![\"\u2018Stay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2609TC1953.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShane van Gisbergen’s #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Image: Tom Copeland<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShane van Gisbergen’s #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Image: Tom Copeland<\/p>\n
Van Gisbergen finished the overtime-extended 274-lapper in 36th, four laps off the lead.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t the only one suffering. Trackhouse Racing stablemates Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch were slow, each finishing two laps down in 26th and 29th respectively.<\/p>\n
The \u00a0New Zealander had hailed the team\u2019s understanding of the new Chevrolet Camaro body after he qualified a Kansas personal-best 17th<\/a>.<\/p>\n A day later, the script flipped completely.<\/p>\n Racing among other cars, van Gisbergen bemoaned understeer as he ploughed through the turns.<\/p>\n At the same time, he chewed through his tyres trying to to slide the rear through the turns by stabbing the throttle.<\/p>\n \u201cJust a struggle for our #97 Red Bull team today,\u201d said van Gisbergen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started out pretty good with our lap times, but the car was just very tight.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t really find the balance on my Chevrolet to keep us competitive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to make some major changes after losing a [of] couple laps, then just couldn\u2019t make up any positions with the long green flag runs.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot to learn from today, but we\u2019ll be ready for Talladega next weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n Van Gisbergen\u2019s teammate Zilisch took to social media, pleading with fans to stay the course as the team works to understand its issues.<\/p>\n \u201cI know things aren\u2019t going great for us right now but I know nobody is going to work harder than this Trackhouse team to get us back where we belong,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cStay with us.\u201d<\/p>\n Connor Zilisch during the NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway. Image: Matt Wishart<\/p>\n Zilisch\u2019s crew chief Randal Burnett was puzzled by Trackhouse Racing\u2019s lacklustre speed.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously not the speed we were wanting across the board for any of our cars,\u201d Burnett told Frontstretch.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve obviously got a lot of work to do to try figure out this new Chevy body package and what we need with our cars. We\u2019ve definitely missed it on the mile-and-a-half stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s certainly not from a lack of effort, just haven\u2019t hit on it yet. We\u2019ve got a lot of work to do in-house and try to get it figured out in a short amount of time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve obviously got a new body for the first time in a long time. There are certainly some different characteristics on it that were different from the one that we ran the last three or four years.<\/p>\n \u201cI think as a whole, all the Chevy cars are learning. Some of them are doing a better job of learning than others.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to put our heads down and try to figure out where we\u2019re missing it. I think we\u2019re missing it a lot in a lot of areas when it comes to getting the balance right of our cars, getting the set-ups we need.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a rookie who has an incredible amount of talent, unfortunately we haven\u2019t given him the cars he needs to go out there and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n Chevrolet teams have struggled since the revised Camaro body was introduced.<\/p>\n Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Chase Elliott is the only bow tie driver to win this season at Martinsville. His teammate Kyle Larson is the best Chevrolet driver in the standings, occupying fifth.<\/p>\n Toyota has been dominant this year, winning seven of the nine races to date. Five of those have been by 23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick, while Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs have the other two.<\/p>\n To the same point this time last year, Chevrolet had three wins.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething\u2019s got to be going on with Chevy, right? It\u2019s not like they went through a complete body [change],\u201d said NASCAR veteran Hamlin on his podcast, Actions Detrimental.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see the numbers, and it\u2019s not that big of a difference. Trust me on this, this change is very small. It\u2019s wild that they have these struggles. Clearly, it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trackhouse cars were quite a bit better on mile-and-a-halfs to end last year. I think SVG was finishing in the top 15 pretty much every mile and a half.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough the off-season, it\u2019s making your stuff worse.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have enough resources over there at Trackhouse that they\u2019ll get it figured out. It\u2019s a matter of how much time it takes.<\/p>\n \u201cEven as tough as the year has gone for Chastain, he\u2019s not way out of the cut line to get into the Playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are always ebbs and flows of teams, but usually you don\u2019t see it go this drastically one way.\u201d<\/p>\n The NASCAR Cup Series continues at Talladega Superspeedway on April 27.<\/p>\n For more of the latest NASCAR news and analysis, visit Speedcafe US<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/speedcafe.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-1.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Connor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ADKq_NYVi_1bTRgCyi-wcbBSRVXHnc5AaP3gZSDfPVptVumFLUGPvT83XSb2Iq_BEab4-7qRE7cy9vBqlrp_dl59zEyw3QjTpYf4.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/250635.jpeg\")