speedways. Let alone, the superspeedways.

Van Gisbergen might be a little out of place among the other drivers. However, he’s going to have to earn his place all the same.

Shane van Gisbergen improving in ARCA

It’s going to be a slow build in a way, but Shane van Gisbergen will be learning at a rapid pace in Daytona. To go from the randomness of superspeedway racing, add in that it is an ARCA race, and then he has to go and compete in the Xfinity Series as well – it’s almost two different sports.

The ARCA Menards Series has a lot of issues. There are young drivers, old drivers, and a lot of equipment that may or may not be recycled many times over from one team to another.

The fact that SVG has shown such improvement in just a day is impressive in and of itself. Those Venturini cars are going to be hard to compete with, but another “van” driver won Daytona last season, Greg Van Alst,

So, Shane van Gisbergen’s season in the United States is underway. He will have to learn quickly if he hopes to compete for an Xfinity Series championship this season.