Shane van Gisbergen survived three separate incidents and nine cautions to finish 12th on his Xfinity Series debut at Daytona International Speedway.
He dropped off the lead lap twice but returned to it under the NASCAR Xfinity Series ‘Lucky Dog/Free Pass’ system both times, which permits one car to recover a lap each caution.
He steered clear of a last-lap incident amongst the lead pack, which he had gone with off the final restart, to cross the line 2.914 seconds behind winner Austin Hill, who has won the last three February races at Daytona.
Hill was also caught out in an earlier incident early in the second phase but recovered to start the season with a win from Sheldon Creed and Parker Retzlaff.
For van Gisbergen, 12th was a fair reward for a difficult race where he was on the back foot on several occasions.
It’s a great introduction to the series for the #97, who emerges amongst the championship contenders, having qualified fifth and survived through the chaos to complete the full 120 laps, albeit with considerable duct tape covering the livery.
It was a tough start for the Kiwi from the green flag, who began third in the queue on the inside line, with pole-sitting debutant Jesse Love getting proceedings underway from the outside.
Love quickly put the foot down at the front, taking the cars behind with him as they made considerable progress on those below.
By the end of Lap 5, van Gisbergen sat 11th, and he ran 19th when he cleanly slotted in on the high line several laps later as the field dispersed to single-file formation.
He would gain one position to sit 18th at the end of Lap 20, with the end of the first stage approaching 10 circuits later.
Attempts to form a bottom line failed to come to fruition, with van Gisbergen jumping to 16th on the outside before the first caution on Lap 22 for an incident towards the back of the field that claimed four competitors, including the Kiwi’s Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suarez.
Love continued to lead at the restart while several competitors sacrificed points potential and came into the pit lane prior to the restart, with one lap remaining before the stage ended and the field was re-bunched.
Love narrowly kept Austin Hill at bay to clinch the opening 30-lap stint, with van Gisbergen crossing the line 15th.
Once all stops had been made, the Kaulig Racing #97 ran fifth on the outside line, having made his stop under the earlier caution.
The inside lane was away faster the second time, with the field quickly going three-wide and van Gisbergen dropping to fourth in line on the outside.
Contact between two drivers in the middle lane saw Love spun and turned up high into AJ Allmendinger, who was running directly ahead of van Gisbergen.
The #97 was left with nowhere to go, running along the wall on contact before copping a further hit from another spinning vehicle.
Xfinity Series regulations give six minutes to repair damaged cars, and Kaulig Racing was able to do that for their entry. Van Gisbergen returned to the track in 31st but a lap down on the field.
Caution number four was called shortly after as Justin Allgaier was spun out at the front of the field.
Yet another intervention in Stage 2, the fifth of the race, saw van Gisbergen, the first car off the lead lap, return to the back of the pack under the Lucky Dog regulation to sit 27th.
As drivers boxed, he jumped to 19th, and at the end of Stage 2, on Lap 60, he was 17th.
The third and final stage began with 54 laps remaining, with van Gisbergen running in the pack, sitting 24th with 46 laps to run when he came in for his next stop.
He returned to the track in 24th, amongst a big group of cars. The added draft worked wonders for the #97, which sat 17th and in, with the lead group entering the final 30 laps.
A strong run for the outside line saw the Kiwi surge into the top ten before venturing low in ninth. He would make contact with the #27 of Jeb Burton as he tried to slot in back on the outside, with a single file forming, putting both cars into a spin.
Both drivers did well to avoid further contact, with van Gisbergen running side-on across the start-finish line and returning to the correct direction with some momentum. He would drop to 24th, remaining with the lead bunch.
Burton was not so lucky, spinning onto the wet grass and taking considerable time to return to proceedings.
That brought out another caution, with van Gisbergen boxing on Lap 98 and returning in 26th, on the last row of cars on the lead lap.
An incident off that restart saw van Gisbergen caught out once again with nowhere to go, and he lost a lap on the field as he was forced to return to the pit lane for repairs.
The race’s ninth caution came on Lap 112, with van Gisbergen again receiving the Lucky Dog, returning to the lead lap in 22nd, and taking 20th at the restart.
The race returned to green with three laps to run, and van Gisbergen had a good run to pull into a large lead group.
He sat 14th, entering the final lap, and gained two further places on the last circuit to cross the line in twelfth.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next for the second oval race of the season, which begins at 11.00 am NZ time on Sunday.
Good report guys