‘Nothing is working’: Van Gisbergen bemused by setup struggles

The Trackhouse Racing driver battled an ill-handling Chevrolet Camaro that he said just would not turn.

The team spent much of the 267-lap race chasing a set-up that would help van Gisbergen but a bad aero balance ultimately hurt his cause. In the end, the Kiwi finished one lap down.

Van Gisbergen was left exasperated by his handling dramas, often radioing to his team that the car had mid-corner understeer.

He noted a lack of feeling through the steering wheel and numbness in the right front corner.

“The grip is so bad. Unbelievable,” he said after his Lap 121 pit stop on the radio.

“Man, I just cannot get into the corner. What am I doing wrong?”

Van Gisbergen tried to run the high line, which proved successful for some drivers, but the Kiwi couldn’t make it work.

“I got into the wall pretty hard,” he said to his crew.

“I just can’t turn. I keep hurting the tyre. I keep hitting the wall.”

The team made set-up changes but van Gisbergen said it felt like “the right front is never changed.”

He added during the Stage 2 break: “I’ve never driven a car this tight. it feels so far off. Nothing is working.”

Van Gisbergen fought to the finish, bringing the #88 car home with some war wounds on the right-hand side.

“That was a tough one,” he said.

The New Zealander’s teammates didn’t fare much better. Daniel Suarez was the only shining light in 22nd after he spun on pit road. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain finished 31st.

The race was won by Kyle Larson who pipped his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman for the win with a late pass.

Bowman shot to the lead late in the piece after passing 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace but conceded top spot when he made a mistake and ran up into the wall.

“I guess I choked that one away,” said Bowman.

“Just burned my stuff up. Saw the #5 coming, so moved around a little bit. Not when he passed me, but the time before that, I hit it hard with the right front and ended up just bending something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel.

Then I pulled it off the wall too far right there and ended up hitting the fence pretty bad. So I hate that for this #48 group, they deserve better than that. Just a couple of mistakes there. I felt like we were okay all day. That last run was the best we were.

“Hats off to Ally and Blake and everybody for supporting this #48 team. Hate it for Mr. Hendrick. Congrats to Kyle. We’re going to try get another one this week.”

It was almost the perfect weekend for Larson, who won Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race and came up just short of the Sunday Xfinity Series win.

“Just kind of had to keep plugging away at what I know and what’s good for me,” said Larson.

“So just proud of myself, proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty, hard work there today between damage on pit road, you know, qualifying bad, bad restarts, all that stuff.

“Just super pumped. One of the coolest wins I think in my Cup career just because of the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday, and to just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”

Results: NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400, Homestead-Miami Speedway