SVG battles as Briscoe holds on
Shane van Gisbergen endured a tough NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs debut as an Aussie helped Chase Briscoe take an impressive win in Darlington.
Trackhouse van Gisbergen tried to roll the dice on strategy, doing one stop in the final stage, but a poorly timed caution meant it did not pay off.
The Kiwi ended up being forced to settle for a distant 32nd, which leaves him on the bubble.
He sits right on the cut line in 12th in the Playoff standings, only ahead of Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Josh Berry.
SVG ran long multiple times to gain track position, but each time he went forward, he would end up drifting to around 30th after each cycle of stops.
The Kiwi admitted the team turned to strategy as they struggled to get the answers they wanted from the #88.
“It was a tough day for the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet team,” van Gisbergen said.
“Our car was very different from yesterday. Stephen (Doran, crew chief) didn’t give up on tuning on it, but we just couldn’t make it better.
“We tried something different with strategy, but got a caution at the wrong time and couldn’t rebound from it.”
Instead, it was Australian crew chief James Small celebrating after Briscoe took a nail-biting win.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led 309 of the 367 laps, but found himself under significant pressure in the closing stages with Tyler Reddick hunting him down.
Reddick made a lunge on the last lap at Turn 3, but Briscoe had the pace up high and held on by four tenths.
The #19 went back to back at Darlington, something that has not been done since Greg Biffle in 2005/06 and is the first to book a place into the Round of 12.
“At the end it was way harder than it needed to be,” Briscoe said.
“Man, just incredible, Bass Pro Shops. As a fan, I’ve watched Martin (Truex Jr) dominate a lot of races, and it was fun to be behind the wheel of it.
“So cool to win two Southern 500s in a row. This is my favourite race of the year.”
Bathurst 1000 winning engineer Small was confident something special was possible even before the race began.
“Anytime you win the first round, it’s a massive weight off your shoulders,” he said.
“As you’ve seen before, anything can happen on any given weekend and put you in a hole.
“We’ve done that here before and thrown it away at the end of the race.
“Woke up this morning and sent the guys a message. I had this feeling.
“It’s about time we give ’em a good old… We just need to lay an old-school beat-down to them.
“That’s exactly what we did tonight. Chase did a remarkable job lap after lap.”
Next up is the Enjoy Illinois 300 at 5.00 AEST Monday, September 8.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
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