If you’ve been a NASCAR fan for a while, you are probably familiar with the ‘Open Wheel Invasion’ of the late 2000’s. If not, or you don’t remember, allow me to enlighten you a little bit.

The ‘Open Wheel Invasion’ was a movement that began in 2006 when a small number of open wheel drivers from both INDYCAR and Formula 1 ran some NASCAR races on the side for fun. The following year, in 2007, open wheel drivers ran some more races, including a full season in the NASCAR Cup Series from former F1 and INDYCAR star, Juan Pablo Montoya. There were three drivers who headlined the movement, the aforementioned Montoya, 4-Time INDYCAR Champion Dario Franchitti, and 3-Time INDYCAR Champion Sam Hornish Jr. along with an influx of other drivers only ran a limited number of races.

Franchitti did not find much success during this time and was never full-time. However, Montoya and Hornish became mainstays in the NASCAR world for nearly a decade. Montoya would spend most of his time in the Cup Series, winning 2 races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, respectively, as well as a career-best 8th-place points finish in 2009. On the other hand, Hornish would not find much success in NASCAR’s premier series, but would prove to be a yearly threat for the title in the Xfinity Series. In 120 starts, Hornish would win 5 races and finish in the Top-4 in the standings twice in 2012 and 2013, which were his only full time seasons in the series.

By the time Montoya and Hornish left full-time NASCAR competition around 2014, the hype of open-wheel stars going stock car racing had long since died down, and NASCAR hasn’t seen such an influx of international stars since.

Until Last Spring, when it was revealed that TrackHouse Racing would be bringing in Australian Supercars starShane van Gisbergen to take part in the team’s Project 91 entry at the inaugural street course race in the heart of Downtown Chicago. Around the same time, a report came out that SVG’s fellow competitors from Australia, Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown, visited the NASCAR weekend at Kansas Speedway as guests of Richard Childress Racing.

Throughout the early parts of the summer, excitement continued to grow for van Gisbergen’s NASCAR debut. Many people, from fans to various media outlets alike, were speculating what van Gisbergen’s debut could look like. A number of people brought up the extremely pertinent point that NASCAR’s Generation-7 car is heavily inspired by the cars that compete in the Australian Supercars series. Others mentioned that van Gisbergen has plentiful amounts of experience on street circuits compared to the regular Cup Series field and on July 2nd, all of the speculation would come to a head.

Mother Nature threw everything she could at that race, but NASCAR was determined to make it work, and they did. The race was a massive success. But the biggest story was one of the most shocking upsets in the sport’s history. Shane van Gisbergen won on debut on one of the biggest stages in the world of motorsports. That night, in his post-race interview, van Gisbergen revealed his plans to move to America in 2025 to compete in NASCAR full-time.

About a month later, in August, van Gisbergen would return to NASCAR, competing in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, a 0.686-mile short oval about 6 miles from the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and subsequently on Sunday in the Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Road Course. Brodie Kostecki, who had visited the US in the Spring as a guest of RCR at Kansas Speedway, would also be competing in his first Cup Series race on the Indy Road Course as well. In a race that would tie the record for the most different nationalities competing with 7, van Gisbergen would finish a Berry respectable 10th, with Kostecki coming in 22nd on that day. This would be the last race for any Supercars driver for the remainder of the year. But, as the NASCAR season rolled on into the Playoffs, things were rapidly changing down under.

Initially, Shane van Gisbergen had been planning to come to the United States in 2025. Still, those plans were accelerated to 2024 when van Gisbergen’s team at the time, Red Bull Ampol Racing and Triple Eight Race Engineering Team Principal and 7-Time Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup offered van Gisbergen an out after 2023, which he accepted. Following the 2023 season and after 3 Supercars titles and over 80 wins, Shane van Gisbergen left for the US to compete in NASCAR full-time, sending ‘The Aussie Invasion’ into full swing.

SVG kicked off his 2024 season in the ever-so-chaotic ARCA season opener at Daytona, getting involved in a crash very early on and eventually finishing 29th. Overall, he has had a great start to the season in his first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he is currently 15th in points.

Moving away from SVG, Cam Waters, a 10-time Supercars winner, made his NASCAR debut at Martinsville Speedway. He was caught up in several incidents in a chaotic race at ‘The Paperclip and eventually retired from the race. Waters in returning to the series this coming weekend at Kansas Speedway, the same track where his fellow competitors in Australia, Kostecki and Will Brown, visited with RCR a year earlier.

Speaking of Will Brown, that visit with Richard Childress Racing has now come to fruition, as upon writing this, it was just revealed this morning via Stefan Bartholomaeus of v8slueth.com that Brown will be making his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Sonoma with RCR.

‘The Aussie Invasion’ is on, and Shane van Gisbergen is the star of it all, but along with him, he has brought and will bring elite talents from the other side of the world to get a shot on the sport’s biggest stage to showcase their skill.

Header Image: Patrick Vallely