Team Penske’s Austin Cindric was classified as the race leader when rain hit the circuit at Turn 2.
Shane van Gisbergen was running 15th at the time of the red flag.
The Trackhouse Racing driver was forced into a back-up car after wrecking in Saturday’s second Duel race on the last lap.
Speaking during the weather delay, van Gisbergen said he was wowed by the theatrics of the pre-race ceremonies, which included an appearance from US President Donald Trump.
“It’s like a Le Mans or a Bathurst, but I guess on a lot bigger scale and the people — just the pre-race is done so well here,” said the 35-year-old.
“It’s not emotional, but you get caught up in the moment. It was pretty cool. When the boys were talking it up on the radio pre-race, it’s pretty special to do my first one.”
Although just 11 laps into the race, van Gisbergen said it was a “wild” start to the contest.
“We went three-wide pretty early and just hanging it up by the fence, it was a pretty cool feeling,” said van Gisbergen.
“The back-up is pretty good, but it’s very tight – especially in [Turns] 3 and 4. The wind is going that way and you feel the front take flight and at that speed the bottom lane comes up as well.
“They’ve got the same problem with the wind. It’s pretty wild. Probably a bit early to be doing that.
“We didn’t want to stay at the back very long. We wanted to push forward.”
Van Gisbergen said he was not afraid to mix it up towards the pointy end in a bid to build trust with the seasoned Cup Series campaigners.
“It’s going to be the normal fuel saving until we pit and then it’ll be flat out until the end of each stage and the end of the race,” he said of the strategy.
“I kind of want to get track position to be further up in the pit stops, so we’ll probably burn a bit more fuel but at least we’ll be in the mix. I’m not going to learn anything just riding at the back.
“I want to be in the field and getting people to trust me as well, I want people to be confident so I can be there at the end and they can lean on me if they need to.”
NASCAR issued a call for drivers to report to their cars at 5:25 pm ET (9:25 am AEDT). The race resumed briefly under caution but was red-flagged again after nine laps behind the control of the Safety Car.
For more of the latest NASCAR news stories, visit MotorRacing.com
Discussion about this post