New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen was pushing towards a top-10 finish in just his third Nascar Cup Series race before being bumped back.
Nascar rookie van Gisbergen, who qualified 17th and even led for three laps, was eventually credited with 28th at the Geico 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Sunday (Monday NZ Time).
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In his first superspeedway race, 'The Giz' was running three-wide, leading the outside line, during the closing laps.
The outside line had momentum, gaining on the leaders, before Kyle Busch and then Ty Gibbs pulled out and stalled the charge on the penultimate lap, shuffling them all to the back of the pack.
"Learnt (sic) a lot about fuel-saving and the flow of the race, put myself in some spots but didn’t have anyone to go with me, must be a yellow stripe thing. We didn’t get a great finish, but thanks to the team for a great weekend," van Gisbergen said in an Instagram post.
The 34-year-old was also caught up in the final-lap wreck, when leader Michael McDowell spun out into the wall trying to block Brad Keselowski in the tri-oval, allowing Tyler Reddick to slip through for the win.
Van Gisbergen finished 20th in his second Nascar Cup Series race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in late-March. He won his Nascar debut on the streets of Chicago last July.
He finished 22nd in the second-tier Nascar Xfinity Series race at Talladega on Saturday (Sunday NZT). In nine races this season, he has one top-10 result, at Atlanta in late-February, and sits 14th in the series standings.