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Tough Texas initiation for van Gisbergen

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: April 13, 2024

Shane van Gisbergen has had a tough start to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series round at the fast Texas Motor Speedway.

The Kaulig Racing Kiwi will have to produce a massive fightback in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300, having qualified down in 33rd place.

Van Gisbergen could only register a 30.419s time in the one-shot qualifying, which was 1.326s off the pace of pole sitter Jesse Love from Richard Childress Racing.

It is by far the three-time Supercars champion’s worst qualifying performance of his promising NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie campaign, being the first below 30th. His previous lowest grid spot was 25th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Van Gisbergen admitted he was “way too conservative” as he adjusts to the large 1.5m oval.

“Pretty crazy to check out another big track, they might take me a bit to get a hang of!” SVG wrote on social media.

“Way too conservative at the moment but getting more comfortable with every lap. Looking forward to a fun race tomorrow.”

What van Gisbergen can turn to has been his ability to move forward on most race days throughout his consistent season so far.

Most notably he can point to Phoenix for hope where he rose from 23rd all the way to sixth place.

Van Gisbergen has five top 15 finishes from seven races which does not include COTA where he was on track for a certain victory before not slipped away in Overtime.

Come race day in Texas van Gisbergen will be searching for some more grunt from his #97 Kaulig Racing Camaro.

His top speed of 177.521mph was eight less than Love, while the disappointing qualifying came off the back of a tough practice where he also finished 34th, 1.2s away after 26 laps behind the wheel.

For those in Australia it will be an early start to see SVG take on Texas with the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 starting 3.30 at AEST.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Texas Motor Speedway Qualifying results

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