Van Gisbergen wins into the history books

Shane van Gisbergen has taken himself to new heights by becoming the first rookie to win five NASCAR Cup Series races after a crushing performance at the ROVAL.

Van Gisbergen smoked the stars at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, cruising to a huge 15.1s triumph over Kyle Larson.

The Kiwi’s fifth straight road course win puts him second all time behind only four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who drove the #24 to six straight from 1997-2000.

Tyler Reddick started from pole and led SVG for just four laps before the #88 Trackhouse Chevrolet snatched P1 after the Ford driver made a mistake at the back chicane.

After losing ground in the lane, SVG found himself outside the top 10, but quickly rose back to the front of the field.

In the final stage, van Gisbergen sat third behind Larson and Bell, but blew them away with a stunning charge home that was not without drama.

He made his first move on Bell on Lap 80, but had to pass the Joe Gibbs Racing #20 Toyota again 15 laps later after a moment with a backmarker.

This kicked off a thrilling battle for the lead where SVG and Larson raced door to door.

His first attempt did not work as a frustrated Larson fought back and squeezed past, demoting the #88 back to third.

However, van Gisbergen had the final say after winning the battle with a big dive at the back straight chicane.

Despite reporting right rear tyre dramas, van Gisbergen was able to power onto a big 15s triumph, his fifth of his rookie campaign and sixth overall.

“It just started getting hot and sliding around,” SVG said of his tyre dramas.

“What an awesome race with Kyle and Christioher driving really well.

“I gave him a little bump at 7 by accident, and he just slammed me.

“I am all for it, and it was fun, but I hope he is not too pissed off.

“I lost the Weathertech Chevy a little bit at the start of Stage 3, but whatever they did for the rest of the race was unbelievable.

“It was a long time hoping the yellow would not come out.”

While there were celebrations on one side of the Trackhouse garage, there was despair at the other.

The other big race was to make the Round of 8 of the Playoffs with Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric missing the cut.

The closest call was Chastain, as he lost a ticket to the Round of 8 in heartbreaking style on the finale lap.

He needed to pass Denny Hamlin to secure enough points to stay alive, but was unable to do so and spun at the final chicane, even reversing across the line.

It was the final blow in a tough day for the Trackhouse Racing driver, who also had to serve pit lane speeding penalties and was extremely self-critical, lamenting the missed shot.

“I would restart the whole day and the team expects so much more than me,” he said.

“Speeding on pit road when I double clicked up into third and unforced errors make it very heartbreaking.

“Justin hired me to be a leader and I just unravelled our day. Its not acceptable.”

Next is the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 8.30 AEDT on Monday, October 13.\

Image: Photo by Jordan Bank/Getty

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