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The Kaulig Racing driver was leading the last lap of the latest NASCAR Cup Series race when he clipped the inside wall at the bus stop chicane.
That unsettled the #16 Chevrolet Camaro and cast him wide of the apex, allowing eventual race winner Chris Buescher to get to van Gisbergen’s rear bumper.
Speaking on his podcast Actions Detrimental, Hamlin said he would have counted on van Gisbergen to get the job done every time.
“Put someone in the lead on a road course, last lap, you’re going to pick SVG one hundred out of one hundred times – but you’re human,” said Hamlin.
“It’s high stakes and people make mistakes.”
Watching SMT data, Hamlin said the key moments was in the esses.
Up the hill through the high-speed left-right, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said Buescher gained more than two tenths of a second alone on van Gisbergen.
That, in his eyes, was enough to put some doubt in van Gisbergen’s mind to make a mistake.
“I’m as equally impressed with his last lap as I was befuddled of SVG’s,” said Hamlin.
“I thought you give SVG the lead on the last lap, he’s just not going to make a mistake. He’s disciplined enough that he’s not going to make a mistake.
“But this was caused by two things: One thing that’s not talked about enough is that the run that Buescher got through the esses to get close enough to threaten SVG.
“So, if you look, coming off of [turn] one, SVG actually has a decent lead there. And then I think he just got off-line slightly through the esses and at the top of the esses the #17 got a really good run on SVG.
“And at that point, is SVG just looking in his mirror managing the gap? Or did he make a mistake there as well? I think that was the key moment that allowed him to think about how he’s going to get through that bus stop quickly to gap the #17.
“The #17 was not within striking distance until he got to the bus stop and at that point SVG made a mistake and he got too close to the barrier on the right.
“I think he made slight contact with it, it got him slightly off-line, and at that point he missed his apex and got off into the shit over the second half of the bus stop. The #17 hit his marks and got a good run off and it was all over after that.
“I think that what’s not being talked about enough is how did the #17 close enough through the esses to then threaten SVG into making that mistake at the bus stop.
“Between Turn 1 and the bus stop, the #17 closed enough to make SVG think and it made him make a mistake there, in my opinion.”
Van Gisbergen will not have a shot at redemption at Bristol Motor Speedway. The #16 will be piloted by AJ Allmendinger instead.
Bristol represents the final leg of the Round of 16 where four drivers will be eliminated from the playoffs.
As it stands, Harrison Burton is the lowest placed driver in the top 16.
Hamlin is the best placed driver on the outside looking in. He’s at minus six ahead of RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr.
Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Racing) and Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) are 11th and 12th as it stands.
Van Gisbergen will be in action on Saturday (AEST) as part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
