A crazy day at Phoenix Raceway couldn't keep Shane van Gisbergen from staying inside the top-five in NASCAR Cup Series points as he is now set to revisit one of his best ovals.
A crazy day at Phoenix Raceway couldn't keep Shane van Gisbergen from staying inside the top-five in NASCAR Cup Series points as he is now set to revisit one of his best ovals.
After getting involved in three cautions and getting damage, SVG finished 11th and left Phoenix fifth in points with an 18-point advantage to the Chase cutline.
Many thought SVG was going to struggle when the series came to the first traditional oval of the season but the Kiwi quickly quieted everyone.
SVG started the race in 18th and not only maintained his pace but moved through the field. After finishing 14th in the the first stage, he even flirted with the top-10 in the second stage.
Then, the chaos began on lap 95. On a day with multiple tire failures and incidents, SVG was the first and it knocked him off the lead lap until lap 159.
After getting the free pass, SVG found himself solidly in the top-20 and moving up but trouble found him again – and again. The next two cautions – on lap 247 and lap 255 – swept him up in it. However, he stayed on the lead lap and kept himself in contention to take advantage of the next caution on lap 289.
On the subsequent restart, SVG restarted 11th after the tire strategies shuffled around. He held on, netting his second-best, non-SS oval finish in Cup.
While SVG ranked 20th for average speed, he ranked fourth for green flag passing difference – with there being 24 more instances of him passing cars than there were of cars passing him. He also earned his third-best, non-SS oval driver rating of his Cup career (75.4) – behind only two late-season races: Loudon last year (79.3) and Martinsville last fall (76.4).
This is all encouraging for SVG heading into Las Vegas Motor Speedway where, in the fall, he ripped the top all the way to the top-10 before a late-race crash took him out.
A top-10 finish, combined with road course successes to come, will make him a sneakily-potent driver to watch this season.
Editor's note: With the current format, Shane van Gisbergen would've made the Chase last season.