van Gisbergen mows the lawn twice but still finishes sixth at EchoPark

HAMPTON, Ga. — Shane Van Gisbergen starts near the rear, spins into the grass twice, and somehow finishes sixth at EchoPark Speedway.

van Gisbergen achieved his best career NASCAR Cup Series oval finish but the odds were stacked against him from the start.

Rain washed away the qualifying session at EchoPark Speedway which meant the starting lineup was set by the NASCAR metric score.

After his 30th-placed performance in the Daytona 500, the formula slotted him 28th.

He methodically carved forward through the first two stages and put himself in position to challenge for a top five finish on the final lap in stage two — then Kyle Larson intervened.

Exiting Turn 4, Larson darted down the track to block the advancing cars behind him.

Van Gisbergen had momentum on the bottom, instead of clearing him, Larson cleaned himself of the nose of the No. 97.

The contact sent both cars spinning through the grass, with Larson eventually slamming the outside tri-oval wall to end his race.

Meanwhile, van Gisbergen kept his foot in the gas, mowed the grass, and still earned one stage point in the process.

The Second Pass

With minimal damage from the incident, he returned to the action to begin the final stage.

Only 25 laps into the run, he made the climb once more up to the top ten. Not long after a right-rear tire let go and sent him sliding through the infield grass for the second time.

Just like before, he stayed in the throttle and eventually drove straight from the grass onto pit road.

His crew delivered quick repairs, and he rejoined the race on the lead lap with 56 laps to go.

Buried in traffic again, he avoided a string of late-race incidents and climbed to 10th before a red flag set up overtime.

On the first attempt, he dodged a spinning Christopher Bell. With fresher tires underneath him, he surged to fourth at the white flag before settling into sixth at the finish.

From 28th on the grid to mowing the grass twice and still finishing sixth, van Gisbergen proved he can handle the superspeedway package chaos with the best of them.

P6! Wild day in the @redbullmotors #97. Up and down like a yo-yo but really fun race and stoked to get a great result 😀 pic.twitter.com/fi39kcY7bx

— Shane van Gisbergen (@shanevg97) February 23, 2026

Now he heads to Circuit of the Americas with serious momentum. He’ll look to build upon his sixteenth spot in the standing as one of the clear favorites every time the Cup Series travels to a road course.