Van Gisbergen crashed out in the NASCAR Cup Race at Phoenix Raceway earlier today after a massive 11-car wreck on Lap 99 of the 312-lap race in Arizona.
Shane Van Gisbergen started today’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway 29th, behind Ryan Preece and in front of Chase Briscoe after qualifying yesterday with a lap time of 27.555s.
The race’s first caution was only four laps in when British driver Katherine Legge, who today made her NASCAR Cup Series debut, locked up and spun at the rear of the field.
The race successfully restarted before we saw the first incident involving multiple cars on the restart lap. Cole Custer made contact with Todd Gilliland, resulting in Gilliland hitting Ricky Stenhouse Jr. side-on. Stenhouse Jr. spun, causing the race’s second caution. Van Gisbergen’s race dash cam caught all the action as he narrowly missed being caught up in the contact.
Van Gisbergen struggled with tyres during Stage 1, using yellow-lettered tyres, and finished the stage in 33rd position. Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez finished the stage 28th, while Ross Chastain finished in the Top 20 in 14th place. William Byron won Stage 1 with
Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney rounding out the Top 5.
Van Gisbergen was among many drivers who opted for the red-lettered option tyre for Stage 2. Red-lettered tyres are softer and known for giving cars more grip and a temporary increase in speed, but they tend to wear out faster. They are great for gaining track positions and allow teams to use strategy during the race.
Van Gisbergen made up an impressive number of track positions in a short time frame, from 33rd to 18th, before being involved in an 11-car pile-up, ending his race with significant damage to his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. The damage resulted from severe contact with Justin Haley in the #7 Camaro, who had made contact with Chase Briscoe’s #19 Toyota Camry, briefly sending Briscoe into the air, Haley spinning, and ending up sideways leaving Van Gisbergen with nowhere to go. Haley’s engine can be seen briefly erupting into flames during the wreckage.
“We’re done. I’m going to try to bring it back, but it doesn’t look or feel good,” Van Gisbergen said over his team radio.
“I’ve still got steering, but it doesn’t feel good at all. I still have oil and water pressure but a lot of smoke.”
Chase Briscoe also added “Yeah that was about the biggest you can crash at Phoenix. Yeah, it was a big one”
Van Gisbergen limped back to the pits, where the Trackhouse Team assessed and attempted to repair the car. At one point, a circular saw could be seen cutting into the #88 Chevrolet in an attempt to remove the front right tyre. Van Gisbergen briefly returned to the track, but the order came in to retire the car, still suffering from a steering issue.
Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, and Riley Herbst were the other casualties of the multi-car pile-up, all of which retired from the race. Todd Gilliland, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, and Noah Gragson were also involved in the pile-up but could restart the race.
Christopher Bell in the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry goes back-to-back-to back and wins at Phoenix Raceway, 3 race wins in a row! The last driver who accomplished that was Kyle Larson. An impressive effort from Bell. Denny Hamlin in 2nd who battled Bell right to the finish line and Kyle Larson finished in 3rd.
Van Gisbergen’s next NASCAR Cup race is at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 17, 8:30 am NZT.
Header Image: Trackhouse Racing/NASCAR.
