Van Gisbergen on the charge as Aussie assists key win

Shane van Gisbergen rocketed up the order on a dramatic day in Talladega as Aussie James Small got his man into the NASCAR Championship Four.

Van Gisbergen survived some scares on his way to 11th from 31st as Chase Briscoe took an important victory.

The Trackhouse Racing Kiwi made significant ground early to soar up to second in just 20 laps.

Van Gisbergen was able to avoid the typical “Big One” that ended the opening stage.

He remained in the top five after running as high as second during the second stage until he suffered a bizarre spin after striking a puddle on the entrance to pit road.

Somehow, he avoided significant contact before getting bogged down in the infield and losing a lap.

Van Gisbergen utilised the wave-by to get back onto the lead lap and secure a hard-fought 11th amid the chaos of the Overtime restart, where the Kiwi sat down in 19th.

“Decent finish for my 88 WeatherTech team,” SVG said.

“Stage One started off really good, ran up front most of it, but then just put myself in a couple of bad spots throughout the race. We’ll take P11, best finish on a superspeedway!”

Up front, after Kyle Larson dropped out, Briscoe and Bubba Wallace were side by side as the pack approached the chequered flag.

But more importantly, another Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in Ty Gibbs was giving Briscoe enough of a push to take the critical win as Will Byron spun out.

Briscoe joins teammate Denny Hamlin as the second driver in the NASCAR Championship Four who will battle for victory.

The man behind the #19 is Australian crew chief Small, who was elated.

“Absolutely amazing,” Small said. 

“To do it in the Round of 8, check our ticket to Phoenix, is just amazing.

“We’ve had fast cars in the past, but usually luck has evaded us. 

“Today everything kind of came together. Kind of stepped on our pee-pees there at the end of stage one. Bounced back and won that stage, and just amazing.”

Briscoe said Gibbs’ push was the difference.

“Ty Gibbs, incredible teammate there,” he said. 

“I mean, I honestly would not have won that race without Ty. An amazing team effort. I can’t believe I won a superspeedway race. I haven’t done it at any level.

“The race was extremely stressful. I think I told MRN, I don’t have very much hair in the first place, but what I had left was going to be gray.

“It’s a miserable feeling trying to battle for points and just trying not to get caught up in a wreck. “For us to just have the day that we had. Obviously I shot ourself in the foot there at the beginning, got the speeding penalty. It happened to work out where we didn’t lose a lot of points to other guys.”

Only one chance remains to secure a ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series decider at Martinsville this weekend.

Christopher Bell and Larson sit 36 points above the cut line, while Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott will all have to race their way in.

Image: Supplied

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