Shane van Gisbergen led 30 laps in the wet at New Hampshire Motor Speedway before struggling as the track dried, eventually finishing 20th as Ryan Blaney took victory.
Starting fifth in the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, van Gisbergen was immediately on the pace in the damp conditions and quickly worked his way towards the front.
Tyler Reddick and Josh Berry shared the front row, with Berry getting the better start before running high through Turn 2. That allowed Reddick back into the lead, with William Byron moving into second.
The first caution came just five laps into the 301-lap race when Reddick spun coming out of Turn 4. Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher managed to avoid him, while Byron took over the lead ahead of van Gisbergen, who had already climbed from fifth to second.
Byron led the field back to green on Lap 7 and cleared van Gisbergen through Turn 2. The Kiwi held second for another few laps before Christopher Bell found a way past on Lap 10.
Van Gisbergen stayed with the leaders and reclaimed second from Bell on Lap 26 before chasing down Byron for the lead.
Once he got by the Hendrick Motorsports driver, van Gisbergen quickly pulled away. By Lap 32 his advantage was 4.7 seconds, growing to 6.7 seconds just three laps later.
He was also the fastest driver on track at that stage, setting a 32.438-second lap at 117.418mph.
The advantage disappeared when NASCAR called a competition caution on Lap 40, giving teams the chance to switch to dry tyres as conditions improved.
Van Gisbergen’s teammate Ross Chastain was already in trouble before the caution, with smoke coming from the right-front of his Chevrolet. Chastain headed to pit road and was eventually forced to retire.
Van Gisbergen remained out front when racing resumed on Lap 50 and cleared Berry at the restart, with Byron moving into second.
The race was slowed three laps again later when Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun in Turn 4.
Van Gisbergen once again got a clean restart on Lap 56, but his early pace began to disappear as the field settled onto slick tyres.
Kyle Larson took the lead from him on Lap 57 before Carson Hocevar and Bell also moved through. Van Gisbergen quickly fell to sixth as he battled understeer and brake-bias issues with the No. 97.
Larson went on to win Stage 1, while van Gisbergen ended the opening stage having led 30 of the first 70 laps.
A slow pit stop between stages made his job even harder, dropping him to 25th for the start of Stage 2.
Ryan Preece led the restart on Lap 79 before another caution came five laps later when Hocevar spun on the frontstretch following contact with Connor Zilisch. Joey Logano was also caught up in the incident.
Berry took the lead shortly after racing resumed, while van Gisbergen was left trying to work his way back through the field.
He had made his way up to 21st by Lap 109, but dropped back to 25th as the stage continued.
Van Gisbergen was among a group of drivers to pit on Lap 132 and began making some progress after the stop, climbing to 18th by Lap 150 and 16th with 15 laps remaining in the stage.
Blaney had taken the lead from Berry by that point and went on to win Stage 2 ahead of Berry, Bubba Wallace, Preece and Larson.
Van Gisbergen finished the stage in 15th but was still unhappy with the handling of his car.
“It’s very weak taking off. Way too tight,” van Gisbergen said over the radio.
“Then I’ve got so much rear brake it makes me lose, and then I’m loose off because I’m tight.
“The balance is out but only because I’m sliding the rear tyre with the brakes. I felt like I took off really slowly there and didn’t get a payback.”
Berry led the field away for the final stage on Lap 209, but Wallace was straight on the attack and took the lead a lap later.
The pair continued to fight at the front, with Berry bumping Wallace in Turn 3 on Lap 222 and moving back ahead. Wallace responded almost immediately, reclaiming the lead the following lap as Preece joined the battle and moved into second.
Another caution came on Lap 225 when Riley Herbst crashed in Turns 3 and 4 following contact with Michael McDowell, with Zilisch also becoming involved.
Van Gisbergen was running 17th when the race restarted on Lap 232, while Blaney and Chase Briscoe led the field ahead of Byron, Wallace and Zane Smith.
That restart didn’t last long, with Byron losing his left-rear wheel and crashing heavily into the barrier, ending his race and bringing the caution back out.
Blaney and Briscoe went side-by-side when racing resumed on Lap 239, before Blaney finally cleared the Stewart-Haas Racing driver two laps later.
From there, Blaney began to build his advantage and put himself in position to fight for the win.
A two-tyre call during his final pit stop proved to be the difference, with Blaney holding off Wallace in the closing laps to take victory by 0.586 seconds.
Berry finished third ahead of Bell and Larson, while van Gisbergen came home 20th after spending the closing stages battling in the midfield.
It was ultimately a frustrating afternoon for van Gisbergen after showing some of the strongest pace in the field early in the race. The Kiwi looked comfortable in the wet and was able to build a sizeable lead, but couldn’t carry that speed across once the track dried and the field switched to slick tyres.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Daytona International Speedway next weekend, with the race scheduled to get underway at 11:30am NZST on Sunday.
Header Image: NASCAR
