Van Gisbergen suffers spin, puncture in wretched Las Vegas race

Sporting a full Red Bull scheme for the first time since leaving Supercars, the #88 Trackhouse Racing driver failed to finish the 267-lapper.

Van Gisbergen qualified 28th for the Pennzoil 400 and ended Sgtae 1 in 30th.

On Lap 107 while battling with the #42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry of John Hunter-Nemechek for 28th, van Gisbergen spun out of Turn 2.

For the spin, van Gisbergen lost a lap and never got back on par with the rest of the field. Lingering damage from the spin made his car hard to tame for the rest of the race.

To make matters worse, a brake problem plagued van Gisbergen all day long. He bemoaned the issue throughout Stage 2 and the team’s attempts to rectify the problem were ultimately fruitless.

Eventually, he suffered a right front puncture and time spent trying to rectify the problem put him several laps down.

To add insult to injury, van Gisbergen was given a drive-through penalty for having too many people over the pit wall.

“The right front brake isn’t even working now,” van Gisbergen reported to his team.

“It doesn’t feel right at all and then five seconds later the pedals on the floor.

“I’m just waiting for it to fall apart, it feels like,” he later added.

“It’s just crazy tight it hasn’t got any worse, just every time I go for the brake it’s not there.”

Van Gisbergen’s worst fears were realised with 63 laps to go when he suffered a failure on the right front.

The Chevrolet Camaro slapped the wall and the Kiwi limped back to the pits.

“Yep, whatever broke, broke,” he said on Lap 195.

Van Gisbergen retired to the garage and was classified 34th.

VIDEO: NASCAR Cup Series Las Vegas highlights

Josh Berry won for Wood Brothers Racing. In a straight shootout with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, the #21 Ford Mustang prevailed to beat the #99 Chevrolet Camaro by 1.3 seconds.

Results: NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway