Shane van Gisbergen Acquits Himself Nicely In Drafting Debut
5 months agoIn his first NASCAR Cup Series drafting race, Shane van Gisbergen performed very admirably, although he didn't get the finish to prove it. Van Gisbergen made two passes for the lead in the race, passing Kyle Busch on lap 44 and Chris Buescher on lap 98, proving that his passing for the lead in Saturday's Xfinity Series race was no fluke and immediately proving he had the ability to compete on drafting tracks. Admittedly, his teammate, Daniel Hemric, outperformed him as van Gisbergen had an average running position of 20th, finished 28th, and ranked a mere 27th in driver rating. However, in a race where nearly the entire field intentionally slowed down for long stretches at a time, peak performance likely is a better metric than average performance, and he did lead when many veteran drivers didn't.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference