A matter of two points can also seal your fate in NASCAR, like a matter of inches. While Parker Kligerman lost his chance at his first Xfinity victory within inches from the white flag, Shane van Gisbergen had woes of his own. The Kiwi road course ace battled through the Xfinity race at Charlotte and even clinched a podium finish. But that was not enough to propel the three-time Xfinity winner into the playoffs.

That is because Gisbergen’s slip-up happened last week at Talladega Superspeedway. The Supercars champion has yet to adapt to NASCAR’s superspeedway challenge, as he fumbled on the drafting tracks throughout this season. His weakness caught up to him right when it mattered and ejected him from the playoffs. This left a sour taste in the Gisbergen’s mouth.

Talladega defeated Shane van Gisbergen

Ever since the Kiwi speedster entered the world of NASCAR, he has been equated with one kind of racetrack. Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup Series Chicago Street Race on his debut, keeping the round course streak alive this year – winning at Portland, Sonoma, and Chicago. However, superspeedways are not up his lane. Except for a 12th-place Daytona finish, the three-time Bathurst 1000 winner finished worse than 15th in the other three superspeedway races. Most recently, he registered his worst outing when it mattered the most – a wreck at the Talladega tri-oval dropped him to 35th.

This DNF axed Shane van Gisbergen‘s playoff run significantly. And then Jesse Love beat him to the Round of 8 by a mere 2 points after Charlotte. So the Kiwi expressed dejection soon after Saturday’s race: “I don’t know. You’re obviously in pain, ’cause you wanted to get through. I guess last week really hurt us.” At Charlotte, when Thomas Annunziata rammed into the tire barrier with 15 laps to go, a caution flag flew. But as others pitted for fresh tires, SVG chose to stay out – and that may have sealed his fate further. “And then yeah, making that call in the end…a bit different to others, but whether we won or not. Yeah, it’s a tough one.”

When the press asked him further about his decision to run high and dry on old tires, Shane van Gisbergen let out a long sigh. He said, congratulating Parker Kligerman despite his snapped run, “It is what is, you know. There were always gonna be some fast cars battling. 48 got through really good.” Then he sadly added: “Who knows, but in reality, it comes down to last week.” The Kiwi did not forget to tip his hat to his team: “But proud of the Weather Tech Kaulig Racing team. We had really good speed, but not quite there.”

While SVG acknowledged Kligerman’s run, the latter also patted himself on the back for almost toppling SVG.

SVG hailed by a rival

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Even after the crucial decision of running on old tires did not work out, Shane van Gisbergen was on track to advance. That was when his and Parker Kligerman‘s dismal fates aligned – NASCAR issued a caution when Kligerman was just inches away from the white flag. Mane fans bashed the sanctioning body for the late call, but the damage was done. It gave Jesse Love and Justin Allgaier the legroom to put van Gisbergen two points below the cutoff line. And on the other hand, Sam Mayer beat Kligerman to the win, and the latter faded to 6th place.

Like van Gisbergen, Kligerman oozed dismay after losing his shot to the victory. But he was grateful to have almost beaten SVG, who came to congratulate him, at a road course. “I said on the cooldown lap, I want to cry, but I won’t, and it’s gotten close a couple times as I think about it…if I could just do one thing, it would have been winning this damn race in that fashion, holding off some of the best in the world in SVG, and AJ, Sam Mayer, who’s a Roval master now.” He added, “That’s pretty cool. Especially guys like Aric and AJ have won Cup races, and Austin Hill won a million races, and SVG, who’s best in the world.” 

Evidently, Shane van Gisbergen was not the only one nursing his wounds on his way out of the Charlotte Roval. But he starts on the pole for the Charlotte Cup race as well, so we might get to see a rugby ball this weekend.