SHANE van Gisbergen has endured a frustrating Iowa NASCAR Cup Series race, finishing 30th after a mid-race spin.

The saving grace for the former Supercars champion was that many of his Chase playoff contenders also struggled on the short intermediate oval.

Finishing one position ahead of him was Austin Cindric, while Erik Jones fell by the wayside early, with Ryan Preece in 20th and Brad Keselowski in 27th.

Provisionally, van Gisbergen remains 15th in the standings with a 47-point buffer to the cut-off, 18 points clear of Cindric.

Now 17th in points is Preece, some 28 points below Cindric, with SVG’s Trackhouse Racing stablemate Ross Chastain moving into 18th, 47 points adrift of Cindric.

Compounding issues, van Gisbergen endured driver cooling issues throughout.

The race kicked off in sensational circumstances when former series leader Tyler Reddick tipped fellow Toyota runner Jones into the wall on lap 3 of 350.

Jones came into the race challenging van Gisbergen for a place in the Chase, with his momentum cruelled in the incident.

From 23rd at the start, van Gisbergen held position until the stage break, which was claimed by Ryan Blaney.

After restarting 24th, van Gisbergen spun and tapped the wall on lap 91, losing a lap after stalling.

Fortunately, the Kiwi was able to regain the lap after Rick Stenhouse Jr was spun following a four-wide move on the subsequent restart.

Carson Hocevar’s tough day got worse on lap 141 with a solo spin, while the restart didn’t last, as another four-wide run ended with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman finishing in the wall.

In the run to the second stage break, SVG fended off leader Christopher Bell to finish 29th, and the final car on the lead lap.

Van Gisbergen ran long on the final stint of the race, pitting with 20 laps remaining, before finishing 30th, two laps down.

Ty Gibbs claimed the victory in a grandstand finish against Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell.

Gibbs is now placed second in points to teammate Denny Hamlin.

Three races remain before the cutoff for the Chase, with NASCAR next week returning to Richmond Raceway.

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