• Saturday’s PACIFIC OFFICE AUTOMATION 147, Portland International
WINNER: SHANE VAN GISBERGEN
NewZealander Shane van Gisbergen claimed his first Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway. The popular Kiwi celebrated the hardearned 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 Indy Car veteran – rounded out the Top-5.
• Saturday’s TOYOTA 200, World Wide Technology Raceway (IL)
WINNER: COREY HEIM
The early bird got the victory on Saturday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
In a long green-flag run to start the final stage of the Toyota 200, Corey Heim brought his No. 11 TRICON Garage Tundra to pit road before any of the other top trucks made greenflag stops, and the move paid off with optimum track position.
Heim held the top spot for a restart on Lap 138 of 160 and led the rest of the way, beating runner-up Christian Eckes to the finish line by 1.854 seconds, earning a $50,000 bonus as the winner of the second Triple Truck Challenge.
The victory was a welcome turnaround after Heim’s truck was disqualified from second place May 24 at Charlotte for three lug nuts not secure. Heim won for the fourth time this season—all within the last eight races—the second time at Gateway and the ninth time in 53 career starts.
Note: The start of the race was delayed for two-and-a-half hours by rain… The final Triple Truck Challenge race is scheduled for June 28 at Nashville Superspeedway. Heim and Sanchez, last week’s Charlotte winner, could collect an additional $100,000 as the winners of two of three events in “The Trip.” A $50,000 bonus is available to all other drivers.
