The Kaulig Racing driver qualified 20th and got into trouble almost immediately, rear-ending a car on Lap 1. That left the #97 with a wounded nose, but it did little to affect his car speed.
Van Gisbergen spent the rest of Stage 1 trying to stay out of trouble as cars around him wrecked.
Just shy of the green-chequered, van Gisbergen opted to stay out and he climbed to fourth after the leaders pitted under caution.
The yellow flag flew with just a few laps to go in the first stage and van Gisbergen pitted from second, dropping him down to 32nd by the end of Stage 1.
Stage 2 was another caution-filled affair and by the end of it, van Gisbergen was 16th. The chaos continued and van Gisbergen suffered more damage to the right front after another nose-to-tail incident.
The Kiwi edged his way forward just shy of 50 laps to go van Gisbergen cracked the top 10.
Then came a rather ominous call from van Gisbergen.
“I think the race is about to go to shit,” he said.
“A lot of desperate people.”
A stack-up on the restart shakes things up at the front of the field! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/MiWEV0XTyf
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 2, 2024
In the end, it was van Gisbergen who found himself in trouble on what would be the penultimate restart.
With 24 laps to go, the #1 of Sam Mayer got into the back of the #7 of Justin Allgaier after a slow restart by Aric Almirola.
With smoke billowing from the #1, the field checked up and at the end of the lap, van Gisbergen got into the left rear of Sieg in the #28.
Van Gisbergen was forced to stop and suffered a right front puncture in the melee.
He was forced to pit and ultimately finished one lap down in 28th.
“Unlucky guys,” van Gisbergen remarked as he took the chequered flag.
The race was won by Almirola who beat Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith, who were both in must-win situations to make it through to the Championship 4.
Cole Custer’s fourth place finish was enough for him to advance alongside Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Hill.
The race featured 13 caution periods, with just two to signal the end of Stage 1 and Stage 2.
Results: NASCAR Xfinity Series National Debt Relief 250, Martinsville Speedway
| Pos | Num | Driver | Laps/Diff |
| 1 | 20 | Aric Almirola (P) | 250 laps |
| 2 | 8 | Sammy Smith (P) | 0.587 |
| 3 | 81 | Chandler Smith (P) | 1.210 |
| 4 | 0 | Cole Custer (P) | 3.169 |
| 5 | 7 | Justin Allgaier (P) | 3.674 |
| 6 | 18 | Sheldon Creed | 4.121 |
| 7 | 5 | Anthony Alfredo | 4.722 |
| 8 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | 6.319 |
| 9 | 27 | Jeb Burton | 6.339 |
| 10 | 91 | Myatt Snider | 7.227 |
| 11 | 98 | Riley Herbst | 7.749 |
| 12 | 2 | Jesse Love # (P) | 9.480 |
| 13 | 44 | Brennan Poole | 9.670 |
| 14 | 21 | Austin Hill (P) | 10.548 |
| 15 | 28 | Ryan Sieg | 10.652 |
| 16 | 38 | Matt DiBenedetto | 11.038 |
| 17 | 11 | Josh Williams | 11.107 |
| 18 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | 11.572 |
| 19 | 29 | Blaine Perkins | 12.062 |
| 20 | 15 | Dylan Lupton | 12.457 |
| 21 | 39 | Kyle Sieg | 12.967 |
| 22 | 53 | Mason Maggio(i) | 13.325 |
| 23 | 7 | Patrick Emerling | 13.868 |
| 24 | 50 | Preston Pardus | 14.228 |
| 25 | 92 | Dawson Cram(i) | 15.501 |
| 26 | 14 | Greg Van Alst | 16.197 |
| 27 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | 1 lap |
| 28 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | 1 lap |
| 29 | 9 | Brandon Jones | 16 laps |
| 30 | 1 | Sam Mayer (P) | 22 laps |
| 31 | 26 | Bubba Pollard | 27 laps |
| 32 | 45 | Garrett Smithley | 45 laps |
| 33 | 19 | William Sawalich(i) | 86 laps |
| 34 | 74 | Logan Bearden | 88 laps |
| 35 | 42 | Leland Honeyman # | 194 laps |
| 36 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | 197 laps |
| 37 | 35 | Carson Ware | 206 laps |
| 38 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger (P) | 237 laps |
