Shane van Gisbergen made an “embarrassing” admission during his first NASCAR playoff race at Darlington.

The New Zealander, who entered the playoffs sixth in the 16-driver field, said his car was “unraceable” and that there was “no drive.” Van Gisbergen’s first full-time NASCAR Cup Series season has seen him win four of the five road course races – making him the winningest rookie of all time.

At Darlington, as the driver dropped back to 29th place at the end of Stage 2, he told his crew over the team radio: “This car is unraceable. This is embarrassing. I can’t turn, there’s no drive, it’s just not even close.” His team replied to say that the car would improve as darkness set in, and Van Gisbergen said: “Yeah, I f—— hope so… sorry for the language.”

Following the race, the 36-year-old wrote on social media that it had not been “a fun night.”

He posted on X: “We changed the car from yesterday and right away struggled with the balance. The guys didn’t give up on tuning on it and tried something different with strategy, but got a caution at the wrong time and couldn’t rebound from it!”

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Fans responded to the post, encouraging Van Gisbergen to stay positive, with one writing: “You weren’t the only Playoff driver to have a bad night, rebound next week.”

Another said: “Honestly the strategy wasn’t the best call. You don’t need to rely on crazy strategy to get you into a good position. Stay on the winning strategy and let your racing speak for itself.”

A third commented on the post: “Keep pushing! You are going to advance to the next round. Just stay focused and don’t lose heart!”

Ahead of Darlington, Van Gisbergen said he believed it was “always fun to have your back against the wall” and that it is “cool being the underdog”. He said his team would “keep doing what we’ve been doing,” but said that in NASCAR it was important to “eliminate or minimize what we do wrong, and just try to get it right every week.”

He added: “You’ve got to be millimetre perfect every lap, comfortable to run against the wall and the proximity to the wall, and then the repetition and consistency. I think that seems to suit me, and the way the cars slide around, I really enjoy that place.”

Van Gisbergen admitted to reporters that the races at World Wide Technology Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway would be “tough.” He has never before raced at the former, but said he had “struggled a bit” at Bristol in the past.