A lot was expected from Connor Zilisch going into 2026. He had just won the Xfinity Series owners’ championship with JR Motorsports and earned a full-time spot with Trackhouse Racing. But the start hasn’t been easy. He crashed at Daytona, then again at Atlanta, and things haven’t really clicked since. The good part is that teammate Shane van Gisbergen knows exactly how tough that can be, having gone through it himself.

“You spend your junior career in good cars, then you jump into the main series, and it’s a shock,” van Gisbergen said.

He’s not just sympathizing. Shane Van Gisbergen made the same leap a year earlier, walking away from a championship career in Australian Supercars to race NASCAR full-time. He knows the moment a young driver figures out everyone else was already great in the lower series, too.

“You come in expecting to do decent, and then you realize everyone in the Cup Series has won Xfinity races,” he said. “That’s the level everyone’s at. It’s tough. Everyone here is good.”

For SVG, the comparison goes back even further, to his own Supercars debut. He’d torn through the junior formulas, then got to the top class and found himself qualifying near the back. A rude awakening, he called it. Now he’s watching Zilisch go through the same thing.

The numbers actually back this up. Through their first 11 races, SVG averaged a 27.5 finish with three DNFs. Zilisch averaged 26.0 with two. Basically the same rookie. The split happened later. SVG and his crew figured out the Next-Gen car and dragged his average finish down to 20.8 by the end of the year. Zilisch’s summer went the other way, with a string of last-place finishes pulling his average closer to 26.2.

Right now, SVG sits 17th in points, just five back from the playoff cutline. Zilisch is 34th, over 200 points out, which means a win is basically his only way in. SVG already has four road course wins from his rookie year and has locked up a playoff spot outright. Zilisch’s best finish all season is a 14th.

Even with that gap, Shane van Gisbergen isn’t piling on his teammate.

“He’s a great teammate, and it’s been fun to see him pushing himself to get better,” SVG said. “I’m sure the second half of his season will be good.”

Shane Van Gisbergen Speaks Up for Another Rookie Stuck Waiting

Van Gisbergen didn’t stop at backing his own teammate. At Sonoma, he spoke up for 22-year-old Supercars driver Matt Payne, whose shot at a Cup Series debut just fell apart behind closed doors.

General Motors had set Payne up to drive an RCR Chevrolet at Sonoma, basically the same path SVG once took himself. Then his own team, Grove Racing in Australia, killed the deal. They weren’t about to let their guy drive for a rival manufacturer. Van Gisbergen didn’t hide how he felt about it.

“I’m slightly disappointed that Matt Payne was knocked back with a drive here this weekend. I’d love to see him do it,” he said. “I think he’s a massive talent.”

He also let slip where Payne’s head is.

“It sounds like he wants to come do it,” SVG said.

That comment drops right into the middle of a bigger fight. GM is reportedly trying to pull Payne away from Ford entirely, and a NASCAR opportunity is part of the pitch.

Coming from the guy who built the Supercars-to-Cup pipeline in the first place, that’s not a throwaway line. It carries weight, for Payne and for any team owner paying attention.