Shane van Gisbergen finished a respectable 15th in his maiden appearance at Darlington Raceway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Justin Allgaier dominated proceedings to win both stages and the race, leading home Austin Hill by 3.407 seconds, with Cole Custer completing the podium.
With no practice and qualifying cancelled due to a passing weather system, the van Gisbergen’s first time on the track came in the race.
A combination of previous race results, owners’ points, and fastest laps from past outings determined the grid, seeing the Kaulig Racing #97 start from 17th.
Custer led AJ Allmendinger in early proceedings before a Lap 20 Competition Caution due to the lack of practice and qualifying. Van Gisbergen sat 22nd at the yellow but climbed to 18th off pit road.
Allgaier hit the front on the Lap 26 restart, with van Gisbergen remaining in the mid-pack and finishing the opening stage in 22nd.
He moved forward off pit row again, beginning the second stage in 19th and ending it 18th.
The 48-lap run for the flag was quickly back under caution when Hailee Deegan’s left rear blew, showering the track with debris.
Van Gisbergen ran mid-pack off the restart and remained there when the race’s fifth caution came on Lap 123 when Parker Retzlaff suffered an engine failure.
Allgaier, who had remained at the front of each restart, cleared out when the race went green for the final time on Lap 132, pulling to a comfortable 3.4-second victory over Hill.
Van Gisbergen was 19th for the restart and gained four places over the 15-lap dash for the flag to finish 15th.
Hill’s runner-up result puts him three points ahead of Custer in the championship lead. Van Gisbergen remains 15th, 35 points outside the top ten.
The Xfinity Series returns on May 26 for 200 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Van Gisbergen will not be in action next weekend due to NASCAR All-Star Weekend.
Header Image: Kaulig Racing
