by For Shane van Gisbergen, in the end only two points made the difference between promotion and elimination. He admitted that it “certainly would have helped” to pit for fresh tires towards the end of the race when most of the field did, but with several playoff drivers at the front who were desperate to win , it was never going to be easy.
“We’ll never know, but we had a good break. I thought there would be more to come, but there it is.” An eighth place to start the round and a third place to close the round were very solid, but unfortunately he was very unlucky at Talladega. An accident in the tri-oval left him 35th.
“It’s probably because of last week and the dramas we had and the failure there, so that’s probably it,” noted Van Gisbergen. “I’m proud of the boys. We had a fantastic year. My first year in NASCAR and I loved it.”
Talladega II NASCAR
Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
SVG’s weekend in Charlotte got off to a promising start as he secured the pole position for both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity races at the Charlotte Roval.
He led at the start of the Xfinity race, but missed out on winning the first stage when his Kaulig Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger passed him. The New Zealander still crossed the finish line in second place and ultimately scored 13 out of 20 possible points on both stages. It wasn’t quite enough. However, the people around SVG did well in the hunt for stage points, with Justin Allgaier staying out with a total of 18 points and winning the second stage.
As the laps ticked by, a caution with 15 laps to go would ultimately decide SVG’s fate. He was in second place and chose to stay out on older tires while most of the field pitted for fresh tires. The three-time Supercars champion had little to counter them on the subsequent restart and fell back to fourth on track.
When the race went into overtime, van Gisbergen now faced Jesse Love in the points battle. Love was deep in the field, but with very fresh tires he quickly charged forward. When Sam Mayer (a must-win driver) was on his way to the checkered flag and Love passed just enough cars on the final lap, it was game over for SVG. Love pushed and pushed past the last car he needed to advance and there were only a few corners left in the race while van Gisbergen was in third place and unable to progress.
After his retirement in Charlotte, he is now in ninth place in the championship standings. SVG’s rookie season includes three wins on road courses, but also two top-five finishes and five top-ten finishes on oval tracks. He will move to Cup full-time next year, driving the Trackhouse Racing Team’s No. 88 Chevrolet.
“I’m happy, but also not. I would like to continue,” he admitted.
