The 67th operating of the Coca-Cola 600 wasn’t the perfect oval end of Shane van Gisbergen’s NASCAR profession, but it surely was his most spectacular to these taking note of the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.
SVG’s greatest Cup end on an oval got here at Atlanta earlier this 12 months, inserting sixth. He has one different prime ten — P10 at Kansas final fall. Charlotte was oh so near turning into his third oval prime ten on Sunday, however as a substitute, it was his fourth eleventh place end since transferring as much as the Cup Sequence (all on completely different oval tracks).
However that does not even start to inform the entire story. After beginning third because of qualifying being rained out, Van Gisbergen didn’t fade in any respect. He remained inside the highest 5 for a while, and by no means actually fell exterior the highest ten for almost all of the race.
Scoring stage factors and main late
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing
Photograph by: David Jensen / Getty Pictures
On the finish of Stage 1 he was tenth, on the finish of Stage 2 he was ninth, and on the finish of Stage 3 he was seventh — 5 further factors for his efforts.
However within the closing stage, Van Gisbergen made some massive strikes to problem for a spot inside the highest 5. He the stayed out on older tires, however managed to carry the lead for 11 laps with rain threatening. 36 laps after dropping management of the race, rain did finish the occasion, with Daniel Suarez claiming the victory.
SVG in the end completed eleventh by some chaotic restarts and a sluggish pit cease. Nonetheless, it was sufficient for him to leap two positions within the standings, and he’s not on the Chase bubble.
Van Gisbergen was thrilled with the run, however admittedly ‘pissed’ that he missed out on a prime ten with how a lot time he spent close to the entrance of the sector.
“It’s onerous,” stated Van Gisbergen. “I had an incredible day, however I’m pissed. We had been a top-five or six automobile, however we simply didn’t execute on the finish. It was actually cool to run up entrance all day. We had been gifted an excellent beginning place with qualifying getting canceled. It was an excellent name by Stephen (Doran, crew chief) to remain on the market. It was superior to have the ability to lead some laps.”
Nonetheless, his predominant adjective for the night time was ‘enjoyable,’ particularly when he received to tear the highest and make positive factors because the tires started to put on on longer runs.
And regardless of the top end result, it was clearly his strongest oval race but. He even out-paced teammate Ross Chastain (earlier than his mid-race crash), which is further spectacular contemplating the truth that Chastain gained final 12 months’s Coca-Cola 600.
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