The Kiwi struggled with the handling of his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet for much of the Southern 500 and ultimately lost out on strategy in the final stage.

Trackhouse opted for a one-stop strategy in Stage 3, which had van Gisbergen pitting from 20th and rejoining two laps down with just over 60 laps to go.

Unfortunately, a subsequent caution worked against that plan and, although receiving one lap back under the Lucky Dog rule, he ultimately finished two laps adrift.

Van Gisbergen had only narrowly avoided a wreck on the opening lap of the race, when fellow Playoff contender Josh Berry crashed out of third place at Turn 2.

The highlight of van Gisbergen’s race was a spirited charge in the final laps of Stage 1 that put him into the Lucky Dog position and got him back onto the lead lap.

“It was a tough day for the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet team. Our car was very different from yesterday,” said van Gisbergen post-race.

“Stephen (Doran, crew chief) didn’t give up on tuning on it, but we just couldn’t make it better.

“We tried something different with strategy, but got a caution at the wrong time and couldn’t rebound from it.”

Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Chase Briscoe scored the race win from the 23XI Camry of Tyler Reddick, holding on in a last-lap battle.

Briscoe led 309 of 367 laps and swept all three stages to win the famed race for a second straight year, doing so alongside Australian crew chief James Small.

“At the end, that was way harder than it needed to be,” Briscoe said following the victory, which guarantees him passage to the Round of 12.

“Man, what an incredible Toyota. I’ve watched Martin [Truex Jr] dominate a lot of races. It was fun to finally be behind the wheel of it.

“So cool to win two Southern 500s in a row. This is my favourite race of the year.”

Toyotas swept the top four places with Legacy Motor Club pair Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek completing the quartet.

Van Gisbergen was the second-lowest finisher of the 16 Playoff drivers, ahead only of the hapless Berry who was classified 38th.

SVG entered the Playoffs seeded sixth thanks to his road course wins but is now ranked 12th with two races in the Round of 16 remaining, just three points above the cut-line.

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