Shane van Gisbergen during the Coca-Cola 600.
Van Gisbergen was running fifth with 48 laps to go when the caution came out due to lightning near Charlotte Motor Speedway.
A combination of a slow pit stop and others electing to take two tyres instead of four dropped him back to 10th.
Then came ‘the choose’ to go high or low for the subsequent restart. Van Gisbergen mistakenly took the outside line, which dropped him back to 12th for the restart.
Two more weather-related interruptions ultimately scuppered his hopes of making any meaningful headway and he had to settle for 11th.
Speaking post-race, van Gisbergen was frustrated that he didn’t finish higher.
“I had an amazing day, but I’m pissed,” he said.
“Just a bad choose and should be top five or six. We had an amazing day and then just didn’t execute at the end.
“It was really cool to run up the front all day. Obviously gifted a good starting position by the rain-out.
“Filthy with myself for the end. Should have been a bit better.”
“We had sort of been giving up a row to go outside and it would pay back, and I just misheard Josh and I made the mistake. So I’m pretty pissed at myself for that.”
SVG delivers stunning drive in rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600
It was an otherwise promising performance for van Gisbergen, who ran consistently in the top 10 all night.
Van Gisbergen scored stage points in all three legs during the Coca-Cola 600, finishing Stage 1 in 10th, Stage 2 in ninth, and Stage 3 in seventh to collect seven bonus points.
For finishing 11th, he collected an additional 26 points to his tally.
All told, the result has moved van Gisbergen from 16th to 14th and two places above the cut line ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece of RFK Racing.
Preece fell three places to 16th in the standings after being collected in an awkward clash on Lap 329 that meant he failed to finish.
Briscoe also gained two places in the standings from below the cut line to sit 15th.
Van Gisbergen has one road course win to his credit this year at Watkins Glen but has not been able to score a top 10 on an oval yet this season.
He hasn’t been far away, though, thrice finishing 11th across Phoenix, Martinsville, and Charlotte.
Van Gisbergen’s next three races will present a challenge, with the quirky concrete Nashville followed by Michigan and then the ‘Tricky Triangle’ Pocono.
Last year, SVG was only 25th at Nashville, 18th at Michigan, and 31st at Pocono.
Although it’s been a difficult month or two of late outside of the Watkins Glen win, van Gisbergen expressed optimism.
“It’s been an upward trend,” he said.
“The last month has been average – or a little bit more – but I feel like I’m generally getting better and better.
“Now our team is doing an amazing job giving us better cars too.
“Pretty stoked for Trackhouse and stoked I can be up there all day, genuinely.”
The NASCAR Cup Series continues with the Cracker Barrel 400 on Monday, June 1 at 9:00am AEST.
NASCAR Cup Series points after Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway (top 20)
Pos
Driver
Team
Car
Points
Stage Points
Diff
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
DNF
Laps Led
1
Tyler Reddick
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
620
116
0
5
9
10
0
320
2
Denny Hamlin
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
498
117
-122
1
6
8
0
699
3
RyanBlaney
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
446
106
-174
1
3
8
2
249
4
Ty Gibbs
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
425
95
-195
1
6
9
3
95
5
Chase Elliott
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
423
61
-197
2
5
7
1
196
6
Kyle Larson
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
386
113
-234
0
4
7
2
513
7
Chris Buescher
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
385
70
-235
0
2
6
0
68
8
Christopher Bell
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
361
92
-259
0
4
5
2
369
9
Carson Hocevar
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
356
53
-264
1
3
5
0
75
10
Daniel Suarez
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
350
31
-270
1
2
4
1
18
11
Brad Keselowski
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
343
53
-277
0
2
4
0
160
12
William Byron
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
337
57
-283
0
2
7
2
34
13
Bubba Wallace
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
328
72
-292
0
1
6
2
89
14
Shane van Gisbergen
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
316
44
-304
1
2
3
0
91
15
Chase Briscoe
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
304
64
-316
0
4
5
3
103
16
Ryan Preece
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
303
46
-317
0
0
2
1
26
17
Austin Cindric
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
288
60
-332
0
1
4
3
26
18
Joey Logano
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
274
63
-346
0
2
4
3
114
19
AJ Allmendinger
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
254
25
-366
0
0
2
0
2
20
Michael McDowell
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
248
20
-372
0
2
3
0
24
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