By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
North Wilkesboro Speedway can be unforgiven, regardless if the circuit had its first points-paid NASCAR Cup Series race in 30 years. No matter where a competitor stacks up in the points order or the type of experience a racer has, any mistake can bite anyone.
For Shane van Gisbergen, his progression on ovals shined bright once again and nabbed his second career top-five result on an oval. Above all else, van Gisbergen stayed out of trouble and wound up being one of only six drivers who completed all 450 laps in Sunday’s Window World 450.
While the spotlight went to race winner Joey Logano and runner-up finisher Denny Hamlin navigating through lapped traffic, van Gisbergen can claim he was able to pass both of the sport’s top-tier racers for the race lead.
Stage 1 was where the New Zealander showed his muscle as he took the lead from Hamlin on Lap 52. Once passing the winningest active driver in the sport today, van Gisbergen sarcastically felt hopeless when he made a comment over the radio.
“I’m leading! What the f— do I do now,” said van Gisbergen.
Van Gisbergen would then face his biggest challenge of the race when Hamlin’s teammate Ty Gibbs entered the fray. The two battled relentlessly to capture the stage victory, but it would be Gibbs who eked out van Gisbergen for his fourth stage win of the season.
From there, van Gisbergen would lead three more times, battling Logano for the top spot. However, Logano would have the last laugh on Lap 113 and virtually never looked back as if he would lead a race-high 323 laps.
Despite a strong start, long runs would bite van Gisbergen and ultimately cross the line in fifth, but it was all elation when he got out of his No. 97 Wendy’s Chevrolet.
“It was an awesome night for the No. 97 Wendy’s Chevrolet team. It was pretty cool to get the lead. I just wasn’t good enough on the long run. But overall, I had a lot of fun,” said van Gisbergen.
“Thank you to Wendy’s, Chevrolet, everyone at Trackhouse Racing for the support. Everyone on this team did a great job. It was a good points race, which is what we really needed.”
Track time paid dividends for van Gisbergen as he ran the Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday where he finished third. He explained that a preferred line was a difference maker with his preference being the bottom lane for most of the night.
“I could roll the bottom really well. I was loose-in, which hurt,” van Gisbergen commented. “We had one good stage where I could run up in the top lane, but I was married to the bottom for most of it. It just seemed to work for our car.”
Furthermore, and to his advantage, van Gisbergen described North Wilkesboro having road course characteristics which brought comfort to his learning curve at the historic North Carolina track.
“I tried right-foot braking for a bit,” said van Gisbergen. “Half of the race, I right-foot braked and I just feel comfortable doing that. It’s a real balance track and you can really effect the car with your driving technique, so I felt comfortable doing that.”
After 21 races, van Gisbergen moves up one spot in the regular season points standings as he’ll head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway 14th in points, 54 points above 17th place Erik Jones.
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