A TOP-10 finish has gone begging for Shane van Gisbergen in the NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, after being spun out on a green-white-chequered flag finish.
Ultimately, the Kiwi was classified 23rd.
It was a wild race, all told, there were 18 cautions, with most of the Chase contenders involved in incidents.
After qualifying 35th, van Gisbergen was in the thick of the action early.
Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez were the first to tangle, setting the trend for the first stage.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun before a four-wide squeeze involving Suarez, Cody Ware, SVG and Noah Gragson brought out the next caution.
Fortunately, the damage to the #97 was minimal, and he continued in the race before bringing out another caution on lap 27.
Van Gisbergen ultimately finished 27th in the opening stage, which Joey Logano won.
Ty Gibbs spun Erik Jones after the restart, with the next tangle involving Riley Herbst and AJ Allmendinger.
With SVG placed 28th, the stage ended with a vicious crash for Zane Smith, who walked away from a hard impact with the driver’s side of the car following an apparent brake failure.
The stage win went to Kyle Larson.
Bubba Wallace was the next Chase contender to strike trouble after a four-wide squeeze out of turn two, which also collected Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliot and William Byron.
Ryan Blaney was the next to suffer a brake failure, while his Team Penske Ford pitched into the wall on the front straight.
Van Gisbergen’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain was the next to go for a spin, while Riley Herbst hit the wall and retired.
Gragson was the next to succumb to brake issues.
Electing not to pit under the caution, van Gisbergen lined up from fourth for the restart, but was quickly swallowed up by the leaders.
The next caution came when Elliot suffered a failure and swept Briscoe into the wall.
Restarting from ninth, van Gisbergen dodged a huge crash directly in front of him involving Wallace, Josh Berry, Bell and Reddick.
Launching from eighth with 13 laps to go, the yellows flashed on for the 16th time when Gibbs, Suarez and Ty Dillon came off the worst from a midpack squeeze.
Wth only three laps remaining, Chris Buescher found the wall after yet another brake failure, with SVG placed ninth.
On a green-white-chequered flag finish, van Gisbergen’s race finally unravelled when a three-wide squeeze saw contact from Carson Hocevar spin out the #97.
Restarting 26th, SVG moved into 23rd at the finish, with Kyle Larson claiming the victory.
Next week, the NASCAR Cup Series continues with the Bristol Night Race.
The Undercut – Ford’s best Bathurst chance?
THE Undercut returns, breaking down the latest news in the world of Supercars racing!