The New Zealander was on top for most of the 50-minute hit-out on the recently resurfaced road course, with his best time of 1:15.290s coming in the final minutes of proceedings, after a second red flag period.

That left him 0.309s up on fellow Chevrolet driver Parker Kligerman, with Ty Gibbs moving to third late on in a Toyota at another 0.007s off the pace.

Van Gisbergen had been quickest after the first flying laps with a 1:17.425s in his #97 Chevrolet, more than three tenths clear of Kligerman (#48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet).

Both improved next time around but van Gisbergen increased his margin over the field as he got down to a 1:17.1333s.

His Kaulig team-mate AJ Allmendinger, another road course specialist, consolidated third spot with a 1:17.673s on his third lap, before Sam Mayer (#1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) took over second place on a 1:17.195s.

Josh Bilicki (#92 DGM Racing Chevrolet) spun at the Turn 11 hairpin and a stoppage of around seven minutes followed.

When the session resumed, Kligerman moved to the top with a 1:16.881s but was bettered almost immediately by van Gisbergen’s 1:15.985s.

Mayer went second-quickest with a 1:16.766s before Jesse Love (#2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) closed the gap somewhat with a 1:16.763s and then Cole Custer (#00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) set a 1:16.527s.

Illustrating van Gisbergen’s pace, he started another run with a 1:16.264s which was almost three tenths away from his best at that point, but still better than the 1:16.525s to which Custer subsequently improved.

Boris Said brought out a second red flag period when he crashed the #17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the wall at Turn 1.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Oh no! Not Boris! <a href=”https://t.co/EjbMkV2UoB”>pic.twitter.com/EjbMkV2UoB</a></p>&mdash; NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) <a href=”https://twitter.com/NASCAR_Xfinity/status/1799180636739006725?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>June 7, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

After a four-minute halt, Gibbs (#19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) moved the marker to a 1:15.865s and then Kligerman to a 1:15.599s, before they were split by Justin Allgaier (#7 JRM Chevrolet) on a 1:15.792s.

Van Gisbergen, though, was biding his time in pit lane.

Once he reappeared, the three-time Bathurst 1000 winner punched out a 1:15.290s to reclaim the ascendancy with just over a minute remaining.

Kligerman remained second while Gibbs moved back to third on a 1:15.606s on his penultimate lap.

Allgaier ended up fourth, from Love, Austin Hill (#21 RCR Chevrolet), and Allmendinger in seventh.

Cup Series Practice starts soon, at 17:05 ET/07:05 AEST, while Xfinity Qualifying gets underway tomorrow at 15:30 ET/05:30 AEST.

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