“Not the way we wanted our day to go”: Shane van Gisbergen dejected after wall slam at Atlanta destroyed potential top-10 finish

Shane van Gisbergen was disappointed after missing out on a probable top-10 finish at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Kaulig Racing driver was running ninth when his #97 Chevy got loose and door-slammed into the outside wall.

The New Zealander kicked off the Focused Health 250 race from the 12th place but dropped to 16th as Stage 1 got done and dusted. However, he improved his performance in the second stage and finished ninth.

On Lap 98, the #97 Chevy battled against Sammy Smith for the eighth place but in doing so, lost control and rammed into the outside wall. It took a couple of seconds before Shane van Gisbergen separated his car from the wall. As a result, he lost multiple track positions and was 20th when he abruptly steered toward the pitlane.

The three-time Xfinity Series race winner was unhappy with how his weekend panned out despite having a "really good car."

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), van Gisbergen expressed his disappointment and wrote:

"That was a tough one, not the way we wanted our day to go. Ran up front most of the race, but got into the wall there towards the end and caused some damage. Gutted for the @QuadLockCase @KauligRacing team we had a really good car, looking forward to another shot tomorrow 😀," Gisbergen wrote.

Shane van Gisbergen will be next seen in the Cup Series race for Trackhouse Racing at the same venue, today, at 3:00 PM ET.

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Shane van Gisbergen set to run full-time Cup Series schedule in 2025

A few weeks ago, Trackhouse Racing reported that Shane van Gisbergen will field their third Cup car from 2025 onwards. This comes after Justin Marks' co-owned venture announced its expansion to three full-time Cup Series cars- the #1 Chevy piloted by Ross Chastain, the #99 Chevy by Daniel Suarez, and the #88 Chevrolet by SVG.

The New Zealander had a remarkable start to his NASCAR career. He debuted at the Chicago Street Race last year and claimed his first Cup Series win. After starting third and leading nine laps on the street circuit, he drove his #91 Chevy to the victory lane. He scored a tenth-place finish at his next Cup race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Shane van Gisbergen's progress prompted the team to provide him with a full-time seat in the Xfinity Series and he didn't disappoint. From 24 race weekends, he has bagged three wins, five top-5s, and seven top-10s. Thus, his promising portrayal got him promoted to full-time Cup racing. He said (via "NASCAR") on 24th August:

“It’s been a pretty awesome 18 months. Yeah, it’s been a huge life change, as Justin said, and everything he said was going to happen has happened. I never thought it would happen this quick and I’m very glad we’ve done the learning year this year in Xfinity. Kaulig Racing has been great to work with, and then also a lot more races to finish the year now. Been a huge learning experience but just excited to get full-time in the Cup Series next year,” SVG said.

The 35-year-old will participate in his third and final road course Cup race of the 2024 season at Watkins Glen International on September 15.