SHANE van Gisbergen will be hard to miss this weekend at the Bristol Night Race, with the Trackhouse Racing driver wearing the hues of American fast-food chain Wendy’s for the Playoff round cutoff race.
The chain’s partnership with van Gisbergen this year has been an expensive one, with each of his four victories seeing the company give away a 10-piece nugget serving on the Monday following each of his successes!
Wendy’s backed van Gisbergen at the Chicago Street Race last year, with the driver sporting a particularly eye-catching uniform design, above.
Heading into the weekend, van Gisbergen needs a strong result to keep his hopes of advancing to the Round of 12 alive.
In a tight points battle, SVG currently trails the points cutoff by 15 points.
Austin Dillon is the first of four drivers entering the race on the outside, some 11 points behind, while Alex Bowman (-35 points) and Josh Berry (-45) are essentially in must-win positions.
While pressure will be on van Gisbergen to put his best foot forward, drama for those above the cut line could impact his prospects.
Christopher Bell is +32, Chase Elliot +28, Joey Logano +21, Ross Chastain +19 and Austin Cindric +11, with the high-banked half-mile oval notorious for sweeping drivers up in carnage.
Another talking point will likely be tyres, as cold temperatures are forecast, the potential for wear is unknown.
Already locked in to the round of 12 are recent race winners Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, both from the Joe Gibbs Racing stables.
The round of 16 has been a tough one for van Gisbergen.
After a Murphy’s Law race at Darlington, where he finished 32nd, he claimed 25th from his maiden appearance at Gateway.
If he were to advance to the next round, he would have a genuine shot of elevating to the Round of 8, with the series of three races concluding at the Charlotte Roval, with the Kiwi unbeaten at the Cup Series level since Mexico City in June.
Van Gisbergen had a tough run at Bristol earlier in the year when he was classified 38th, while last year in the Xfinity Series race at the venue, he finished 18th.
The Bristol race is set for a green flag at 9:30am AEST Sunday.