CUP: Shane Van Gisbergen averts first-lap disaster, finishes last on day where not one car enters the garage
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Randy Klien, @randyjklein
Shane Van Gisbergen picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #97 SuperFile Chevrolet finished the race under power after 262 of 267 laps.
The finish, which came in Van Gisbergen’s 55th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since July 7, 2024 at the Chicago Street Course, 57 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it as the 30th for the #97, the 45th while finishing under power, and the 882nd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 41st for the #97, the 62nd while running, and the 2,030th for Chevrolet.
When Van Gisbergen was last featured in a Cup Series article here, he’d fallen well short of defending his landmark victory in his series debut on the Chicago Street Course. He’s since dominated practically every road course in today’s NASCAR – first in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and then in Cup – though he’s now begun a friendly rivalry with his current teammate Connor Zilisch. Van Gisbergen’s road course dominance allowed him to cruise to last year’s Rookie of the Year award, but critics questioned his ability on the ovals after a Round of 16 exit. That has already changed these first few races of 2026. After leading three laps of the Daytona 500, then coming home 6th the next week in Atlanta, he just last week battled for another Top Ten in Phoenix, where he came home 11th. Already sixth in the point standings, this caught the attention of his fellow competitors, including Bubba Wallace, who expects Van Gisbergen’s first oval win will be coming soon.
For Las Vegas – and his Daytona sponsor SuperFile – Van Gisbergen debuted a radical new paint scheme designed by French street artist Theirry Guetta, also known as “Mr. Brainwash.” Last year, the artist made his NASCAR debut with an equally colorful design on Michel Disdier’s #67 entry for Freedom Racing Enterprises in the Truck Series race at Homestead. Van Gisbergen’s featured sprayed neon colors, several decals with the team’s #97, and a graphic of an engine in front of the rear wheels.
Van Gisbergen’s was one of only the 36 Chartered entries occupying the Neon Garage, so all would start the race. In opening practice, where Ty Dillon had such issues getting through inspection that he couldn’t turn a lap in his #10 Campers Inn RV / U-Save Chevrolet, Van Gisbergen ranked 25th of the remaining 35 drivers with a lap of 29.821 seconds (181.080mph). Drawing the 27th spot in line for qualifying, he put up the 16th-fastest lap with a speed of 29.294 seconds (184.338mph).
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Ty Dillon, who after his issues in inspection turned in the slowest lap in qualifying with a speed of 30.607 second (176.430mph). Dillon was one of four drivers who twice failed inspection, resulting in the ejection of their car chief. But like Dillon, Austin Cindric, A.J. Allmendinger, William Byron, and the rest of the field, none incurred tail-end penalties.
STAGE ONE
When the green flag dropped, Dillon got a run behind the #51 Yeego Chevrolet of Cody Ware, who was stuck between an aggressive Cole Custer, who dove to the inside of Ware in the #41 HaasTooling.com, forcing a three-wide logjam with Noah Gragson to Ware’s right in the #4 Curate Ford. Dillon pulled to the high lane down the backstretch as Ware and Custer remained door-to-door into Turn 3.
Just ahead of them, Van Gisbergen broke loose. Coming off Turn 4, he slid into the left-rear of Erk Jones in the #43 Dollar Tree Toyota, causing his car to turn hard into the left. For a tense moment, he leaned on the right-rear of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, contact which could well have handed Briscoe his third-straight last-place finish. But Briscoe kept his car pointed straight, and Van Gisbergen also corrected himself in the narrow gap behind Briscoe. The incident caused a stack-up in the high lane, which caused Michael McDowell to plummet to the rear of the field when his #71 Workforce Chevrolet was trapped in the high lane behind a slowing John Hunter Nemechek in the #42 TriState Vacuum & Rental LLC Toyota. This happened so quickly that, by the start of Lap 2, as Van Gisbergen continued down the track, McDowell took over the last spot.
