Shane van Gisbergen 'stoked' after finishing P3 in second Xfinity Series start
Folks, this New Zealander might be pretty good at racing. Shane van Gisbergen finished P3 in his second career start in the Xfinity Series. SVG is going to be a household name in NASCAR very soon.
The three-time Supercars champion put together a great race at Atlanta. Back to back drafting tracks for SVG, no problem. He finished P12 at Daytona after being involved in multiple incidents. This week, P3 after a great decision to grab fuel at the end of the race.
While other drivers were running out of gas to finish the night, Shane van Gisbergen followed behind Chandler Smith and Austin Hill and hung on. He beat out Ryan Truex, Sheldon Creed, and Parker Retzlaff to claim the podium position.
By the way, only his third-ever race on an oval, second race overall in Xfinity. SVG is learning quickly and will be a threat to win the championship this year.
“It’s just awesome. I am more stoked to just come up with the result, clean car, learned something every lap, and learned to move around,” Shane van Gisbergen said after the race, via Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut. “Probably should have asked for an adjustment for that last stop. That’s part of learning, I didn’t know what the track was going to do, how things change when I got around people. It’s all about learning and to come away with a straight car and good result is pretty cool.”
Austin Hill somehow came through at the end on fuel and won this race. His rookie teammate Jesse Love led the most laps after winning the pole, but Hill took home the checkered flag. He’s now won back-to-back races in Atlanta and back-to-back races to start 2024.
Shane van Gisbergen learning quickly, bad news for other drivers
The faster Shane van Gisbergen learns how to race on ovals, the faster he climbs the ranks. It has only been two races, but this is a champion we are talking about. He is not just a random driver from overseas, he’s earned his stripes.
While he is just a rookie in the Xfinity Series, he isn’t racing like one. He and Jesse Love are not your average rookies, and they both possess a ton of talent. Van Gisbergen is currently 9th in the points standings, second among rookies. Love is tied for 4th overall with Chandler Smith at 72 points.
This was just a great performance from the Kiwi. Even if everyone ahead of SVG had enough fuel to finish the race, he had more or less secured a top-10 finish before the last restart.
No one was willing to help build a second lane in this race. We saw similar racing in the Truck Series. I don’t think that is because they can’t race that way, I think drivers have taken a cautious approach to this weekend to avoid tearing up more race cars after Daytona.
Austin Hill was frustrated in this race for that reason. He kept pace with the leaders with minimal help from the field. However, it wasn’t enough to get a solid run going.
In the end, it didn’t really matter for Shane van Gisbergen. He was able to drive up through the field and put himself in position for a top-5 finish.