Shane van Gisbergen has impressed in this morning’s Xfinity Series outing on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval to cross the line in fourth.
Van Gisbergen ran in the top ten for half of the race, looking the part on his way to a strong result on merit at North America’s most famous race track.
He narrowly avoided the Lap 1 ‘big one’ and made good ground over the rest of the race after a mid-field qualifying effort. The Kaulig Racing #97 also took points for finishing Stage 2 in seventh.
A decision to stop and take four tyres under caution while running fifth with 15 laps remaining made a difference, and he clawed his way back into the top ten and up to fourth in the final ten laps.
“Not bad for a guy who’s only good at road courses… right?” Kaulig Racing posted on social media after the race.
The four-second margin to the front three ultimately proved too much to overcome, with Riley Herbst triumphing in a fierce and thrilling battle with Cole Custer and Aric Almirola for the victory.
Van Gisbergen earlier qualified 23rd for the race with a 54.842s effort, 1.137 seconds off the pole-setting time of Custer. Herbst lined up second, ahead of Almirola and Sam Mayer.
A Turn 3 spin for Mayer on Lap 1 collected multiple cars, including Jesse Love, Allmendinger, Parker Retzlaff, Chandler Smith, and Justin Allgaier.
Van Gisbergen crawled down low to avoid the wreck, gaining several positions in doing so.
Herbst and Custer battled for the lead on the Lap 8 restart, with the pole-sitter retaining the position.
The next caution came on Lap 16 when Chandler Smith slowed on track after losing fuel pressure.
Van Gisbergen was among the group to pit under caution and take four tyres, while Allmendinger remained out to inherit second, behind Herbst.
Herbst went on to win Stage 1 from Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg, with van Gisbergen greeting the first green-and-white chequered in 16th and again stopping under caution.
Van Gisbergen continued to make up ground and took stage points in seventh, ahead of Austin Hill. Sieg was the only driver of the top 28 to pit under caution.
A Lap 84 caution came following a violent collision between Anthony Alfredo, Retzlaff and Josh Williams. Alfredo was slow on the backstretch with a flat tyre and was collected from behind by a blinded Retzlaff. Williams was also left with nowhere to go, and all three cars were damaged significantly.
Van Gisbergen got an excellent restart on fresh tyres and climbed to seventh on the first lap back under green.
A slowing Greg Van Alst threatened to bring another caution on Lap 93, but he was able to turn into an opening to get off the track.
Up front, Custer built a slight advantage over the field, but Herbst clawed this back over the following tours and sat 0.6 seconds behind on Lap 97 of 100.
He took the position on the penultimate lap, but Almirola snuck past to hit the front as they battled.
Behind, van Gisbergen had worked his way past the likes of Hill and Allmendinger and moved to fourth, albeit over three seconds behind the battle in the top three.
Herbst returned to the lead on the final corner on the final lap and held on to take the victory, and Custer followed through to take second off Almirola on the run to the line.
Only 0.224 seconds separated the top three, with van Gisbergen four seconds behind in fourth, ahead of Sheldon Creed and Hill.
The Xfinity Series takes a three-week break over the Olympic Games and returns at Michigan International Speedway on August 18.
