Van Gisbergen seventh in Darlington Xfinity race

‘The Track Too Tough To Tame’ marked the first intermediate oval that van Gisbergen has returned to this season, and he made significant strides forward.

“You turn up, you know where things are, get out on the track and you can just focus on the race car straight away instead of learning the place,” said van Gisbergen of returning to Darlington Raceway.

“I certainly felt more comfortable the second time here. Especially in-race, you learn how the race develops and learn where you want to be on restarts. The experience keeps growing.”

The #97 driver qualified 26th but quickly rose through the field and by the end of Stage 1 was 11th.

It wasn’t an entirely drama-free race for van Gisbergen. At the end of Stage 1, Brandon Jones was running side-by-side with Chandler Smith when van Gisbergen got a run on them both and got into the back of Jones.

That sent Jones into a spin and punctured his left rear tyre with damage to the left rear quarter panel. He wound up four laps down in 32nd.

The Kiwi was 13th in Stage 2 and from there set himself up for a charge in Stage 3. So good was his progress that he was on course to finish sixth until a caution in the dying laps forced the race to overtime.

The frontrunners all pitted for tyres and that dropped van Gisbergen to eighth. Ultimately, he climbed one place to seventh.

The race was won by Christopher Bell, who was the benefactor of the late caution caused by van Gisbergen’s teammate AJ Allmendinger.

Fifth-placed Allmendinger made contact with Cole Custer in fourth and suffered damage to his right front that subsequently caused a puncture. The #16 speared hard into the outside wall and drew the caution.

SHELDON CREED PASSES FOR THE LEAD!

📺 : USA Network pic.twitter.com/hDyjATMNzI

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 31, 2024

Sheldon Creed, who had surged to the lead with a pass on Bell with nine laps to go fell to third in the pit stop sequence after his stop took 15 seconds. Bell’s was only 13.4 seconds and Custer’s was 13.6 seconds, and they leap-frogged the #18.

That set up a green-white-chequered finish with Bell at the head of the field alongside Custer. Creed was nearly gifted victory when Bell and Custer tangled on the back straight and shot to the bottom of the race track.

Christopher Bell beats Cole Custer in overtime for the win at Darlington in the Xfinity Series. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/2fxtvB7mCL

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 31, 2024

However, the pair escaped any major dramas and Bell maintained his lead over Custer. He took the white flag and ultimately edged out Custer to victory.

Of the late race charge, van Gisbergen said he “Just drove as far as I could.”

“We struggled taking off [on restarts] and didn’t have grip early on,” he added.

“I guess that traded into the long-run pace. We pumped the tyres up, the restart felt really good the last two laps, so whatever Kevin Walter (crew chief) did was a good tune.”

Van Gisbergen will return to Darlington Raceway on Monday (AEST) for the NASCAR Cup Series where he’ll start 34th. That race gets underway at 8am.

Results: NASCAR Xfinity Series, Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway