Van Gisbergen wrecked at the famous high-banked oval with 20 laps to go, putting him below the cut-off line.

Expectations for the ROVAL race at Charlotte Motor Speedway were high given his road course prowess.

Van Gisbergen took pole position for the race and was the favourite to win.

However, a third place finish wasn’t enough to advance to the Round of 8.

His stellar run at Charlotte was undone when van Gisbergen and his crew decided not to pit for tyres late in the race under yellow.

Van Gisbergen was keen to maximise track position instead of being buried in the pack and risk being part of a wreck.

“You’re obviously in pain because you want to get through but I guess last week really hurt us,” van Gisbergen told Frontstretch for Speedcafe.

“Making that call at the end, a bit different to others, but whether we won or not… it’s a tough one.

“I’m proud of the WeatherTech Kaulig Racing team. We had really good speed but not quite there.

“It is what it is. It was going to be some fast cars battling. The #48 [Parker Kligerman] got through really good. Who knows? In reality, it comes down to last week.”

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Van Gisbergen, at one point, let his teammate AJ Allmendinger through in a bid to hunt down the then-race leader Parker Kligerman and Sammy Smith.

“That was when they were really fresh,” said van Gisbergen of Allmendinger’s tyre advantage.

“I was like, man, I’ve just got to minimise the damage and try and be smart. Then I actually equalised and started catching those guys. Our car speed was really, really good. It is what it is.

“You’re relying on people to take each other out and I don’t want to win that way.”

Van Gisbergen will continue his NASCAR Xfinity Series season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 20.

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