Shane van Gisbergen was spun out of the top ten by Sam Mayer late in this morning’s Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway.
A second spin for the Kiwi on Lap 88 of 90 dropped him to 31st as the last car on the lead lap.
A Lap 71 caution had worked in the Kaulig Racing #97’s favour, with van Gisbergen having run long while others had stopped earlier under green.
He took the following restart in 17th, the next one in 13th, and ran as high as eighth entering the final stages.
However, nose-to-tail contact from Mayer at Turn 2 on Lap 81 sent him into a spin. He avoided the wall and was 27th at the final restart with four laps remaining.
He quickly climbed to 20th but spun again at Turn 2, leaving him to drop to 31st.
Cole Custer prevailed in an enthralling battle with Justin Allgaier for victory, with William Byron completing the top three.
Van Gisbergen earlier qualified 26th for the race, setting a lap of 55.460s on the three-turn, 4.023 km triangle-shaped superspeedway. Sheldon Creed qualified on pole with a 53.810s flyer, putting over two-tenths on closest challenger Brandon Jones.
Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger lined up tenth, and Josh Williams started 22nd.
Creed and Jones ran side-by-side over the opening lap, with the pole-sitter taking the advantage into Turn 1 just moments before Dawson Cram went hard into the Turn 1 wall with brake issues, bringing the race’s first caution.
Van Gisbergen stopped under the yellow for the team to make adjustments to the #97 Camaro, dropping to the rear of the field.
Allgaier took the lead off Creed shortly after the Lap 7 restart, as Jones lost ground from the lead pack with a rear tyre down and came into the pits under green, losing a lap in the process
Once in front, Allgaier put over four seconds on the field to win the opening 20-lap stage, his 11th stage win of the season, from Custer, Chandler Smith, Byron and Allmendinger.
Van Gisbergen worked his way forward from the rear of the field to take the green-and-white chequered in 27th.
Jesse Love, who qualified 19th and stopped under the first caution, was the only car not to stop between the stages, seeing him hit the front. Allgaier received a pass-through penalty with his team found guilty of equipment interference, which put Custer into second and the first of those who stopped.
Van Gisbergen took the start of Stage 2 in 21st.
Custer quickly hit the front before a Lap 27 caution, which came when Byron suffered a flat, and the tyre carcass parted ways on track.
Custer pulled clear off the Lap 31 restart for a comfortable Stage 2 win and was followed to the green-and-white chequered by Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Riley Herbst and Ryan Sieg.
Van Gisbergen sat 20th at the end of Stage 2 and returned for Stage 3 in 23rd.
Byron remained out under caution to take the lead.
The race was quickly back under caution, with a multi-car collision in the mid-field caused by Parker Retzlaff getting loose through Turn 1 and collecting Ryan Ellis, Leland Honeyman, and Brennan Poole, taking all cars up the track into the outside wall.
Several cars stopped under the caution, with van Gisbergen taking the restart in 20th.
Allmendinger was spun out of the top ten at Turn 1 on the Lap 51 restart. The field remarkably avoided the #16 Kaulig Racing entry, and the race remained green.
Teams began making their final stops in green flag conditions from Lap 60, with van Gisbergen remaining out.
The #97 sat sixth when a Lap 69 caution came out when Stephen Mallozzi came to a stop on track and stopped under caution on Lap 71, taking four tyres and fuel.
He took the Lap 74 restart in 17th, with Allgaier, Sammy Smith, and Anthony Alfredo remaining out and filling the top three spots, albeit on older tyres and low on gas.
The race was again back under caution shortly after when Jeremy Clements spun in Turn 2 and collected Mason Massey before making contact with the wall.
Van Gisbergen had climbed to 13th before the yellow, with Allgaier retaining the lead ahead of Custer.
Allgaier led away on the Lap 79 restart, and Custer went with him. The Stage 1 winner kept the position for the first two tours, but Custer got the position on Lap 81.
Van Gisbergen had moved forward to sit as high as eighth and was tenth when he was spun by Sam Mayer in Turn 2, which brought out the yellow. Mayer braked late entering the corner, running into the rear of the #97 at speed as the field ran single-file.
Van Gisbergen kept his car out of the wall and remained on the lead lap to begin the four-lap sprint to the line in 27th.
He gained an impressive seven places on the restart but spun at Turn 2 on Lap 88, which dropped him to 31st.
Custer prevailed in the battle with Allgaier to take his first win of the season, with Allgaier second ahead of Byron, Creed, Gray and Allmendinger, who recovered from his mid-race spin for sixth.
Van Gisbergen was classified 31st, while his Kaulig Racing teammate Williams was 18th.
The Xfinity Series returns next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Header Image: Kaulig Racing
