Kiwi racer Shane van Gisbergen described his first full-time NASCAR race as "wild", after finishing an impressive 12th place yesterday at Daytona.
After days of weather delays, van Gisbergen finally hopped in the car for his first outing in the NASCAR junior series, Xfinity, at the United Rentals 300.
Because of the delays, the Xfinity race — the undercard for the Cup Series' Daytona 500 — started after the main race.
In the Kulig Racing 97 Camaro, the Kiwi qualified 5th, holding his own at the top of the pack for much of the race — even after finding himself in a multi-car wreck on lap 30.
In a statement, van Gisbergen described the race as being "pretty wild".
"Once I settled in, I really enjoyed the flow of the race and had a great time tonight," he said.
An expert at road racing, van Gisbergen hasn't had much experience in the draft-heavy style that's needed for races at superspeedways like Daytona.
On X he said he "learnt a lot".
Talking about the crash he said: "Got involved in other people's messes but made my own mistake at the end.
"I misjudged the side draft and spun out the 27, trying to pull into line.
"Sorry to him!"
"Other than that," he said, "it was an awesome job by our [Weather Tech] and [Chevy] crew to keep us in the fight."
He described the race as being "pretty cool" overall.
Van Gisbergen will now be preparing for his next race at Atlanta, another superspeedway — meaning the Kiwi will once again look to improve his drafting.
"I think we learned a lot we can take with us next week in Atlanta."
That race will be this Sunday at 11am (NZT).
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