LEBANON, Tenn. — Shane van Gisbergen turned in his best-career oval track finish, bringing the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the checkered flag in fifth after leading 12 laps during the race.
“It was a pretty awesome day for this No. 97 Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Chevrolet team. Starting up front obviously helps, but it was cool to lead some laps and battle at the front,” van Gisbergen said. “Our Chevy was running really well all night. I really enjoyed myself tonight. I learned a lot. I learned to be comfortable moving around in (turns) one and two, which I’ve never been able to do before.
“We just got the balance better on the two-tire strategy. When we were on a four-tire strategy, we were lacking that. The two-tire stop at the end, we were able to get the balance back again. It was a lot of fun. It definitely feels like we’re making headway.”
Van Gisbergen is 12th in the standings.
• Chase Briscoe led 14 laps and finished third Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway.
Briscoe trailed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell to the checkered flag as Toyotas swept the top-three positions.
“I kept trying to — we were running side by side. I kept trying to back up my entries to get a big run and take it three wide,” Briscoe explained. “They kept running each other up the race track, so I kept trying to hit the bottom. Denny went to the apron. I was going to go three wide to the bottom because I knew, if I hit the bottom, they were all going to run up.
“He covered it, so then I went to the top and was able to get to Christopher’s right rear. We were all driving so deep that we slide up the race track. I was in no man’s land after that. Hate that we weren’t on the better end of it. We had a really, really good Bass Pro Shops Tracker Toyota, just felt like it was certainly capable of winning, ended up third. Great day for JGR, went one, two, three. Wish we were the ones in first.”
Briscoe is 14th in the standings after 14 races, while Hamlin is second and Bell seventh.
• Zane Smith collected his second consecutive top-10 finish, bringing his Front Row Motorsports Ford home ninth.
“We gave everything we could tonight, and we’re here to try to win a Cup race for Front Row Motorsports and all the men and women back at the shop,” Smith said. “And Speedy Cash and Ford Racing, of course, and all of our partners. But, just didn’t quite play out. And that’s okay. Just need to get better on restarts. The past couple weeks there’s been ridiculously tight on restarts and that’s, uh, it’s just been brutal.
“I know everyone is, but I’m slow on them. And so I need to be better. And yeah, working towards that. But, hopefully ours is coming soon. My mindset is high after the past couple weeks, you know? We’re leading laps. We’re hopefully being talked about because our speed is there and performance is there. You just have to have everything go right to win these, and that’s why it’s so special too. We need to do the little things a little bit better… and one time it will go our way.”
Smith led 18 laps and ranks 20th in the standings.
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth in the Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet. It was his second top-five finish of the season.
“It was an up-and-down day. I felt like our No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet started off really tight and we kind of fell back there,” Stenhouse said. “We made some adjustments and stayed out in the second stage to get good stage points. We kind of found our way back into the top-15. This team gave me a great car and we made it better throughout the race.
“Our brakes were good. I could hustle it really all the way through a whole stage and a whole run, and I felt like that was a benefit for us. Our pit crew did a good job there. We decided to take four tires so we could be on the offense. The lanes just opened up. I was hoping they were going to fight a little bit harder up there so we could back into a win.”
• Chase Elliott finished seventh, but was involved in a finish-line crash with Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney.
“It was just green-white-checkered craziness, as always,” Elliott explained. “I was glad to see Tyler (Reddick) get out there at the end. I know that had to have been a big hit. I had my hands full. Ryan (Blaney) tried to give me a shove to the line and I was just out of shape, so it was certainly nothing intentional at all.”
• Nashville marked the final race in the 32-year Ford Racing career for Pat Di Marco.
Di Marco recently announced his retirement from Ford after leading the NASCAR program to a combined 704 NASCAR victories and 29 championships across its top three series.
As Manager, NASCAR and Analytics, Di Marco added his 704th career win on Friday night at Nashville when Layne Riggs charged to victory lane in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race driving a Ford F-150.
