van Gisbergen rallies in Texas

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: April 14, 2024

Despite starting near the back, Shane van Gisbergen was the biggest mover in the NASCAR Xfinity Series field to secure a fighting top 20 at Texas.

In his first time taking on the fast Texas Motor Speedway, van Gisbergen had a lot of work to do starting from down in 29th after four cars fell to the rear of the grid.

But the Kaulig Racing driver was able to fight hard throughout the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 and rose all the way to a respectable 18th place.

Van Gisbergen showed impressive composure and patience in his throughout a thrilling race where Sam Mayer pulled off a last-lap pass on veteran Ryan Sieg to win by just 0.002s – the second closest finish ever in NASCAR Xfinity Series history.

The pair ran side by side out of the final of the final corner and banged doors all the way to chequered flag where just half a front splitter separated them.

Although the Kiwi had the lowest start of his NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie season, he did not let that deter him as he came home 26th to stay on lead lap at the end of the opening stage, only to lose some ground on pit road.

Across the 45-lap Stage 2, van Gisbergen made steady progress to steadily climb towards the top 20 from 28th.

He finally broke through when a spinning #42 created a caution late in the stage and he made even more progress in the final six laps before the completion of the segment.

Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg produced a thrilling photo finish. Image: NASCAR on Fox

Van Gisbergen crossed the line 17th, but he lost track position and fell to 24th after the out of sync decision to go to pit road during the competition caution.

As a result the #97 went long and stayed out, rising all the way up to second before the final required stop which saw him fall back outside the top 20.

Inside the final 25 laps a caution for Honeyman, who hit the wall when being lapped by the leaders threatened to derail the Kiwi’s race.

But luckily the #97 received the wave around to make the restart on the lead lap at 23rd.

Again van Gisbergen displayed impressive race pace to pick off his rivals and rise to 21st before the final caution.

The field dived into the pits and the Kaulig Racing crew made good ground by sending out the #97 in 18th place.

Racing resumed with 12 to go and the Kiwi held position to complete his charging drive.

With three top 20 results in a row, van Gisbergen now sits 13th in the standings.

A big challenge awaits van Gisbergen next weekend where he takes on the intimidating super speedway of Talladega in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Texas Motor Speedway results

Main image by Photo by LAT Images

Don’t forget the latest issue of Auto Action will be available via subscription here or at selected outlets. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO READ THE LATEST DIGITAL MAGAZINE

Podcast: Brodie Kostecki is back and the Auto Action RevLimiter is back to Wednesday Breakfast.

We talk about the return of Kostecki, the death of Bev Brock, and malaise overcoming F1. And then there’s all the latest news.. out now on your podcast app of choice or here Australia’s Leading Motorsport News Podcast | The RevLimiter

Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here

Recent Stories

array ( 0 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 11, 'name' => 'Latest News', 'slug' => 'latest-news', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 11, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 13305, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 11, 'category_count' => 13305, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'Latest News', 'category_nicename' => 'latest-news', 'category_parent' => 0, )), 1 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 4811, 'name' => 'NASCAR', 'slug' => 'nascar', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 4811, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 660, 'count' => 90, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 4811, 'category_count' => 90, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'NASCAR', 'category_nicename' => 'nascar', 'category_parent' => 660, )), 2 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2029, 'name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'slug' => 'email', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2029, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 2031, 'count' => 4222, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2029, 'category_count' => 4222, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'category_nicename' => 'email', 'category_parent' => 2031, )), 3 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2031, 'name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'slug' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2031, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 3621, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2031, 'category_count' => 3621, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'category_nicename' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'category_parent' => 0, )), )

van Gisbergen rallies in Texas

Although the Kiwi had the lowest start of his NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie season, he did not let that deter him as he came home 26th to stay on lead lap at the end of the opening stage, only to lose some ground on pit road.

As a result the #97 went long and stayed out, rising all the way up to second before the final required stop which saw him fall back outside the top 20.

The field dived into the pits and the Kaulig Racing crew made good ground by sending out the #97 in 18th place.

Podcast: Brodie Kostecki is back and the Auto Action RevLimiter is back to Wednesday Breakfast.

Recent Stories

Brown and Feeney reflect on ‘awesome’ battle for glory

Full-time NASCAR a “dream” for Waters

Harris cruises to maiden TCR round win

EXTRA TRUCK SERIES RACE FOR WATERS