Shane van Gisbergen has endured a difficult day at Phoenix, with the Kiwi unable to make significant inroads through the field to finish in twenty-sixth place.
Van Gisbergen gained ground off the start. He climbed to twenty-second in the opening laps and settled in behind Zane Smith, prioritising the long run. Further forward, Connor Zilisch jumped Ross Chastain for eighth, with Chastain close behind in ninth.
Out front, pole sitter Ryan Blaney looked comfortable and had built an almost two-second lead over teammate Joey Logano by lap thirty-five. Denny Hamlin had slipped back to sixth but remained well clear of Larson, who had only climbed as high as seventeenth.
With fifteen laps remaining in Stage 1, Michael McDowell and Riley Herbst came together, putting both drivers in the wall. Van Gisbergen was directly behind the pair when it happened and was clearly entertained over the radio. The resulting caution brought most of the field down pit lane, including van Gisbergen.
Blaney, who had led every lap to that point, fell foul of a slow four-tyre stop. It cost him seven positions and handed the lead to Hamlin, throwing a spanner in the works of what had looked a controlled race.
Van Gisbergen rejoined in twenty-seventh when the green flag flew. He struggled on the restart and lacked any real pace, and a pit lane speeding penalty only compounded the problem, as he closed out a tough Stage 1 in twenty-eighth.
As the field cycled through the pits once more, van Gisbergen moved up to nineteenth, where he came under pressure from Hamlin, who had also suffered a slow stop at the start of the stage. Chastain and Zilisch remained inside the top ten, among the highest-placed championship contenders on track.
By lap twenty-five of Stage 2, Blaney had recovered to third. Christopher Bell led from Logano, with Chase Briscoe holding his own in fourth.
It was becoming clear the day was not going Larson’s way. He had dropped to twenty-fourth by the halfway point of the stage, putting valuable championship points at risk. Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, had climbed to fifteenth and was showing far better pace and balance than in Stage 1.
There was a close call on pit entry when veteran Brad Keselowski spun. Corey Heim was lucky to avoid him, and NASCAR elected to keep the race green.
That green-flag run came to an end when Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon tangled, leaving one driver out of the race and the other with damage. The incident promoted van Gisbergen to fifteenth as the field headed down pit lane.
Logano led the restart ahead of Bell, Briscoe and Josh Berry. Van Gisbergen held fifteenth, behind Chastain in eleventh but ahead of Zilisch, who had dropped to eighteenth.
The Kiwi was unable to make further progress as the stage wore on and finished it in twenty-second, while Logano took the stage win over Bell.
Logano kept control of the field on the restart, and a lengthy green-flag run allowed van Gisbergen to start working his way forward. Up front, the race was turned on its head when Hamlin suffered a flat tyre that sent him to the back. His day got worse with a pit lane speeding penalty and an untimely caution, triggered when Cody Ware hit the wall and was forced out of the race.
Van Gisbergen broke into the top twenty forty-two laps into the final stage. Bubba Wallace led the field back to green ahead of Briscoe and Bell, with Chastain in eleventh and Zilisch in twenty-second.
With fifty laps to go, Chase drivers dominated the top eight. Radio traffic from Logano’s team revealed a suspected alternator issue on the #22, and he was asked to switch it off in a bid to make the finish.
By lap 272, van Gisbergen had fallen to twenty-fifth and a lap down. He was handed a lifeline by a caution brought out by Larson, who appeared to suffer a front-right tyre issue that sent him into the barrier.
Only Briscoe, Chase Elliott and Ty Gibbs stayed out, while van Gisbergen pitted for four fresh tyres. Larson’s damage proved too severe to continue, forcing him to retire and blowing the championship wide open.
The race resumed with nineteen laps to go and van Gisbergen sat in nineteenth. At the front, Reddick began to challenge Briscoe for the lead, with Elliott, Gibbs and Blaney all quick behind.
A fierce battle followed, with the entire top six in contention for the win. Reddick made the most of his opportunity, driving away from the field to take his sixth victory of the season and remain firmly in the title fight.
The championship now sits as close as ever, with only fifty-six points seperating the top seven.
Van Gisbergen was classified twenty-sixth at the flag, ending a disappointing day. Chastain managed to climb to ninth, with Zilisch having a trickier final stint to finish twentieth.
NASCAR will resume next week at Talledega Superspeedway, with action kicking off on the 23rd of October.
