SVG scores Watkins Glen Truck podium against the odds

The #4 Niece Motorsports driver was blighted by a raft of bizarre gremlins in the overtime-extended 74-lap race.

His woes began with a fuel pressure issue before his rear-view mirror came loose and then his helmet fan failed.

Van Gisbergen flagged an engine power issue mid-race and looked unlikely to threaten for the win until an unexpected pit stop for tyres paid dividends.

Van Gisbergen avoided the carnage, surviving a series of cautions to rise from outside the top 20 to finish third.

“We had a shocker with mechanicals, but the guys did great,” said van Gisbergen.

“Niece did a good job fixing it up. Thanks to the guys here, they prepared a good truck.

“We weren’t quite fast enough but then had some fun on those those last restarts and got a lot spots, which was cool.”

Van Gisbergen said the lessons learned from the Truck Series cameo would be beneficial for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Cup Series races to follow on Sunday and Monday respectively.

“Just the restarts really, how tight Turn 1 is. There’s a lot of carnage down there,” he explained.

“You have to prop it up. I managed to put myself in some good spots but definitely worth doing this race to learn that.”

Victory went the way of Kaden Honeycutt for Tricon Garage, who pipped Connor Zilisch on the restart of the sole overtime finish.

“It’s amazing,” said an Honeycutt.

“Thank you Toyota, this whole #11 crew. Everyone that believed in me to take over this truck from Corey (Heim) after last year.

“It’s just amazing. I can’t believe I just won on a road course. This is unbelievable.”

Brent Crews in the #1 Tricon Garage Toyota led from pole position and immediately skipped away from the #88 Thorsport Ford of Ty Majeski to the tune of nearly four seconds by Lap 8.

Van Gisbergen sought to make headway early. His battle with Giovanni Ruggiero in the #17 Tricon Toyota on Lap 3 at Turn 1 ultimately cost them both a position to hard charger Carson Hocevar in the #77 Spire Chevrolet.

At the halfway mark in Stage 1, van Gisbergen was 18 seconds adrift of the lead and lacking outright speed.

Towards the end of Stage 1, van Gisbergen reported fuel pressure issues. He pitted with three laps to go in the stage for his first scheduled stop having dropped into the clutches of Ruggiero and Chandler Smith in the #38 Front Row Motorsports Ford.

From ninth, van Gisbergen came to the lane with a near 30-second deficit to Crews. The race leader pitted with two laps to go in the stage and Daniel Hemric inherited the lead to take the Stage 1 win ahead of Ruggiero and Layne Riggs in the 34 Front Row Ford.

During the stage break, van Gisbergen again an issue his his Chevrolet

“I’ve started having the fuel pressure flicker as I go up the hill,” he said.

Once the field was cleansed, it was Crews who led Connor Zilisch, Cole Butcher, Kaden Honeycutt, Carson Hocevar, and van Gisbergen for the Stage 2 restart.

Racing resumed on Lap 24. Van Gisbergen lost out to Ross Chastain in the #45 Niece Chevrolet and shortly thereafter bemoaned a lack of straight line speed.

At the head of the field, Zilisch got to the outside of race leader Crews and hip-checked the #1 Toyota through the esses. Crews got loose and dropped back to fourth.

Midway through Stage 2, van Gisbergen reported his rear vision mirror was falling off. The team elected to run the stage out and take the green-white-chequered flag and then pit under the stage break.

Zilisch won the stage from Hocevar, Changler Smith, Layne Riggs, Andres Perez, and van Gisbergen.

Under the caution, the team handed van Gisbergen a wrench to fix the rear vision mirror himself. Once the pit stops were completed, the Kiwi had dropped to 15th.

Having pitted before the stage break, Chastain assumed the lead of the race for the Stage 3 start on Lap 44 with Daniel Hemric alongside.

Van Gisbergen shot forward to ninth as he scythed through the field. However, that was as far as he would get.

At the head of the field, the fight was on for the lead. Hemric slumped to fourth as Crews and Zilisch worked their way forward.

Zilisch and Crews swapped places before and the #71 Spire Chevrolet set about hunting down the race-leading #45 Niece Chevrolet.

The first incident-induced yellow came with 15 laps to go when Grant Enfinger stopped his #9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet exiting Turn 1.

There was confusion between van Gisbergen’s crew chief and spotters about whether to pit or not. Van Gisbergen asked, “What am I doing?”

One call was made to stay out before another call came to pit. Van Gisbergen pitted from ninth and dropped back to just outside the top 20.

At the same time, NASCAR handed race leader Chastain a penalty for accelerating before the control line. He was forced to drop to the rear of the lead lap, cruelling his chances.

Zilisch assumed the race lead with Ruggiero alongside. Crews was third while quiet achiever Brenden Queen was fourth in the #12 Kaulig Racing Ram.

There was carnage on the restart with eight laps to go. Riggs got spun at Turn 1 and lit up his rear tyres in a cloud of smoke.

Trying to avoid the melee, Kris Wright in the #81 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet centre-punched two tyre bundles.

Amidst the carnage, van Gisbergen went low and avoided the chaos. He benefitted handsomely, rising from outside the top 20 to 11th for the subsequent restart with four laps to go.

On the restart, Zilisch dispatched Ruggiero through the esses. Behind them, van Gisbergen continued his march forward on fresher tyres to seventh.

The race was neutralised when Chastain spun off the nose of Majeski and collided with the inside wall exiting Turn 5

Under the yellow, Ruggiero was given a penalty for a restart violation – jumping too early – and was demoted to the rear of the lead lap.

Zilisch led the last overtime restart with Honeycutt alongside. In a frenetic penultimate lap, van Gisbergen shot to third. Ahead of him, Honeycut rounded up Zilisch and got the holeshot into the esses.

Try as he might, Zilisch couldn’t return serve. Honeycutt held sway and scored his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory.

Zilisch was second and van Gisbergen third while Hemric was a close fourth. Chandler Smith completed the top five.

Results: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen

Get the latest NASCAR news, stats, and US racing coverage at Speedcafe US