SHANE van Gisbergen has shot up the NASCAR Cup Series standings, now sitting fifth in points after finishing second at the Circuit of the Americas.
While Tyler Reddick’s third straight victory denied van Gisbergen a sixth successive road course win, the Kiwi was in the front running mix throughout, finishing second and claiming a big haul of 10 bonus stage points.
Van Gisbergen came into the weekend 16th in the standings.
After picking up points with his sixth-place effort in the Daytona Duels, SVG was wiped out in Daytona to be classified 30th (with a stage point), but rebounded last week to claim sixth at Atlanta, his best oval track performance to date.
Van Gisbergen has now led the last three Cup Series points races, equal with Reddick and Ryan Blaney, while he also led the season-opening Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
This season, the NASCAR pointscore has reverted to a Chase format, rather than the Playoffs, where there was an emphasis on win-and-you ’re-in.
Through the Chase, the top-16 in points after 26 races advance to the final ten-week stretch of the season.
After three events, he has a 22-point buffer over 16th-place Ryan Preece.
“It’s weird to be disappointed with second, but this series is at a high level,” said van Gisbergen.
“It felt ok, we got our SafetyCulture Chevy a lot better than yesterday, but just following Tyler, his driving was immaculate, and his car was very good too.
“I tried, but didn’t quite have enough, still a great points day for the #97.”
At the top of the standings behind Reddick is his 23XI Racing stablemate Bubba Wallace (-70), followed by Chase Elliot (-72) and Ryan Blaney (-86) in fourth.
Other notables at the other end of the scale include Ross Chastain (20th), Denny Hamlin (23rd), Christopher Bell (24th), Chase Briscoe (27th) and Alex Bowman (36th).
Next week, the NASCAR Cup Series is joined by IndyCar in Phoenix, after fellow New Zealander Scott McLaughlin finished second in the open wheelers today in St Petersburg.
“Control Freak”: Mark Skaife’s 2000 Holden Commodore TV commercial
Holden Racing Team ace Mark Skaife features in this 2000 Holden TV commercial made for the Australian market focused on the rear-wheel-drive Holden Commodore.