Late heartbreak for van Gisbergen at Talladega

Shane van Gisbergen had to settle for 22nd despite being well placed before some late drama in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega.

After a spin for leader Austin Hill sent the race into Overtime, and van Gisbergen, who had led earlier, commenced the two-lap shootout fourth in the top lane, but ran out of gas.

It might have been for the best however as the leaders got tangled up at the first turn, with Parker Kligerman, Josh Williams and Sheldon Creed all spinning out from the lead.

The double overtime allowed the #97 to make a splash and dash and recover to 22nd when the race finally finished.

Even though the second attempt at overtime was successful, two cars still spun out, but none of them was Jesse Love, who perfectly position his #2 Richard Childress Racing Camaro to secure an impressive win.

The race came after an impressive qualifying performance against the big boys in the NASCAR Cup Series.

In his first experience driving a Cup Series Kaulig Racing Camaro at a super speedway, van Gisbergen nailed his one and only lap in qualifying.

He set the 17th fastest time with a 53.226s run, just six tenths off pole man Michael McDowell.

Van Gisbergen started the Xfinity Series race 17th and worked his way into the top 10 during the opening stage which finished under caution.

Shane van Gisbergen showed strong speed in his NASCAR Cup Series Camaro. (Photo by LAT Images

After a tag from the #98 of Herbst, Justin Allgaier was spun on the exit of Turn 2 and hit the concrete head on.

Van Gisbergen ended up seventh at the caution with Aaron Love leading the way.

The Kiwi stayed high during the clean Stage 2 and was caught in the middle on the run to the break as Austin Hill now led the way.

Van Gisbergen started the third and final stage 18th, but made good progress throughout.

He ran at the back of the inside train but rose to 13th as he got closer to the front of the pack.

The Kaulig Racing driver soon found himself leading the inside lane and a push from Jordan Anderson vaulted the #97 all the way into the lead on lap 64.

His time in the spotlight did not last long but he stayed amongst the contenders when they completed their final pit stop.

The Kaulig Racing team did a quick splash and dash in the fuel only stop to gain two spots on pit road and allow van Gisbergen to be fifth.

The Kiwi got lucky when a big crash was sparked right in front of his nose.

Van Gisbergen was around the third car on the bottom behind Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg.

But Parker Kligerman went down from up high and with multiple cars aiming for the same spot on the track, contact was made and chaos was triggered.

Jones spun hard in front of the pack collected around five other cars in the first “Big One” of the day.

Van Gisbergen avoided the drama and restarted with 36 laps to go in fifth on the bottom and led the lane by the end of the lap.

Went from fighting to the lead to dropping out of the 10 due to bad luck with all the momentum up high.

The Kiwi realised this and made the switch to the top, being eighth in the train with 33 laps to go.

Seven laps later van Gisbergen’s patience paid off as he returned to the top 10.

Sieg was a contender only to suffer a flat tyre with just 24 to go.

Van Gisbergen persisted with the high lane and it paid off as it was single file with 10 to go and the #97 was seventh in the train.

The break was made with three to go and van Gisbergen joined the jumpers to the bottom and surged to fifth.

It proved to be a fortuitous move as it ensured the #97 avoided a crazy wreck that sent the race into overtime.

Runner-up Parker Kligerman got into the back of Hill, who got unsettled and could not stop himself from getting out of shape.

He spun and collected the #5 of Anthony Alfredo, scattering cars behind in another “big one” with nine drivers involved.

Van Gisbergen was lucky with the contact between Hill and Alfredo stopped the #21 from going down and collecting the #97.

The Kiwi restarted fourth in the top lane for the two-lap shootout, but ran out of gas at the drop of the flag.

If there was one positive leaders Williams, Kligerman and Creed all spun out when the pack got to turn 1, producing another caution and gave the #97 an opportunity to make a splash and dash.

Love was the contender to avoid his spinning rivals and took the lead for the second restart.

After the final stop van Gisbergen restarted 22nd and despite two spinners, the race stayed green and Love did a mighty job to take the chequered flag first.

The GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega begins at 5.00 AEST Monday morning on Fox Sports.

Image: LAT Images

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