Heartbreak for van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen was on track for a breakthrough NASCAR Cup Series oval result at New Hampshire, only to get caught in some chaos.

Boosted by his best oval qualifying effort of 10th, van Gisbergen had been a frontrunner throughout the first third of the Mobil 1 301.

The Kiwi sat in the top 10 across the first 117 laps and even ran as high as fifth for long periods.

All was going well until the Lap 118 restart, when the Trackhouse Racing Kiwi was in the middle of some madness.

The #88 was running low on the apron at Turn 2, with Bowman on his outside and Keselowski on the inside.

Keselowski, who was beneath him, got squeezed between the wall and the Chevrolet and punted the Kiwi.

Van Gisbergen rotated two times in front of the pack before being finished off by a big hit from Kyle Busch.

Van Gisbergen ended up finishing 32nd, but 50 laps down.

Penske’s Ryan Blaney became the first driver to lock in a ticket to the Round of 8 after holding off fellow Ford driver Josh Berry.

The pair ran nose to tail across the final 39 laps in a tense run home with Blaney sneaking clear, denying Woods, who recovered from a Lap 82 spin.

“Probably the hardest 20 laps I drove,” Blaney, 31, said of the race’s closing laps. 

“I was trying to bide my stuff and he (Berry) really started coming. 

“He started to get super free, and it was all I could do to hold him off. It was good racing. 

“Clean racing and I appreciate Josh not throwing me the bumper when he could have.”

Next up is Kansas at 5.00 AEST next Monday morning.

Image: HHP/Jacy Norgaard

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Buy the new issue of Auto Action Premium HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here.