SVG storms to North Wilkesboro Truck Series podium

Returning to the Spire Motorsports stable for another cameo, the Kiwi started from 19th and worked his way forward in the final stage.

Driving the #71 Chevrolet Silverado, van Gisbergen finished Stage 1 in 17th and Stage 2 in 14th before beginning his charge to third in Stage 3.

Van Gisbergen restarted the final stage in 10th with 100 laps to go and steadily moved forward before reaching third inside 20 laps to go.

Third place matches van Gisbergen’s best-ever oval finish across NASCAR’s top three divisions when he last ran third in 2024 at Atlanta in the then-known NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“It’s just time and getting to drive for good teams and good equipment makes it really fun,” said van Gisbergen post-race.

“Thank you to Spire, hopefully I get to do it again. It’s awesome, hopefully it leads to more opportunities. The more experience I can get, it all helps.”

Van Gisbergen said there would be very little that translates to the NASCAR Cup Series race on Monday, in which he’ll start third.

“It’s all just experience and time racing, learning how other people race, how to approach restarts – it’s just experience,” he said.

The Truck Series race was dominated by Front Row Motorsports, with Chandler Smith leading pole position winner Layne Riggs to the chequered flag.

Smith led 105 laps of the 250-lap distance, clinching victory by eight seconds.

The key moment of the race for Smith came on Lap 152 when he led the field coming out of the pit lane.

Riggs restarted towards the tail of the top 10 and marched forward to second but couldn’t bridge the gap to the lead.

Riggs expressed his disappointment in coming up short of the win, but was happy to see his teammate on top.

“Part of me wanted to have a restart,” Riggs said.

“Part of me knew if that happened there was probably going to be some carnage.

“So I was very happy just finishing the race there, knowing our teammate got the win. Congratulations to Chandler. He did a great job.”

“It was hot today. I ice-bagged on every stop. My cool shirt was on-I took it off already.

“It was probably one of the hottest races I’ve ever been in. I think we need to add some heat shields to these things…

“But my mind stayed sharp, and I stayed in the game.”

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on July 25 (AEST) for the TSport 200.

Results: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, North Wilkesboro Speedway