Shane van Gisbergen has made the most of a strategy gamble in Richmond, improving seventeen places to come home in fourteenth position.
After qualifying thirty-first, van Gisbergen had moved into twenty-sixth by lap ten. Out front, Ryan Blaney held the lead over Chase Briscoe, and Josh Berry.
The Kiwi started to take a high line compared to other drivers, helping him pull away from the drivers behind and stay close to those ahead.
Drivers soon started to cycle into pit road on lap thirty, with van Gisbergen electing to go long for position. The Kiwi managed to cycle into the top 10, but soon came in for a stop, sending him down to thirtieth.
During the pit road chaos, Austin Hill received a drive through penalty for a tyre violation, while Ty Gibbs was penalised for speeding in the lane.
After fifty laps, Ross Chastain sat in nineteenth, while Connor Zilich held twenty-first, with van Gisbergen in twenty-fourth.
At the end of an uncharacteristically quiet stage one, Blaney was able to bring home a comfortable stage win over Briscoe, and Joey Logano.
Once the green dropped in stage two, Briscoe was able to jump Blaney to take the lead. Tyler Reddick was also able to move up to twelfth, after starting behind van Gisbergen in thirty-second.
Twenty laps into stage two, Chastain was able to break into the top 10. Van Gisbergen and Zilisch were still buried down the order, as they sat in twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth.
The first non-stage caution period was brought out as Zane Smith hit the wall after contact with another driver. At the time of the caution, Briscoe led as Van Gisbergen remained in twenty-fifth.
Racing resumed with sixty-three laps to go, and Briscoe was once again able to extend a lead while Logano, Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and William Byron stayed close behind.
Front-runner Blaney was lucky not to derail his race after getting together with Daniel Suarez in the lane.
Van Gisbergen was able to climb up to twenty-first, ten spots up from his starting position. Out front, Logano had taken the lead from Briscoe, while Hamlin and Chase Elliot remained close behind.
Logano brought home the stage two win, making it a Penske sweep so far. Before the start of the final stage, van Gisbergen took a strategy gamble to start the stage fourteenth. However, the gamble did not pay off, as the Kiwi headed into the lane twenty laps in.
A terminal issue forced Carson Hocevar to retire from the race, which played perfectly into the hands of both Reddick and Van Gisbergen.
Once the race resumed, van Gisbergen sat one place behind Chastain in thirteenth. The Kiwi soon moved past his teammate to take twelfth, and the duo started to swap places for a period of time.
Out front, with fourty five laps to go, Briscoe led from Logano, with Cindric, Elliot, and Hamlin behind. Van Gisbergen sat in thireenth, as the last car on the lead lap.
A pit lane duel commenced between Logano and Briscoe, with the Penske driver prevaling.
Ultimately, as the laps counted down, van Gisbergen was able to hold his own and protect his improved postion, coming home fourteenth – up seventeen places from his thirty-first place starting position.
Logano was also able to hold on to his lead, meaning he brought home his second win of the season.
This result helps the Kiwi’s bid to make the Chase, as he sits close to the cut line.
NASCAR will resume on the 24th of August for the penultimate race of the regular season in New Hampshire.
