Shane van Gisbergen has retired from this morning’s Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway following a Stage 2 crash.
The Kiwi made it 87 laps into Sunday’s 250-lap race and was running 25th when he lost the rear of the #97 Camaro coming through Turn 2. As he tried to save it, he came together with Blaine Perkins, who was running on the outside.
Both cars made contact with the outside wall, with van Gisbergen entering nose-first as he spun from further contact with Kyle Weatherman.
Perkins and van Gisbergen were unable to resume.
“I just got loose,” he said on NBC Sports following the incident. [I had] a guy on top of me.
“We just stayed out, got back on the lead lap, getting more and more confidence, and just got loose and tried to sort of spin in the middle, and someone collected me.
So, it’s my fault again. I’m gutted for the Kaulig Racing guys – two cars ruined there – and Kubota, Chevrolet; thanks for everyone supporting us, but I’m gutted to do that again.
“It’s the first time I’ve crashed out of a race, really,” he added.
“But, I learned a lot all weekend. We actually had some speed yesterday, which was cool.
“The car today was a little bit difficult, so try again next week.”
The crash is the second of the weekend for the #97, following an incident in Saturday’s practice.
The damage from that forced the Kiwi to take the start in Kaulig Racing’s backup car, which sent him to the rear of the grid.
Qualifying for the race was rained off, and based on NASCAR’s performance metric, which set the grid, van Gisbergen would have started on the front row next to Austin Hill.
Instead, he was forced to battle from the back.
The #97 Camaro worked its way forward through the opening stage and was 33rd when the race’s first caution came on Lap 34 after teammate AJ Allmendinger hit the wall, with a right-front flat to blame.
Most of the field stopped under the caution, and the three-time Supercars Champion lost a lap on the field as John Hunter Nemechek and two others remained out.
Severe right front graining troubled several other drivers towards the end of the stage, including Hill, who tumbled from the lead group to outside the top 20.
Jeb Burton’s tyre was the next to go, entering Turn 3 on Lap 72, and he rode the wall around the corner as he slowed and brought out the second caution.
The opening 75-lap stage finished under yellow, with Chandler Smith leading Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier, and Sammy Smith to the green and white chequered.
Van Gisbergen returned to the lead lap under the caution and took the restart 26th, where he remained until his incident on Lap 87.
Hill, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Weatherman, Parker Retzlaff and Jesse Love have since joined Glen Reen (mechanical), Allmendinger, Jones, Perkins, and van Gisbergen as non-finishers.
With 50 laps to run, Mayer led Creed and Nemechek with the race under caution after Allgaier made heavy contact with the Turn 4 wall when his right front failed.
Nemechek took the lead shortly after the restart and was at the front when Hill crashed out, having climbed back to second with 32 laps remaining.
