Van Gisbergen completes ‘awesome’ NASCAR oval debut

Shane van Gisbergen stayed clean and composed to complete his first NASCAR oval race in 19th at Indianapolis which he described as “so much fun”.

Van Gisbergen joined the Trackhouse affiliated Niece Motorsports to race in the TSport 200 in the NASCAR Truck Series at short-course Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Despite being thrown into the thick of a competitive field at the back end of the season and never racing on an asphalt oval, the Kiwi looked like a regular.

Van Gisbergen kept the #41 Chevrolet out of trouble and crossed the line 19th, a lap down after 200 intense laps under lights.

Up front the race was dominated by Ty Majeski, who led a career-high amount of laps to beat Christian Eckes.

Van Gisbergen cried “I am living the dream” after the race, but regretted some mid-race adjustments as he dropped from 15th to 19th in the closing stages.

“That as awesome, but I have to say I am a little gutted to drop off the lead lap,” van Gisbergen said in the post-race interview.

“I had a ball with some awesome racing. It was a lot of fun and I have to thank Niece Motorsports and Trackhouse Racing for having me.

“I am living the dream. Everyone was really respectful and it was awesome.

“I have a lot to learn, the pace was okay in some spots but I probably gave the wrong call on the adjustments and we really dropped in the last stint, but so much fun.”

Van Gisbergen could not hide his excitement claiming “this is so much fun” over the radio as he enjoyed a flying start, climbing from 28th to 22nd in the opening laps.

At the front of the field Eckes converted pole position to take control, but lost the lead to Majeski after a brief side by side battle.

Van Gisbergen then found himself in a battle with Landen Lewis for 22nd and prevailed by utilising the high line.

However, the Kiwi then lost the place to Matt Dibenedetto as Majeski was cruising before his lead was wiped out by the opening caution.

This was caused by a big crash between Hailie Deegan and Dibenedetto at turn three, but both rejoined the field.

As racing resumed on lap 22 van Gisbergen asked over the radio “I need more grip” as he sat in 24th before quickly snatching 23rd.

All eyes were on the front of the field as Corey Heim made a challenge to Majeski and the pair had an awesome battle going door to door for many laps.

But this was not enough to stop Majeski from cruising to an easy stage win with van Gisbergen taking the chequered flat in 21st.

The Kiwi settled into 22nd during a clean start to Stage 2 and went a lap down with 12 to go in the segment.

The green flag running was stopped when Chris Hacker spun into the inside wall at turn two and this sparked the first set of stops.

The big loser was victory contender Heim, who received a penalty for having too many pit crew members jump over the wall and dropped down to 17th.

With 73 laps to go van Gisbergen restarted in 18th and moved up two positions after Dean Thompson and Spencer Boyd were wiped out after a heavy nose to tail crash.

The litter of cautions continued into the third and final stage as Deegan’s night finished when she was spun into the concrete.

Racing resumed with 53 laps to go and Eckes went down the inside to snatch the lead from Majeski.

However, the #98 Ford immediately hit back by cutting through the middle and resuming his dominant drive.

SVG was also in the thick of the action, going three wide with Chase Purdy and Jake Drew in the fight for 15th, but lost out and slipped to 19th.

This was where van Gisbergen remained until the chequered flag as it arrived after a 53-lap stretch of green racing.

The three-time Supercars champion now turns his attention to the NASCAR Cup Series where he will race against Brodie Kostecki at the “Brickyard” from 5am AEST Monday morning.

Image: Niece Motorsports

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