The Trackhouse Racing driver booked his place in the Round of 16 thanks to a win at Mexico City earlier in the year, but was bundled out of the Playoffs after just three races.
There were mixed expectations for the Kiwi, who had shown signs of improvement on ovals entering the Playoffs with a run of top 20 finishes.
However, he couldn’t crack the top 20 in any of the three races at Darlington, Gateway, or Bristol and was eliminated with Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, and Josh Berry.
Van Gisbergen came to Bristol at long odds to advance, 15 points below the cutoff line.
His night was blighted by tyre wear, which he never got on top of. Strategy missteps and an ill-handling Camaro ultimately condemned him to finishing 26th and three laps down.
“Yeah, I’m happy but frustrated. Proud; it’s a privilege to be here but also pissed at myself,” van Gisbergen reflected.
“The last few weeks, I just haven’t been good enough. I’ve been really doing well, getting better at ovals and I just haven’t performed the last couple weeks.
“I didn’t understand the track early enough there and what the tyres were doing and how to save them.
“I blame myself at the moment, but thanks to the Trackhouse team we’ve had an awesome year and still not over yet, but I need to be better myself and it’s just going to come with time.”
Van Gisbergen said his hopes of a strong Bristol showing were dashed early.
He likened the tyre wear to experiences he had had at Tailem Bend and Wanneroo in Supercars, but said the style of tyre management was different.
There were moments during the race he thought he had enough tyre life to hold onto the lead lap, but at the end of Stage 2 was put another lap down just before the green-chequered.
“The way this tyre, the way you save it, is so much different to what I’m used to at home,” he said.
“It was pretty crazy. You’d be feeling like you were good, and then all of a sudden you’d feel the cords start to show up and then you knew you only had three laps before you had to pit.
“It was pretty crazy.”
Van Gisbergen suffered two spins in the race, one off the nose of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro driven by William Byron and the other thanks to a nudge from Ty Dillon in the #10 Kaulig Racing Camaro.
“One of them was probably my fault and the other was probably an impatient nice guy I guess,” van Gisbergen explained.
Van Gisbergen’s season will continue at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Monday, September 22 (AEST) where he’ll look to continue learning.
“I knew it was going to be a long shot today, but I’m still proud of what we’ve achieved this year,” he said.
“It’s been a privilege to be in the Playoffs. Everyone knew the first round was going to be difficult, I just didn’t do a good enough job.
“I need to keep getting better at the ovals and the road courses will keep working, but I need to start improving on this stuff.
“It was awesome. As I said, it’s a privilege to be in it. Cool to have that pressure. We didn’t perform the best we could. That’s on us, but still cool to be here.”
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