Shane van Gisbergen has qualified for the Xfinity Series playoffs by taking his maiden win in this morning’s road course race at Portland International Raceway.
The Kiwi took the lead off Justin Allgaier with four laps remaining following a late restart and would hold the position to take his first victory in 13 attempts.
Van Gisbergen earlier qualified second for the 75-lap road course outing, with Sam Mayer claiming pole with an advantage of just 0.044 seconds over the Kiwi.
The two would come together at Turn 1, with the #97 clipping the #1 into a spin.
Van Gisbergen also overcame early damage in Stage 2, which left a tyre rubbing, and an off-track excursion that dropped him to eighth shortly after to take the start of the final 25-lap stage in tenth, his lowest position outside the pit window of the race.
Chaos at the start of the run to the flag put him to sixth, and he was able to work forward for a famous win on the 1.967-mile, 12-turn road course.
Following his Lap 1 contact with Mayer, the Kiwi lost places but returned to the lead with a pass on Riley Herbst mid-stage, pulling to a two-second advantage.
Kaulig Racing sacrificed stage points for track position on the restart and pitted van Gisbergen from the lead on Lap 23.
He would start at the front for Stage 2 but lost ground on the restart, taking damage and dropping to seventh.
He made ground back on the leaders before running off at Turn 12, rejoining in eighth and working back to fifth at the next green and white chequered on Lap 50.
Van Gisbergen lost five places in the pits on the final round of stops to take the green flag tenth. He escaped through a Turn 1 incident that saw Josh Bilicki spun out of third to emerge sixth.
A charge to second followed before a caution was required on Lap 62 when Hailee Deegan’s punctured right front parted with her car.
The three-time Supercars champion dropped to fourth off the following restart but quickly retook third off Mayer before a multi-car incident behind triggered another caution and, ultimately, a four-lap dash to the flag.
Sheldon Creed, running second, was penalised for falling out of formation on the previous restart, which elevated van Gisbergen to the front row at the green flag.
He would get past Justin Allgaier on Lap 72 to hit the front and held on to take the win.
As it happened
Mayer led the field to green but was left facing the wrong way at Turn 1 after contact from van Gisbergen, who ran the inside line in the pack and clipped the #1 as it cut inside.
Herbst snuck through for the lead, with Justin Allgaier attempting to follow.
The Kiwi would go on to take the top spot off Herbst during the opening 25-lap stage and pulled over two seconds clear as the green and white chequered loomed.
However, Kaulig Racing sacrificed stage points for track position on the restart and boxed the Kiwi under green on Lap 23.
Allgaier went on to win Stage 1 from Herbst and Sheldon Creed.
Van Gisbergen led the field to green on Lap 30 but was quickly overcome by several others on the restart, tumbling down the order to slot into seventh.
Contact in the tight pack also damaged his right front, with his tyre rubbing on body work.
He made ground back over the following laps but had his progress undone on Lap 37 when he took turns 10 and 11 too fast before running off at Turn 12. He used the runoff before cutting across the grass on the outside of the tight right-hander to re-emerge eighth.
The three-time Supercars champion quickly made ground back and was fifth at the green and white chequered ending Stage 2.
Allgaier led at the 50-lap mark from Sheldon Creed, Josh Bilicki, Custer and van Gisbergen.
The Kiwi was tenth off pit road but climbed to sixth in a wild restart that saw Bilicki spun from third and several others, including Herbst, forced to cut the chicane.
By Lap 57, he was up to fourth, behind only Allgaier, Creed and Smith.
He moved into the podium places that tour, with Mayer following him through over Smith to take fourth.
A battle for second followed, with van Gisbergen and Mayer running right behind Creed, with the #97 attempting the pass several times and contact being made more than once.
He finally got the position on Lap 61, with Mayer following shortly after.
By this point, Allgaier had pulled to an advantage of nearly three seconds, but his gains were quickly undone when a caution was required when Hailee Deegan’s right front parted ways with her car.
Allgaier led the field to green with nine laps to run, with van Gisbergen overcome by Creed and Mayer in a three-wide battle entering Turn 1 for second.
On the same lap, the Kiwi quickly returned to third over Mayer before a large collision in the mid-field left Brandon Jones’s #9 buried in the tyres.
Chandler Smith, Ryan Ellis, Blaine Perkins and Brennan Poole were also casualties.
Creed was penalised for falling out of formation on the previous restart, which saw van Gisbergen elevated to second at the next restart for a four-lap dash to the chequered flag.
The #97 retained second on the restart, got an excellent run exiting Turn 1 and took the lead off Allgaier on the inside at Turn 5.
Allgaier and Mayer followed close behind, but the pole-sitter’s right rear punctured, leaving a two-car battle for the lead entering the final lap. Mayer was able to keep running, and the white flag was shown, meaning there would be no overtime if a caution were required.
The Kiwi would hold the position from Allgaier to take the victory, with Sammy Smith completing the podium.
AJ Allmendinger overcame a qualifying crash to finish fourth in Kaulig Racing’s spare car, ahead of Ed Jones, Custer, Josh Williams, Parker Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff and Riley Herbst.
Van Gisbegren celebrated with a signature burnout and drifted back to the start-finish line before signing a rugby ball and punting it into the crowd.
Header Image: Kaulig Racing
