Shane van Gisbergen endured a challenging 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, battling an ill-handling car and multiple penalties before bringing his #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet home in 20th.
Adverse weather had already disrupted the NASCAR Cup Series weekend, with qualifying cancelled and the starting order instead determined by NASCAR’s metric system.
That placed Kyle Larson on the front row following his victory last weekend, alongside Joey Logano, while van Gisbergen lined up 22nd.
His Trackhouse Racing teammates started further forward, with Ross Chastain seventh and Connor Zilisch 15th. Van Gisbergen made encouraging progress in the opening laps, climbing three positions to 19th as he settled into the race.
At the front, Larson took control early, leading William Byron, Logano, Alex Bowman and Austin Cindric, while Chastain also remained inside the top 10. The first scheduled competition caution arrived on Lap 44, prompting most of the field to head to pit road.
Van Gisbergen was among those to stop and returned to the track in 20th, while the pit cycle shuffled the order at the front and left Logano and Cindric leading the field. It was after the restart that van Gisbergen’s afternoon began to unravel.
The Kiwi slipped backwards through the field to 28th and reported over the radio that his Chevrolet was “very, very loose”, leaving him struggling for confidence around Bristol’s high-banked half-mile oval.
Another opportunity to make changes arrived on Lap 94 when Erik Jones lost the rear of his car and spun, bringing out another caution.
Van Gisbergen returned to pit road as Trackhouse attempted to improve the balance of the #97 before he restarted from 28th. The adjustments didn’t produce the turnaround he needed, and van Gisbergen finished Stage 1 in 30th.
His difficulties continued into Stage 2 as he fell a lap behind the leaders and spent much of the race trying to recover while running outside the top 20.
A difficult afternoon was compounded by several penalties, including speeding on pit road and equipment interference.
Those setbacks ultimately left van Gisbergen three laps down, although he continued to battle through the closing stages and recovered to take the chequered flag in 20th.
While van Gisbergen fought further down the order, the battle for victory came alive in the closing laps.
Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar were in contention at the front before Logano made his move on the final restart, surging into the lead and going on to claim the victory at Bristol. The action continued even after the chequered flag.
Hocevar and Ryan Blaney became involved in a heated post-race confrontation that was caught on camera, with punches thrown between the pair.
The clash followed an earlier on-track incident between the two, when Blaney spun following contact with Hocevar as Blaney moved down the track.
For van Gisbergen, 20th place capped a frustrating Bristol weekend, as persistent handling problems and costly trips through pit road undone his early progress.
Header Image: NASCAR
