Shane van Gisbergen led mid-race and ran in the top ten for the majority of proceedings before running out of gas at the start of overtime in his maiden Talladega Xfinity Series outing.
The Kiwi was classified 22nd but claimed valuable stage points in finishing the opening portion of the race in seventh.
Rookie Jesse Love held on in double overtime for his first career victory, coming home ahead of Riley Herbst and Anthony Alfredo.
Van Gisbergen quickly climbed into the top ten off the start, running in the quicker outside lane on the Superspeedway and remaining towards the front for the majority of the opening stage.
A heavy Justin Allgaier crash on the final lap of the stage brought out the yellow when the #97 was seventh.
The outside lane was slower away on the Stage 2 restart, with van Gisbergen dropping from ninth to outside the top 20. He recovered several places to take the green and white chequered in 13th
The three-time Supercars Champion was 20th at the start of Stage 3 following a slow stop but again moved forward with a good run, this time down low and in the middle lane.
He moved into second on Lap 62 and briefly held the lead shortly after before losing slight ground and dropping down the top ten.
A large crash caught out 12 cars, including Kaulig Racing’s Josh Williams and AJ Allmendinger. ‘The Big One’ came when Brandon Jones was spun from third, and he took out several other cars.
Other drivers impacted were Jeremy Clements, Ryan Truex, Sam Mayer, Jeb Burton, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Sieg, Leland Honeyman, Parker Kligerman and Kyle Weatherman.
Van Gisbergen remained low to avoid the carnage and emerged in eighth.
The pits opened with 44 laps to run, and the Kaulig Racing entry returned in fifth, where he remained when the next caution was called shortly after for debris on the circuit.
He slid out of the top ten off the restart but returned to the high line as the middle and lower fell back again. The #97 sat seventh over the final laps as the race ran single file.
Proceedings burst to life with three laps to go, and van Gisbergen quickly dropped low and jumped into the top five, falling back slightly before Austin Hill spun out of the lead and took several others with him.
The Kiwi escaped once again and ran fifth at the overtime restart on the outside line but failed to get away off the green, running out of gas as he launched.
Love and Sheldon Creed came together on the restart, collecting Williams and Kligerman and bringing the race back to caution for a second overtime.
Having stopped for gas, van Gisbergen returned in 22nd, where he remained at the chequered flag.
The Xfinity Series returns at Dover International Speedway next weekend.
Header Image: Kaulig Racing
