Bold Move Pushes Van Gisbergen To Glory

AUSTIN, Texas — With a bold, brilliant move moment after the final restart of Saturday’s Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas, Shane van Gisbergen once again exhibited his road course supremacy.

Taking the inside line into Turn 1 after the restart with five laps left, van Gisbergen made a four-wide pass for the lead from the sixth position and pulled away to win the fifth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts race of his career, this time by 0.780 seconds over runner-up Austin Hill.

In a rough-and-tumble event with more than its share of contact, van Gisbergen led five times for 31 laps, including the last five after the decisive move, as then-leader and Stage 2 winner Sam Mayer ran wide in the first corner, clearing the inside lane for the winning pass.

“I was a bit unsure there, starting sixth on the outside,” van Gisbergen said. “I kind of got to the inside, which was good, and nosed in on the 41 (Mayer), and he reacted. When he reacted, I thought no way he’s stopping that, and he kind of pushed everyone wide, which was awesome, and it worked out for us.”

The win was SVG’s first at COTA in his second O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at the track. He is winless in two NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Texas road course.

“I’ve always been fast here but never managed to win,” van Gisbergen said. “So I’m pretty stoked to finally get it done—pretty flawless day.”

van Gisbergen’s victory was the 10th straight on road courses for JR Motorsports and the 106th for the organization overall.

Austin Hill’s runner-up finish was his third in five starts at the 2.4-mile track.

“I made a lot of mistakes out there today, but that’s going to happen on these road courses,” said Hill, the series points leader through three races. “Stage 2, I was struggling a little bit, just trying to figure out what I needed to be better.

“That (last) restart, I did a really good job getting left. As soon as they went off into the corner, I knew that they were going to slide up, and I was able to file in there in second, and then I had to go to work on SVG.

“He’s just so good at the first three laps of a run. He can really get away. I was struggling a little bit with front turn for the first two or three laps, and he kind of got that gap and was able to manage from there. Hats off to those guys. A better guy beat us today.”

In a race billed as a matchup between van Gisbergen and pole winner Connor Zilisch, Sammy Smith finished third, followed by Jesse Love and Corey Day, as Zilisch suffered a litany of issues that dropped him to 21st at the end.

After Zilisch led 12 laps during the first stage, the left-rear brake rotor on his No. 1 Chevrolet sheared, and the 19-year-old prodigy quickly dropped through the field. After stopping for repairs to the rear brakes, Zilisch started the final stage in 29th but just as rapidly worked his way forward.

With fewer than three laps left, he had just cleared Day’s No. 17 Chevrolet for fourth, when contact from Day’s car sent Zilisch spinning and damaged his Camaro.

“He got right in front of me there, and as soon as did and he crossed over my nose, I lost a little bit of what I had left (of front turn),” Day said. “It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t want to wreck him.”

The accident ruined Zilisch’s impressive charge from the back of the field.

“Really unfortunate,” Zilisch said. “Hopefully, he can figure it out… All I want is an apology, but he just stands over there and stares at me and makes it worse. But he’ll figure it out.”

Seventeen-year-old Brent Crews finished sixth in his series debut after taking the lead on the Stage 2 restart. Crews is the first driver under 18 to lead laps in the series since Casey Atwood accomplished the feat in 1998.

Results

1. (2)  Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 65.
2. (3)  Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 65.
3. (10)  Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 65.
4. (11)  Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 65.
5. (12)  Corey Day, Chevrolet, 65.
6. (7)  Brent Crews, Toyota, 65.
7. (15)  William Sawalich, Toyota, 65.
8. (5)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 65.
9. (21)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 65.
10. (26)  Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 65.
11. (9)  Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 65.
12. (14)  Taylor Gray, Toyota, 65.
13. (28)  Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 65.
14. (8)  Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 65.
15. (4)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, 65.
16. (18)  Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 65.
17. (24)  Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 65.
18. (34)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 65.
19. (6)  Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 65.
20. (32)  Patrick Staropoli, Chevrolet, 65.
21. (1)  Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 65.
22. (31)  Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 65.
23. (16)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 65.
24. (35)  Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 65.
25. (20)  Nick Sanchez, Ford, 65.
26. (27)  Dean Thompson, Toyota, 65.
27. (17)  Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 65.
28. (36)  JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 65.
29. (23)  Harrison Burton, Toyota, 65.
30. (29)  Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 65.
31. (19)  Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 65.
32. (30)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 65.
33. (13)  Austin Green, Chevrolet, 65.
34. (33)  Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 64.
35. (22)  Sage Karam, Toyota, Suspension, 53.
36. (25)  Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, Suspension, 35.
37. (37)  Baltazar Leguizamon, Chevrolet, Accident, 33.
38. (38)  Austin J Hill, Chevrolet, Suspension, 7.