Van Gisbergen ‘filthy’ over race-defining Coca-Cola 600 mistake

Van Gisbergen was running fifth with 48 laps to go when the caution came out due to lightning near Charlotte Motor Speedway.

A combination of a slow pit stop and others electing to take two tyres instead of four dropped him back to 10th.

Then came ‘the choose’ to go high or low for the subsequent restart. Van Gisbergen mistakenly took the outside line, which dropped him back to 12th for the restart.

Two more weather-related interruptions ultimately scuppered his hopes of making any meaningful headway and he had to settle for 11th.

Speaking post-race, van Gisbergen was frustrated that he didn’t finish higher.

“I had an amazing day, but I’m pissed,” he said.

“Just a bad choose and should be top five or six. We had an amazing day and then just didn’t execute at the end.

“It was really cool to run up the front all day. Obviously gifted a good starting position by the rain-out.

“Filthy with myself for the end. Should have been a bit better.”

“We had sort of been giving up a row to go outside and it would pay back, and I just misheard Josh and I made the mistake. So I’m pretty pissed at myself for that.”

SVG delivers stunning drive in rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600

It was an otherwise promising performance for van Gisbergen, who ran consistently in the top 10 all night.

Van Gisbergen scored stage points in all three legs during the Coca-Cola 600, finishing Stage 1 in 10th, Stage 2 in ninth, and Stage 3 in seventh to collect seven bonus points.

For finishing 11th, he collected an additional 26 points to his tally.

All told, the result has moved van Gisbergen from 16th to 14th and two places above the cut line ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece of RFK Racing.

Preece fell three places to 16th in the standings after being collected in an awkward clash on Lap 329 that meant he failed to finish.

Briscoe also gained two places in the standings from below the cut line to sit 15th.

Van Gisbergen has one road course win to his credit this year at Watkins Glen but has not been able to score a top 10 on an oval yet this season.

He hasn’t been far away, though, thrice finishing 11th across Phoenix, Martinsville, and Charlotte.

Van Gisbergen’s next three races will present a challenge, with the quirky concrete Nashville followed by Michigan and then the ‘Tricky Triangle’ Pocono.

Last year, SVG was only 25th at Nashville, 18th at Michigan, and 31st at Pocono.

Although it’s been a difficult month or two of late outside of the Watkins Glen win, van Gisbergen expressed optimism.

“It’s been an upward trend,” he said.

“The last month has been average – or a little bit more – but I feel like I’m generally getting better and better.

“Now our team is doing an amazing job giving us better cars too.

“Pretty stoked for Trackhouse and stoked I can be up there all day, genuinely.”

The NASCAR Cup Series continues with the Cracker Barrel 400 on Monday, June 1 at 9:00am AEST.

NASCAR Cup Series points after Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway (top 20)

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