Toni Breidinger was running seventh when her #25 Toyota was turned around, setting off mayhem.

At least 10 cars were caught up in the pile-up, one of them being the #28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet of van Gisbergen.

It was the second bitter blow of the day for the New Zealander, who had failed to qualify by a single position but was handed a lifeline when the entry of Eric Caudell, who would have lined up in 17th spot, was withdrawn.

The Kiwi then took 12th in his first Xfinity Series practice session, driving the #97 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, but his day was not done due to a weather-induced schedule change.

The 80-lap ARCA encounter was brought forward from Saturday afternoon to late-Friday night (local times), with drivers given the command to start their engines at 23:10 local time.

Pole-sitter Willie Mullins (#3 Ford) led the field to green Daytona International Speedway and fended off Tim Richmond on the opening lap while van Gisbergen climbed from 34th on the grid to 29th after the first 2.5mi.

The three-time Supercars champion continued to scythe his way from the back, to 26th on Lap 2 and 19th on Lap 3, before disaster struck.

Ironically, it was the #97 Chevrolet of Jason Kitzmiller which was among the cars making the contact which caused Breidinger to spin.

CLICK HERE to watch replays of crash

He has been checked and released from the circuit’s medical centre, per protocol, and Pinnacle will attempt to patch up the #28 Chevrolet such that he can head back out to log more laps on his first race weekend on a superspeedway.

If not, van Gisbergen will shift focus back to the Xfinity Series, with Qualifying at tomorrow 03:30 AEDT and the Race due to start at 09:00 AEDT.

Update

Van Gisbergen classified 29th, finishing 26 laps down, after repairs to Car #28.

Short night for Australian V8 Supercar champ @shaneVanGis in his first oval race after getting involved in a multi car crash with @ToniBreidinger and others on lap 4 during ARCA season opener at Daytona. #SVG

📸 @rebilasphoto pic.twitter.com/ChV8nBSoyg

— Mark J. Rebilas (@rebilasphoto) February 17, 2024

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