Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Shane van Gisbergen was making just his fourth career start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and his third on an oval.
After qualifying 19th, he ran a clean race without any drama, and surged in the lengthy final stint to finish third. That matches both his best-ever oval finish in any level of NASCAR (also finished third in 2024 NASCAR O’Reilly race at Atlanta), and his career-best Truck finish as he also finished third at the Watkins Glen road course earlier in the year.
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He was driving the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, and was teammates with fellow Cup drivers Chase Elliott and Carson Hocevar.
“Just time and experience, working with good people,” said Van Gisbergen when asked about how he pulled off such a result. “Bono [Manion, crew chief] did a great job with the truck. Thank you to Spire, Nations Guard, Chevy. I had a lot of fun. Once I figured it out, I kind of learned my own line and started working forward and really enjoyed myself.”
At the start of the final stage, Van Gisbergen was 11th with 100 laps of straight green-flag running at the iconic North Carolina short track.
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Glued to the bottom-most line, Van Gisbergen steadily marched forward, passing reigning Truck Series champion Corey Heim, as well as his Spire teammate and 2020 NASCAR Cup champion Elliott.
With 55 laps to go, he entered the top five, making every pass on the inside. He eventually dispatched Christian Eckes for third, but was unable to catch either of the Front Row Motorsports drivers ahead of him.
Chandler Smith won in the biggest margin of victory ever seen in a NASCAR Truck short track race, 8.4 seconds clear of FRM teammate Layne Riggs. Van Gisbergen was about two seconds adrift of Riggs with no pressure from behind, placing third as the highest-finishing Spire truck.
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Van Gisbergen made his first oval start in any NASCAR division in the Truck Series almost three years ago, finishing 19th at the IRP short track. Sunday showcased just how much stronger he is at ovals today. He will be back on track for the Cup race at North Wilkesboro Sunday evening, with Cup practice and qualifying following the Truck race.
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