Shane van Gisbergen Assigns Blame for “Frustrating” Playoff Elimination

Trackhouse Racing’s star rookies Shane van Gisbergen shared his thoughts on R-16 elimination despite 22 points advantage.

Shane van Gisbergen Assigns Blame for “Frustrating” Playoff Elimination

Shane van Gisbergen (via NASCAR)

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The fairy tale NASCAR playoff run of Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen has come to end following the disappointing P26 finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. He wasn’t able to take advantage of the 22 bonus point he had, as the P36 finish at Darlington and P25 finish at Gateway put him in a tough position coming into the Bristol race week.

It was a big miss for Shane van Gisbergen as he had the solid chance of making it into the R-8, if he was able to survive the R-16, considering the R-12 features ROVAL road course race. He won four of the five road course races this year marking a Cup rookie history. But the elimination is a big blow and on his post-race interview, the Kiwi admitted he is happy as well as frustrated.

He admitted that it was a privilege for him to compete in the Cup playoff, and he is both proud as well as pissed at himself. The veteran pointed out that the No:88 Chevy hasn’t been good on the Ovals the last three weeks and that played a significant role in his missing out on a potential promotion to the next round.

Yeah, I’m happy but frustrated. Proud. It’s a privilege to be here but also pissed at myself. The last few weeks I just haven’t been good enough. I’ve been really doing well, getting better at ovals and I just haven’t performed the last couple weeks.

Shane van Gisbergen said via motorsport.com.

Furthermore, he confessed the he didn’t understand how the car acts, with the new Goodyear tires early enough in the race and he blame himself for that. He is disappointed with not delivering Trackhouse Racing the result they deserve and pointed out that the year is not over for him, as he has seven more races left to prove himself yet again.

Didn’t understand the track early enough there and what the tires were doing and how to save them. I blame myself at the moment, but thanks to the Trackhouse team we’ve had an awesome year and still not over yet, but I need to be better myself and it’s just going to come with time.

Shane van Gisbergen added.

Shane van Gisbergen declares it was a privilege to compete in the playoffs

In a separate conversation, SVG pointed out that he knew he had an uphill battle ahead of him coming into the weekend, hence he is proud of the all the good results he had. Overall, the team didn’t do a good job and they paid the price for it.

Shane van Gisbergen
Shane van Gisbergen (Via IMAGO)

I knew it was going to be a long shot today, but I’m still proud of what we’ve achieved this year. It’s been a privilege to be in the Playoffs. Everyone knew the first round was going to be difficult, I just didn’t do a good enough job.

Shane van Gisbergen said.

Furthermore, he asserted that he has to develop his oval racing just like he has got better results in the road courses. He enjoyed the pressure from the playoffs and is determined to use this his advantage in the coming years.

I need to keep getting better at the ovals and the road courses will keep working, but I need to start improving on this stuff. It was awesome. As I said, it’s a privilege to be in it. Cool to have that pressure. We didn’t perform the best we could. That’s on us, but still cool to be here.

Shane van Gisbergen added.

The comments from the three times Supercars champion shows, he knew he was on his way out of the playoffs and understands he has to work a lot on his oval racing, if he wants to compete for the title. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver in the coming races of the season.

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