Shane van Gisbergen has finished his debut full-time season with Trackhouse Racing 12th on the NASCAR standings, rounding out a steep learning curve of a season.
The Kiwi has five road course victories to his name in 2025, just one race away from equalling the most race course wins in a season and punched his way into a playoff spot in his rookie year.
"I had a lot of fun, but it was definitely a grind at the start," van Gisbergen told reporters.
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"Not frustrating, but it was a process."
"The last half of the season, I'm not ready to stop racing. I feel like we're getting better and better. If we kept racing, I'd be happy.
"Obviously it was amazing to get the wins and I think it was definitely two seasons for us.
"The road courses were obviously great and then the ovals, the second half of the year has been awesome."
Van Gisbergen struggled to adapt to the oval courses in NASCAR, trailing down the back of the field but in the latter half of the year, found his momentum to finish top 10 in Kansas.
"We've really improved and learned a lot. I feel like every week we're learning something and getting better and better," he added.
"Pretty happy with how the season ended up."
The 26-year-old has already signed a multi-year extension with Trackhouse Racing and plans to add to his already impressive resume.
He is tied for the most wins in a rookie season, the fastest driver to three wins in the modern NASCAR era, tied for three consecutive road course wins from pole, has the most wins for a foreign born driver in Cup Series history and is the first New Zealander to win a Cup Series race.
"There are a lot of things I need to get better at," he explained.
"Lots of different styles of tracks. It's generally just keep on improving, keep on learning, keeping my eyes open and just trying to be better at everything.
"It's just taken time, and as I said, I feel like I learn something every week and can take something out of every week to get better at the next one.
"[Things like] learning how the car dynamics work.
"Tracks like Vegas where you're going so fast. When you go slow into the corner, the cars don't feel that good.
"You've got to go in flat, land in the banking, and then see what the car does. It's pretty eye-opening to tell yourself to just tighten the belts, grow some balls, and drive in flat.
"It's tough, this stuff. It's just taken me a while to get used to it."
NASCAR finished its season on Monday morning (AEDT) with Kyle Larson picking up the 2025 crown, edging out polesitter Denny Hamlin to take his second career championship win. Van Gisbergen came home in 24th place.
The New Zealand driver picked up the 'rookie of the year' honours for the 2025 season by a hefty margin, his nearest competitor finishing in 35th overall.
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