Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen finished tenth, and teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez finished 11th and 17th in Sunday’s 400-mile NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway that ended in overtime.
Van Gisbergen recorded his best oval finish in his career, made more impressive by starting a lap behind the field after a penalty forced an opening-lap stop-and-go pitstop.
“It was really cool to get a top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway,” said van Gisbergen. “It was good to do it in a Red Bull car. We’ve had some really cool partners this year and stoked to be able to do it here at Kansas Speedway.
“I feel like we’re getting better and better at these tracks. It was difficult starting a lap down and having that penalty, but Chais Eliason (interim crew chief) did a great job. We had really good speed at points of the race, so I’m stoked to get a top 10. I’m over the moon with that.”
His previous best oval finish was a 12th-place finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Sunday’s finish also marked his 10th top-10 of his 45 Cup race career. Engineer Chais Eliason served as the interim crew chief on Sunday.
The Kansas race marked the fifth of NASCAR’s 10 playoff races and served as the second race in the second round of the playoffs.
With his 11th-place finish Sunday, Chastain is ninth of the 12 remaining playoff drivers but only 13 points below the eighth-place cutoff line with this Sunday’s race on the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway remaining in the second round.
Four drivers will be eliminated every three races, with the four remaining drivers competing in a winner-take-all Championship race at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., on Nov. 2.
Comments