Van Gisbergen spins, finishes sixth at Atlanta
- Feb 23
- 2 min read
New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen has survived a tangle with Nascar's defending champion to record a career-high oval finish.
Van Gisbergen twice spun onto the infield grass during the Autotrade 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Sunday (Monday NZ Time) but still managed to be in contention in the final laps, finishing sixth.
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The Giz was running in the top-five in the final lap of the second stage when Kyle Larson dove low in turn four directly into van Gisbergen's path. The Kiwi was credited with 10th in the stage as he spun across the finish line on the grass.
While the crash caused Larson day to be over, van Gisbergen continued in his No 97 Chevrolet after minor repairs.
The three-time Supercars champion spun again in the same area of the 1.54-mile oval but recovered to be in contention during the race's 'overtime' - a two-lap green, white, chequered flag finish after the scheduled 260 laps.
He restarted ninth in the first overtime attempt, which was aborted when Christopher Bell was spun into the outside wall soon after the restart, with van Gisbergen just avoiding contact.
Eighth starting double-overtime, SVG went low to move up to fourth down the back straight before opting for the high line in the final turn, losing two spots in the race to the chequered flag.
Still, it was good for the 36-year-old's second top-10 and best finish on an oval in the Nascar Cup Series, bettering his 10th-placed result at Kansas Speedway last September.
Nascar heads to the Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, Texas next weekend, with van Gisbergen set to be one of the favourites. He finished sixth at the track last year and has won the last five road/street course races.
