Shane van Gisbergen becomes passenger in scary NASCAR Las Vegas wreck
Shane van Gisbergen has been wrecked at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that saw him tumble out of contention in what could have been his best oval performance to date.
This comes just a week after the Kiwi made NASCAR history as the first driver to win five road course races in a Cup Series season.
On the restart of the Las Vegas race, Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs tangled, which clipped van Gisbergen and sent him careening into Austin Dillion.
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He then went spinning as a passenger and collided into the path of Carson Hocevar and the pack behind.
The Kiwi was able to get his car back to pit road, but ended the race classified in 33rd.
Shane van Gisbergen was wrecked in the closing stages of the Las Vegas race. Supplied
SVG has broken many a record in his international stint, but still has learning to do on the oval courses.
He was running in fifth and was on course for his best performance before the wreck ended his hopes.
The Trackhouse Racing driver kept relatively clear on the opening stages, feeding into 12th and 11th in Stage 1 and Stage 2.
He then was able to make up a heap of positions after the second caution came out due to William Byron's mistake of colliding into the back of slow-running Ty Dillion.
Van Gisbergen moved from 16th to fifth before the restart after a quick pit stop.
Denny Hamlin was the eventual winner.
Shane Van Gisbergen out of his car after being knocked out of the race due to a crash during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The No. 88 driver had a New Zealand-themed livery on his Camaro for the race, which featured a silver fern wrap with a Southern Cross and several red stars.
"We have our friends at Jockey back on the car, and amazingly, they let me have some influence on the design," said van Gisbergen in a video.
"Of course, I went New Zealand-themed. Amazing to have the silver fern on it ... pretty cool looking race car."
