Shane van Gisbergen has finished a commendable seventh in this morning’s Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway.
The Kaulig Racing #97 qualified 26th for the outing and immediately moved forward, finishing the first 45-lap stage in 11th. He remained in the top 20 through Stage 2 and ran in the top 10 for most of the 60-lap dash to the flag.
A late caution for an incident for Kaulig Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger brought for an overtime finish, with van Gisbergen coming home in seventh.
It was a strong return to Darlington for the Kiwi driver, who looked comfortable and at home on the track where he finished 15th in May.
NASCAR Cup star Christopher Bell took the lead off Sheldon Creed on pit road ahead of the overtime dash and held off Cole Custer to take the victory.
Creed, who had hunted down Bell over the final stage, was left to finish third, his maiden Xfinity Series win having seemed on the cards until Allmendinger’s crash. He has finished as runner-up 11 times.
Bell had earlier led the field to green and remained at the front until the first caution on Lap 4 when Parker Retzlaff stopped on pit road.
Joey Logano was the next to find trouble, returning to his garage on Lap 12 with smoke pouring from the #15 Ford.
Just one lap later, Riley Herbst found the wall hard in turns three and four, as did Anthony Alfredo on Lap 15.
Despite the incidents, the race remained green until Lap 30, when the caution was shown for debris on the circuit.
Sam Mayer had taken the lead off Bell on Lap 28 and led the field to green on Lap 36, only to slow from the lead and spin on the apron at Turn 1.
The race remained green until Lap 45, when van Gisbergen made contact with the rear of Brandon Jones, sending the #9 Chevrolet into a spin.
This gave Bell the stage win from Austin Hill and Allmendinger, with van Gisbergen surviving the contact and retaining 11th before stopping for tyres at the end of the stage.
Creed hit the front ahead of Bell off the Lap 53 restart and remained there when the race’s fourth caution came one lap later when Kyle Weatherman hit the Turn 3 wall.
Bell returned to the lead at Turn 4 following the Lap 58 restart and remained there until Lap 77, when he made contact with a lapped car and slowed, which allowed Creed to work back through.
The #18 Toyota remained at the front to win Stage 2 from Bell and Allmendinger, with van Gisbergen taking the green and white chequered 13th and stopping again under the caution.
Bell again took the lead following the restart, this time on Lap 97. Creed lost ground on Lap 97 and dropped behind Austin Hill to clear debris from his grill. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen had crept forward into the top ten and showed a good pace.
Bell pulled a gap on the field over the following tours before Creed returned to second on Lap 113 and began pursuing the leader. Bell scraped the wall on Lap 138, which saw Creed, who had slowly clawed back into contention, take the lead.
Creed looked to be on the way to his maiden win if the final 60-lap stage remained caution-free.
This proved to not be the case, with Allmendinger coming together with Custer, who had been running fourth but made contact with the wall on Lap 142.
The contact cut Allmendinger’s front tyre, which came loose on Lap 143 and fired the Kaulig Racing entry into the wall.
The leaders, including van Gisbergen, stopped for tyres ahead of the overtime restart.
Bell won the race off pit road ahead of Custer and Creed and blocked down the backstretch to remain at the front at the chequered flag.
Chase Elliott led home Sammy Smith for fourth, while Jesse Love was sixth, ahead of van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Hill and Justin Allgaier.
Josh Williams was the second-best Kaulig Racing entry in 16th, while Allmendinger was 27th, one lap down.
The Xfinity Series returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend.
Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, will also feature in tomorrow’s Cup Series race at Darlington and starts from 34th. Bubba Wallace claimed pole from Carson Hocevar, Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson.
Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series race begins at 10.00 am NZST and will be shown live on Three Now.
Header Image: Kaulig Racing
