It had been a turbulent start to the day for Kiwi driver van Gisbergen who began in 13th, after he found a problem with his heel protector, but this was fixed by his team before the race started.
He finished the first stage in 24th place, but quickly picked up the pace in the second stage despite a multi-car crash on lap 85 which he was able to dodge.
Seventeen cars were involved in a pile-up at the Daytona 500. Photo / NASCAR
However, the New Zealander was not able to avoid the 17-car pile-up almost 40 laps later and took on damage during the chaos, spinning out when heading back to the pits.
Footage of the aftermath of “The Big One” showed several cars being towed away, including No. 40 Justin Allgaier’s car with a busted bonnet.
Van Gisbergen was able to return to the track in 32nd place despite some damage to the body of his car, but he is two laps down.
Stage two of the Daytona 500 ended under caution and was won by Bubba Wallace, who races for the Michael Jordan-owned 23IX racing, who went through the wreck untouched.
Denny Hamlin, who co-owns 23IX racing, was attempting to become the third driver to win four Daytona 500s, while American driver Kyle Busch, who started in pole position, aimed to win “The Great American Race” for the first time in 21 attempts.