Strategy fumble ruins van Gisbergen’s playoff run

The decisive moment at the ROVAL came late in the race when Kaulig Racing opted not to pit for tyres and instead prioritised track position while most behind the #97 pitted.

The race was won by Sam Mayer in a dramatic close to the contest when a late caution was thrown as Parker Kliggerman came to the white flag.

In an overtime finish, Sam Mayer passed Kliggerman at the hairpin. The #48 slowed with a tyre rub and eventually finished sixth.

Van Gisbergen joined Kliggerman, Sheldon Creed, and Riley Herbst in missing the Round of 8.

Shane van Gisbergen began the race from pole position but dropped to second after Mayer jumped the start. He was given a stop-and-go penalty as a result.

By lap five, van Gisbergen had lost the lead and began to complain that the car’s set-up wasn’t to his liming.

A mistake on Lap 9 meant van Gisbergen had to stop at the chicane and he duly dropped to sixth.

As soon as he fell back, the Kiwi began to make headway ahead and was soon knocking on the door of the top three.

By the end of Stage 1, van Gisbergen was second to his Kaulig Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger.

Pit stops followed and van Gisbergen restarted 21st and in one lap rose to 15th. He made immediate ground to 15th before the caution came out on Lap 26 due to debris.

At the time of the caution, van Gisbergen was 12th. A short-lived restart saw him climb up to ninth before Matt DiBenedetto crashed at Turn 2.

Another short-lived green flag run followed after playoff contender Riley Herbst squeezed Anthony Alfredo at the final turn.

Herbst got tipped into a spin and a 12-car pile-up ensued. Among the victims was Sheldon Creed. Both Creed and Herbst would suffer damage that eventually put them out of the race.

Van Gisbergen pitted for fuel and tyres from seventh in what would be his final stop of the day and restarted 14th with three laps to go in Stage 2.

Justin Allgaier won Stage 2 after he opted not to pit. That would prove decisive in the #7 making it through to the Round of 8.

With 24 laps to go, van Gisbergen restarted fifth. The penultimate yellow came with 15 laps to go when the #35 of Thomas Annunziata buried his car in the Turn 2 tyre wall.

There was plenty of consternation over the radio as van Gisbergen and his team debated whether they would pit.

Ultimately, they stayed out and almost everyone else came to the lane. That left van Gisbergen high and dry with the oldest set of tyres.

He led the race to green but was soon swamped by Kliggerman, Mayer, and his teammate Allmendinger.

Van Gisbergen was on the verge of making it into the next round of the playoffs when the yellow flag came out just inches from Kliggerman taking the white flag.

That gave the likes of Jesse Love and Allgaier the free kick they needed to make more headway and eventually put van Gisbergen two points below the cutoff line.

Despite climbing one place to third when Kliggerman suffered a tyre rub, it wasn’t enough for van Gisbergen to make it through.

Results: NASCAR Xfinity Series, Charlott Motor Speedway ROVAL