Shane Van Gisbergen is headed to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.
After moving across the world, from New Zealand to the United States, to pursue a career in NASCAR, the three-time Supercars champion scored his maiden Xfinity Series win in Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Speedway.
While the Kaulig Racing driver kept himself present inside the top five throughout much of the event, the NASCAR newcomer pounced on the race’s final restart, getting around the dominant driver of the event, Justin Allgaier, who led 46 of 75 laps.
“What a day, it was really cool, had some great racing,” the 34-year-old driver added. “I need to get better at my restarts and learn how to position but that was so much fun, really, really cool racing, I love these cars, they’re great.”
It’s the first win for Van Gisbergen in the Xfinity Series, making him the seventh foreign-born driver to win in the second-tier series. The Trackhouse Racing development driver becomes the fifth foreign-born driver to win in multiple of NASCAR’s top-three series.
Saturday’s event didn’t necessarily get off to the best start for Van Gisbergen, either, after contact with polesitter Sam Mayer set the No. 1 Chevrolet through the chicane, and dropkicked the JR Motorsports driver outside the top-20.
“I’m very sorry to Sam Mayer and the No. 1 team, I just mucked up there and just clipped him, so very sorry, but he got back well,” Van Gisbergen said after the race, referencing the first-lap incident with Mayer.
In the race’s final laps, both Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer looked to make a charge on Van Gisbergen, but after making some progress in the early part of the final sprint, dropped off heavily, allowing the No. 97 to cross the start-finish line nearly one second up on the No. 7.
For the second straight year, Allgaier suffered another heart-breaking loss at Portland International Raceway, finishing runner-up after leading a significant number of laps.
Despite multiple off-track excursions, Sammy Smith matched his previous best result of the season, third, which came last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After a crash in qualifying forced AJ Allmendinger to a backup car, the winningest Xfinity driver on road courses drove through the pack, coming home in fourth place.
Rounding out the top five was Ed Jones, piloting the No. 24 Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. It’s a career-best finish for Jones, and the second top-five of the year for the organization.
Cole Custer, the defending series champion and defending winner of this race, came home sixth, while Josh Williams, Parker Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff, and Riley Herbst completed the top-10.
Sam Mayer, who appeared to have a racecar strong enough to challenge Van Gisbergen and Allgaier for the victory, finished in 28th-place, after clipping the tire barriers at the exit of Turn 12 in the closing laps, cutting his left-rear tire.
Leaving Portland, the NASCAR Xfinity Series has a new points leader in defending champion Cole Custer, who leads by 18 points over the freshly penalized Austin Hill.
Next, the series travels to Sonoma Raceway for the second of two West Coast road course events. The newly-repaved surface will allow for a 50-minute practice session, and lots of on-track time for drivers and teams.
Race Results: NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland
