Van Gisbergen looped around out of Turn 2 while battling with Legacy Motor Club driver John Hunter-Nemechek.
The newer NASCAR Cup Series cars feature a flat floor, which makes them more susceptible to balance changes if they are damaged.
Van Gisbergen continued but endured handling issues and a nasty brake drama that left him unable to slow the car down.
He radioed to his team that the car had a problem with the right front, and eventually that issue reared its ugly head when the car suddenly veered straight into the outside wall on Lap 195.
“We had floor damage after I spun and we were just trying to log laps, then something broke in the right front – just spat me pretty hard into the fence,” van Gisbergen said.
“I actually was going pretty good at the start, learning to move around and starting to go forward, and then we made a bit of a bad adjustment.
Click here now.
“Just never recovered and put myself in a bad spot and spun and that gave us floor damage.
“It’s a shame because the Red Bull Chevy had plenty of potential and I felt like I could have been okay.
“And obviously our teammates are running well so our cars were good, I was just learning how to put myself in the right spots. Unfortunately didn’t get to show it.”
Van Gisbergen’s teammates Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain enjoyed their best results of the year, finishing second and fifth respectively.
After his spin, van Gisbergen was left to consolidate and try to gain as much experience as possible with so little practice available to him before the car broke.
“I had no brakes at all and no downforce on the front. It was just logging laps and keeping plenty of room to the pack in case there was a shunt because I didn’t have anywhere to stop,” he said.
“Then I felt something weird in three and four, went a bit slower into one but it still just… yeah, it was a heavy hit.”
The NASCAR Cup Series continues on March 24 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Discussion about this post