Shane van Gisbergen led nine laps and escaped major damage in a record-breaking pileup to finish a commedable 15th in this morning’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The three-time Xfinity Series race winner had qualified 17th for the race and ran a quiet first stage, taking the green-and-white chequered in 28th.
The majority of the field stopped during the caution, with van Gisbergen dropping to the rear of the field after missing his pit box and having to tour the lane again.
He made steady progress during Stage 2 and quickly worked his way to the front on Lap 91 before making a green-flag stop on Lap 99.
The Kiwi was amongst the lead group at the end of the stage on Lap 122 and pushed William Byron to the stage win on the inside lane, crossing the line fourth himself.
Van Gisbergen took contact from Ryan Blaney on the run to the line, with Alex Bowman getting into the rear of the #12 Ford and turning it left. He bounced off van Gisbergen’s #16 Camaro, and veered right, up the track and into Ross Chastain, putting both cars into the barriers and ending their races.
The three-time Supercars champion stopped at the end of the stage before running in the mid-field until Lap 167 when he stopped under green.
Once the pit cycle had played out, van Gisbergen ran towards the back of the pack, which proved his saving grace for the ‘biggest of big ones’, a crash involving most of the field on Lap 185.
Van Gisbergen slowed to avoid the incident, only to cop a hit from behind from Erik Jones, causing little damage.
The crash, which NASCAR says involved 28 drivers, came when Brad Keselowski spun Austin Cindric in front of the field as the inside lane checked up.
Playoff contenders Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Cindric, and Chase Briscoe were involved in the incident.
Following a red flag delay, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the field back to green on the outside, with Keselowski inside.
Stenhouse held on at the front to win in a dramatic three-wide photo finish, with Keselowski inside and just 0.006 seconds behind, and Byron outside, 0.021 further adrift.
Kyle Larson ran a quiet race for fourth, ahead of Jones, Bell, Justin Haley, Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin, who completed the top ten.
Van Gisbergen made a bold attempt to make a third lane in the mid-field but was not followed on his way to 15th.
Byron, Bell and Larson continue to lead in the playoff round of 12, while Logano is the first driver outside the bubble, 13 points adrift. Suarez (-20), Austin Cindric (-29) and Briscoe (-32) are the other drivers in the bottom four ahead of next weekend’s outing on the Charlotte Roval (road course).
Header Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images (supplied NASCAR)
