Shane van Gisbergen has finished 19th in this morning’s Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
With the race his first-ever outing on the track following the cancellation of practice and qualifying, the Kiwi climbed from 28th and sat 16th at the start of Overtime but lost three positions over the final two laps to finish 19th.
NASCAR Cup star Christopher Bell triumphed in a thrilling three-wide battle on the run for the flag to head home Sheldon Creed and Cole Custer.
AJ Allmendinger was the first Kaulig Racing driver home in 11th, followed by van Gisbergen in 19th and Josh Williams in 24th.
While persistent rain in the area forced the cancellation of Cup Series qualifying, the start of the Xfinity Series race was brought forward 30 minutes to beat further impending weather.
The field started on wets as the track remained damp before officials called a Competition Caution on Lap 10 to allow teams to switch to slicks.
Van Gisbergen climbed to 17th in pit lane but, on resumption, dropped to 25th ahead of the second caution, which came on Lap 25 when Patrick Emerling stopped at Turn 2.
Nine of the top ten remained out, but the Kiwi was one of a contingent of drivers in the midfield to stop under caution.
The race was again interrupted shortly after the Lap 34 restart when AJ Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman came together at Turn 1, with the latter spinning. Most of those who had remained out stopped under this caution, which saw van Gisbergen climb to 19th.
The Kiwi went on to finish the opening stage, which was won by Sam Mayer, in 24th.
Van Gisbergen started Stage 2 in 29th and climbed to 24th in a tidy run on the way to the green-and-white chequered.
He started Stage 3 in 19th and climbed to 16th early before the next caution came when Armani Williams spun at Turn 4.
The race restarted on Lap 106 and remained green for an extended period, which saw the field cycle through for green flag stops from Lap 149.
Another caution followed on Lap 168 when Williams spun again, which saw a large portion of the field back into the pits.
Van Gisbergen sat 16th at the Lap 175 restart, but the race was interrupted again when Chandler Smith spun from contact with Sheldon Creed.
Another caution followed shortly after that restart as Justin Bonsignore spun out of the top ten after taking contact from Sammy Smith.
Van Gisbergen nudged rival Austin Hill as he went about avoiding the incident ahead.
Hailee Deegan and Nathan Byrd came together after the next restart, with the latter sent into the wall, which brought the race’s 10th interruption.
The green flag flew for a six-lap sprint to the line, but a spin for Mason Massey at Turn 2 put paid to that and triggered a period of overtime, with van Gisbergen 16th.
Custer led the field to green for the run to the flag but came under intense pressure from Creed and Bell.
Bell would sneak through in a three-wide battle to win ahead of Creed and Custer, while van Gisbergen lost three places to come home 19th.
The Xfinity Series is back in action next weekend at Nashville Superspeedway
Shane bumped up to 18th after another car disqualified for loose lug nuts.