Van Gisbergen accomplishes another first with career-best oval result

Shane van Gisbergen earned a career result at Nashville Superspeedway and enjoyed the bit of time he spent at the front of the field. But with a smile and a laugh, van Gisbergen was still a bit self-critical afterward.

“Again, pissed with myself,” he said after being credited with a fifth-place finish. “I mucked up the last lap there and Chase [Elliott] put it on my door, I got a bit loose, and then we both got tight and probably cost us some positions.”

NASCAR initially had van Gisbergen scored seventh at the checkered flag, and that is where he thought he had finished while standing on pit road. In fact, he politely corrected a reporter who said he finished in the top five.

A review of the finish by NASCAR and of the crash that occurred on the frontstretch did shuffle van Gisbergen into the top five, a finish that is his best in the NASCAR Cup Series on an oval.

It was an “awesome race,” van Gisbergen said. “It was really cool to lead for a bit; I had a really cool battle. The Tootsie Chevy was really good. It’s amazing, you start up front and your car feels so nice, and then you go to the back on strategy, and it just felt like a bucket of [expletive].

“So, it was good to get the strategy back, and we got to the front again. It’s so good racing up front, you just get better and better, and I really enjoyed myself tonight.”

Van Gisbergen started the night in the 10th position by way of the performance metric for qualifying. In the first stage, he led 12 laps and had a back-and-forth, side-by-side battle with two-time series champion Kyle Larson for the spot.

“It was fun, and I was surprised how much grip we had on the two tires,” van Gisbergen said. “It was cool to try to put myself in a good spot to put air on him in a bad spot, and it was cool to battle. I took back the lead at one point, and it was really fun.”

Not only was van Gisbergen the leader for Trackhouse Racing on Sunday night, but he’s also the best driver from the organization in the point standings. He gained two spots by the end of the weekend and sits 12th.

“It definitely feels like it,” said van Gisbergen of his No. 97 group going in the right direction. “We had a bad couple of months, and it feels like it’s really turned around. It’s a real momentum-based sport and confidence-based as well, so we just need to keep that and then lift our teammates up with us, and if we’re all running well, that will really help the team.”

Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch failed to finish at Nashville after brake rotor issues led to separate crashes.