Van Gisbergen falls heartbreakingly short of Playoffs
Shane van Gisbergen missed the cut in an insanely pressure-packed finish to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Round of 12 at Charlotte.
Despite crossing the line in a solid third place, van Gisbergen has missed the Playoffs by two points after Jesse Love climbed from 25th to 19th.
To add insult to injury the car that finished in front of SVG was teammate AJ Allmendinger, while Sam Mayer snatched victory from Parker Kligerman in a stunning Overtime dash.
Not only was it a cruel blow for van Gisbergen, but also Kligerman, who needed to win and was centimetres away from doing so, only for a caution to arrive right before the white flag.
Van Gisbergen took a tyre gamble and it did not pay off with 12 to go. With those around him boxing and taking fresh rubber, van Gisbergen stayed out to take track position.
Despite leading at the restart, he was soon swamped and had to settle for third with a tyre disadvantage.
With Allmendinger finishing ahead and Love flying home on fresh tyres, it was not to be for the Kiwi.
It had been a great day for van Gisbergen as he took pole in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series.
He entered the race 10 points below the cut line and needed to produce something special to make it to the Round of 8 and almost did it.
Van Gisbergen started the Drive for the Cure 250 from pole position, but lost the lead to Mayer on the opening lap and soon slumped to sixth after missing the back chicane.
But the kiwi worked his way back up to second to follow home Allmendinger.
He pitted at the break and ended up rising to seventh by the end of stage 2 where Playoff contender Sheldon Creed crashed out.
Van Gisbergen started the final stage seventh and charged to fifth within a handful of corners.
The Kiwi pulled off another successful dive-bomb at Turn 7, taking fourth from Almirola, who rotated on his own four laps later.
These important moves took SVG just above the cut line, but Allgaier was making ground in 14th and the only driver that could knock the #97 out.
With each move the #7 made it crept closer to van Gisbergen in the points table.
Van Gisbergen’s response was to snatch third from Smith and hunt down teammate Allmendinger.
With Allmendinger safe, he made it easy for his Kaulig Racing teammate at Turn 7.
This arrived seconds before a caution caused by a big crash for 35 who had a brake failure and careered into the Turn 1 tyres.
Keen to secure track position and claim maximum points, van Gisbergen rolled the dice and stayed out and all his other rivals pitted for fresh tyres.
The equation was simple, drive as far as possible into the distance in the 11-lap dash to the end.
Behind him Kligerman, who needed a win to survive, was on a mission and flew from fifth to second on new tyres.
The #48 was flying and took just two laps to catch the #97 and SVG could do little as he lost the lead at the Turn 7 hairpin.
Van Gisbergen was suddenly swamped with Mayer and Allmendinger demoting him to fourth.
Fortunately there was now some respite with Austin Hill a further 2s back but any further position losses in the final eight laps would be costly with the top nine cars all Playoff contenders.
Attention turned to the front with four to go where Mayer launched an assault on Kigerman, but with his season on the line the latter fought back with a brilliant switchback.
With Mayer suffering issues on the banking, his pursuit tailed off and the top four spaced out as they approached the end of the penultimate lap.
But just as Kligerman approached the white flag, the caution was called at the worst possible moment.
Heartbreakingly the #48 was just two feet away from winning the race, but with the caution coming out milliseconds before the leader started the final lap, the race went into Overtime.
There was no doubt the yellow was required however, with Leyland Honeyman Jr trapped deep underneath a tyre barrier and the driver had to crawl through a sea of tyres to get out.
Everything was on the line in a thrilling Overtime finish and the top four negotiated the first four turns side by side.
Van Gisbergen was unable to pass Allmendinger and settled into fourth, while Mayer snatched the lead from Kligerman with a smart switchback.
In more heartbreak for Kligerman, a flat tyre saw him drop out of the top three, which critically promoted SVG.
But with Love also on the move and climbing to 19th, he was able to knock van Gisbergen out by just two points with the Kiwi needing to pass Allmendinger to make the cut, but was eight tenths short.
Van Gisbergen will try to put the disappointment behind him when he chases NASCAR Cup Series glory from pole at the Charlotte ROVAL with coverage kicking off from 5.00 AEDT Monday morning.
Photo by Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / LAT Images
Race For A Cure 250 results
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