The Trackhouse Racing driver eased his way into the race, finishing 23rd at the end of Stage 1 before improving to 13th by the end of Stage 2.

The second stage showed encouraging signs but on the long run the #88 Chevrolet Camaro ultimately faded.

Van Gisbergen wound up as the last driver on the lead lap and just a few car lengths away from being lapped by the #12 Team Penske Ford Mustang of eventual race winner Ryan Blaney.

“We had good speed there, just didn’t maximise,” said van Gisbergen via team radio at the chequered flag, having finished 14th at Charlotte Motor Speedway a week earlier.

“We’ll get better. Nice job, thank you guys.”

Blaney shot to the lead during Stage 2 with back-to-back passes on Denny Hamlin in the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry and William Byron in the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.

From there, he never looked back and got through the subsequent green flag pit stops without issue.

It marked the first win of the season for Blaney, ending a 15-race drought dating back to Martinsville Speedway last year.

“I never gave up hope, that’s for sure,” said Blaney, who led 139 laps of the 300-lap contest.

“We’ve had great speed all year, it just hasn’t been the best year for us as far as good fortune.

“The #12 boys are awesome, we stick with them no matter how it goes. It was great to finish one out tonight.”

Blaney hailed a call to take two tyres instead of four at the end of Stage 1 to surge through the field.

“I thought it was a good call. We drove up to seventh there in the first stage and I thought two tyres were great,” he explained.

“My car was really good and that really set us up for the rest of the race.”

Carson Hocevar was an impressive second for Spire Motorsports. However, he found himself in early trouble after tapping Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into a spin.

The Hyak Motorsports driver was none too pleased with Hocevar, who has made a name for himself as a fast but erratic driver.

“A lap or two before, he [Hocevar] tried to dive in there from about 10 car lengths back and then that time, I just opened my entry a little bit and he over-charged the corner and drilled us in the rear bumper,” Stenhouse Jr. explained.

“I’d say it’s not out of the norm from him, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that at that point of the race. It’s just a bummer for us. The #47 Chevrolet wasn’t great, but we were making changes.

“I felt like after that restart, I was a little bit better than I was the run before. We were just burning our right-rear tyre off there throughout the run.”

Denny Hamlin finished third for Joe Gibbs Racing. He almost missed the race due to the impending birth of his child.

A year ago, NASCAR infamously went through four attempts at overtime at Nashville. This year, it was a relatively uneventful race.

The race was punctuated by one major incident involving Alex Bowman, who spun into Noah Gragson. The #4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang retired while Bowman in the #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro continued, albeit, well off the pace.

Christopher Bell in the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry was a victim of the race restart that followed. He went rearwards into the wall but incredibly fought back to 10th.

Wildcard Corey Heim in the #67 Camry by 23XI Racing ended his race on Lap 130 when he drove across the nose of #6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang driver Brad Keselowski. Heim spun on the front stretch before backing his car into the wall.

NASCAR continues its Cup Series season at Michigan International Speedway on June 9 (AEST).

Results: NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400, Nashville Superspeedway

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