Shane van Gisbergen entered the opening playoff race at Darlington ranked sixth in the standings, just behind Christopher Bell and ahead of Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, and Joey Logano. But unlike that group, which grew up cutting laps on ovals, the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing driver struggled to find his footing at Darlington, even though it has been one of his more favorable non-road course tracks.
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SVG’s history at the “Lady in Black” hinted at promise. In last year’s full-time Xfinity stint, he posted finishes of 15th and seventh. Then, earlier this season, he steered to 20th in the Goodyear 400 and entered the Cook Out Southern 500 with cautious optimism.
Starting 20th, he narrowly dodged disaster when Josh Berry, another playoff contender, spun from third in Turn 2 on the opening lap. His brightest moment came with a late surge in Stage 1, where he clawed back onto the lead lap with the Lucky Dog.
The race, however, soon slipped away. Hampered by handling woes in his Chevy, SVG lost ground as the laps clicked off. In the final stage, his team gambled on a one-stop strategy, pitting from 20th.
He rejoined two laps down with just over 60 laps left, but a poorly timed caution unraveled the plan. Though the Lucky Dog returned one lap, SVG still limped home in 32nd, two laps behind.
Reflecting afterward, he admitted the strategy backfired. “Caution coming out at the wrong time, but we just had nothing anyway. Whatever was different from yesterday, car was horrible.
“So, they tried everything they could. But we couldn’t make it better and I couldn’t find a way to make speed… I had reason for hope. We’ve been good here in the spring, and our cars are getting better. I felt helpless out there.”
Looking ahead, SVG knows the climb gets steeper. “I don’t know next week’s track, and Bristol is very tough. So, just have to try and do our best job and hopefully get good results in the coming weeks,” he added.
SVG on his decision to run long each stage and how it bit him at the end; if he viewed this as his best playoff opportunity pic.twitter.com/kwQ1MDlgj0
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) September 1, 2025
Gateway remains a blank slate, while Bristol has already shown its teeth; he ran 18th there in Xfinity but slumped to 38th earlier this Cup season. The 36-year-old New Zealander now faces an important stretch that could make or break his first playoff run.
