BRISTOL Motor Speedway continues to haunt Shane van Gisbergen, with a spin and heavy contact before the halfway mark of today’s NASCAR Cup Series race sidelining the Trackhouse Racing driver.
The accident came after the #97 Chevrolet dropped off the lead lap early in the race, as the three-time Supercars champion battled the handling of the car.
By finishing 34th, the result means that the Kiwi has not finished better than 26th in three starts at the high-banked concrete half-mile oval, as he has provisionally slipped to 16th in the standings, with a one-point buffer the current Chase cut-off.
After qualifying 33rd, van Gisbergen settled in 32nd when the field settled into a single file, before dropping a lap to the leaders on lap 44 of 500.
On lap 61, the caution flashed on for Brad Keselowski, who spun after contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and with the #97 Chevrolet the fourth car a lap down, before receiving the wave around back onto the lead lap after not pitting.
Restarting from 30th with 55 laps left in the stage, SVG dropped off the lead lap again within 30 circuits, placing 33rd at the end of the stage, which was won by Kyle Larson.
Not long after the resumption of racing, Christopher Bell, directly behind van Gisbergen, suffered a spin on the track.
On lap 160, van Gisbergen’s race unravelled when he spun on track, sweeping Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek and Todd Gilliland into the wall.
After initially returning to the pit box, the car was sent to the Damaged Vehicle Policy area for extended repairs due to a bent upper control arm.
Following extended repairs, van Gisbergen returned to the circuit some 158 laps off the pace, placed 35th.
Larson swept the stages of the race, while Kyle Busch’s miserable season continued thanks to the bumper of Riley Herbst.
Later, van Gisbergen’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch spun into the wall on lap 383.
With 24 laps remaining, Chase Elliot spun, erasing Ryan Blaney’s advantage over the field, with both he and Larson left on an island after only eight of the 13 lead lap cars stopping under the yellow.
A fantastic battle between Ty Gibbs, Blaney, Larson and Tyler Reddick broke out until Herbst was retributed into the wall by Busch in sight of the finish.
In a green-white-chequered flag finish, Gibbs held on in a photo finish from Blaney to secure his maiden Cup Series victory.
Van Gisbergen was classified in 34th, some 170 laps off the pace.
Next week, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the 1.5-mile-long oval at Kansas Speedway.
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