June 1, 2024 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Shane van Gisbergen grabs first NASCAR Xfinity Series win in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. — New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway. The popular Kiwi celebrated the hard-earned win with a burnout all the way around the 1.967-mile road course and then climbing out of his Chevy and topping it off by kicking a soccer ball into the thrilled crowd.

It was a popular win all-around for the 35-year-old three-time Australian Supercar champion, but he had to work for it. The series rookie – who won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in his first NASCAR Cup Series start last summer – led laps early in the No. 97 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet but struggled with race re-starts for much of the day. He lost positions on the early restarts and even had to overcome a couple miscues – dropping his tires off track into the dirt – before steadily and masterfully working his way forward in the closing laps to challenge for the win.

He passed the day’s most dominant driver, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier on the final restart with four laps to go and pulled away to a .941-second victory over the series veteran, who led a race best 46 of the race’s 75 laps.

JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer, van Gisbergen’s Kaulig teammate A.J. Allmendinger – who started last in the field – and Sam Hunt Racing’s Ed Jones – an IMSA sportscar and IndyCar veteran – rounded out the Top-5.

“What a day, really cool, had some great racing,’’ said van Gisbergen, who immediately apologized to pole-winner Sam Mayer who he collided with and spun on the opening turn of the race.

“I need to get better on my restarts and learn how to position, but that was so much fun. Really cool racing. I love these cars, they’re great.’’

It was a particularly crushing runner-up showing for Allgaier, who finished second in this race last year as well. At various points, his No. 7 Chevrolet held a nearly three-second advantage on the field, but two cautions in the final 12 laps essentially equalized the competition and van Gisbergen steadily made his way forward on the restarts before taking the lead in Turn 5 with four laps to go.

Allgaier not only led the most laps but swept both stage wins for the third consecutive race – the six consecutive stage wins a series record. His series-leading 10 stage victories on the season are the most ever through the opening 13 races.

But it just wasn’t enough for the trophy on Saturday.

“I don’t know [what I could have done differently],’’ a discouraged Allgaier said. “On those restarts we were so free taking off and the car was just struggling to get grip.

“I think that’s the hardest part, once he got by me there, I probably overdrove it trying to get back to him and probably didn’t help my cause any,’’ he added. “Really proud of this team. All the effort this team puts forward is incredible. To come in second two years in a row stings a little bit but at the same time, really proud of everybody.’’

Last year’s Portland winner Cole Custer finished sixth in the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with Kaulig’s Josh Williams, Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman, Jordan Anderson Racing’s Parker Retzlaff and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst rounding out the Top-10.

With his sixth-place finish Saturday, Custer takes the championship lead by 18-points over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith.  Hill – who was fined 25 points and $25,000 for purposefully wrecking Custer last week at Charlotte – finished 11th and Smith, whose No. 81 JGR Toyota suffered a late race engine problem, finished 35th.

The series stays on the West Coast with the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 on the Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway road course next Saturday (8 p.m. ET,  FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Aric Almirola is the defending race winner.



NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 13
Race Results for the Pacific Office Automation 147 - Saturday, June 1, 2024
Portland International Raceway - Portland, OR - 1.97 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 75 Laps - 147.75 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/1/2024 @ 07:15 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 2 97 Shane van Gisbergen # Quad Lock Chevrolet 75  5 46 Running 3 12 5
2 5 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 75 1 1 55 Running 3 46 2
3 9 8 Sammy Smith Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 75 6  39 Running  
4 10 16 AJ Allmendinger Cirkul Chevrolet 75   33 Running  
5 17 24 Ed Jones Synergy Modular Toyota 75  10 33 Running  
6 4 00 Cole Custer Autodesk/Haas Automation Ford 75 7 4 42 Running  
7 22 11 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 75   30 Running  
8 7 48 Parker Kligerman Spiked Lite Coolers Chevrolet 75 5  35 Running  
9 15 31 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 75   28 Running  
10 3 98 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Ford 75 2 7 40 Running 1 15
11 18 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 75 9  28 Running  
12 8 19 Josh Bilicki Ditec Marine Products Toyota 75 4 3 40 Running  
13 6 18 Sheldon Creed Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota 75 3 2 41 Running 2 2
14 24 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 75   23 Running  
15 26 32 Austin Green 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet 75   22 Running  
16 28 44 Brennan Poole Frontline Fire Protection Chevrolet 75   21 Running  
17 25 43 Ryan Ellis Classic Collision Chevrolet 75   20 Running  
18 37 28 Kyle Sieg RSS Racing Ford 75   19 Running  
19 12 2 Jesse Love # Whelen Chevrolet 75   18 Running  
20 31 29 Blaine Perkins AutoParkit.com Ford 75   17 Running  
21 35 92 Nathan Byrd CleanCore Solutions Chevrolet 75   16 Running  
22 34 4 Garrett Smithley Dozer Winch Chevrolet 75   15 Running  
23 30 14 Andre Castro Ryvid Chevrolet 75   14 Running  
24 36 6 Patrick Gallagher www.teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 75   13 Running  
25 23 91 Kyle Weatherman DriveSmart/Portland Gear Chevrolet 75   12 Running  
26 32 42 Leland Honeyman # RANDCO Industries Chevrolet 75   11 Running  
27 13 20 Ryan Truex The Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 75 8  13 Running  
28 1 1 Sam Mayer RTIC Outdoors Chevrolet 74  9 11 Running  
29 33 07 Logan Bearden Environmental Controls Corp Chevrolet 74   8 Running  
30 27 51 Jeremy Clements Impel Union/Alliance Chevrolet 73   7 Running  
31 29 38 Matt DiBenedetto Viking Motorsports Ford 73   6 Running  
32 19 5 Anthony Alfredo Chevy Accessories Chevrolet 72   5 Running  
33 38 15 Hailie Deegan # AirBox Ford 71   4 Running  
34 14 26 Sage Karam Synergy Modular Toyota 69 10 8 7 Running  
35 11 81 Chandler Smith QuickTie Toyota 66  6 7 Accident  
36 20 9 Brandon Jones Menards/MagickWoods Vanities Chevrolet 66   1 Accident  
37 16 27 Jeb Burton Timber Creek Outdoors Chevrolet 61   1 Running  
38 21 36 Preston Pardus Danus Utilities Inc. Chevrolet 9   1 Track Bar  

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 7 Mins, 25 Secs. Average Speed: 69.575 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.941 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 7, 98, 18, 19, 48, 8, 00, 20, 21, 26
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 18, 19, 00, 97, 81, 98, 26, 1, 24

Caution Flags: 4 for 14 laps; Laps: 27-29 (Stage 1 Conclusion [6]); 51-55 (#38 Stalled on Track/Stage 2 Conclusion [6]); 64-66 (Debris Turn 9 [2]); 69-71 (#9, 14, 29, 81, 44, 43 Incident Turn 12 [32]).

Lead Changes: 9 among 4 drivers; S. Mayer 0; R. Herbst 1-15; S. Van Gisbergen # 16-22; J. Allgaier 23-26; S. Creed 27; S. Van Gisbergen # 28; J. Allgaier 29-51; S. Creed 52; J. Allgaier 53-71; S. Van Gisbergen # 72-75.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: June 8, 2024 - Sonoma Raceway

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