McDowell remained in the last spot until Lap 5, when he caught Ty Dillon racing alongside Josh Berry in the #21 Motorcraft Quick Lane Ford and pulled to the inside of both, dropping Berry to last place. At the same time, Ware was struggling with a tight condition and started to drop back from the 32nd spot. On Lap 4, he was door-to-door with Custer’s #41, who made it past, followed by Gragson’s #4 in the high lane entering Turn 1 on Lap 6, then Nemechek down the backstretch and McDowell in Turn 3, dropping him to 34th. By then, Berry had dropped Ty Dillon back to last place, and the #21 moved past Ware into 35th entering Turn 1 on Lap 7. Ty Dillon then took his turn at Ware on the frontstretch at Lap 8, looking to his inside and making it past just before the stripe.
On Lap 10, Ware was 14.808 seconds back of the lead, but still within seven-tenths of 35th-place McDowell. On Lap 32, Ware discussed a possible issue in the rear of his car just before the first round of green-flag stops, where Denny Hamlin’s wide entry onto pit road nearly collected Ware as he followed Christopher Bell’s #20 Interstate Batteries Toyota along the racing line. With all cars still on the lead lap, the spot immediately fell to Justin Allgaier, this week’s relief driver for Alex Bowman, who pitted with a few others in the #48 Ally Chevrolet. The spot then fell to Erik Jones’ #43 on Lap 35, then Berry’s #21, Van Gisbergen on Lap 37, and Ty Dillon on Lap 39.
In between these stops, both Allgaier and Briscoe incurred pit road speeding penalties on Lap 32. Allgaier served his penalty on Lap 39, dropping him to last place on Lap 41, only to incur a second speeding penalty on the pass-through. Allgaier’s team struggled to communicate this, saying they had trouble getting an internet connection. But it was Briscoe who NASCAR nearly stopped scoring as he waited until Lap 42 to serve his first penalty, just as Allgaier served his second. This kept Allgaier in last, two laps down, with 35th-place Briscoe one lap down, but only for a moment as he climbed through the other one-lap down drivers. Meanwhile, Allgaier wasn’t sure how he was caught speeding the second time, but was told, “We’ve got speed, we’ve got plenty of time.” McDowell stayed out until Lap 50 to pit from 13th, only to lose time when his crew got the air hose stuck on the splitter. McDowell returned to the track on Lap 53 in 35th, ahead of Allgaier and behind the now 34th-place Ware. Allgaier remained in last when Stage 1 ended on Lap 81, still two laps down to the field.
STAGE TWO
Under the Stage 1 caution, Allgaier stayed out, gaining one of his laps back, while Briscoe incurred a second pit penalty, this time for stopping in a teammate’s pit stall to tighten a loose lug nut. On Lap 88, Van Gisbergen retook the last spot, showing one lap down, with Briscoe in 35th and Allgaier up to 34th. This was the same lap when both Hamlin and Ty Gibbs incurred tail-end penalties for too fast entering. On the Lap 89 restart, Van Gisbergen dropped Allgaier back to last place, and the #48 team asked if his alternator was still on. “Confirm blue switch on one?” Allgaier’s team asked on Lap 100. Two laps later, with no caution to begin Stage 2, Allgaier made his stop for four tires and fuel. He returned on Lap 104 showing three full laps down, but passed teammate William Byron on track on Lap 107. McDowell, now off-sequence from his Lap 50 stop, pitted on Lap 107 and dropped two down into 35th with Van Gisbergen now 34th, last of the one-lap down drivers.
On Lap 121, Allgaier had caught teammate Kyle Larson when he pitted out of the lead, earning Allgaier one of his laps back so he was only two down. This allowed Ty Dillon to retake last after his green-flag stop on Lap 123, then Ware after he stopped on Lap 125. During this sequence, both Berry and the #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford of Todd Gilliland both incurred pit road speeding penalties – Gilliland’s for Section 7 “and a little after,” according to the team. Both soon served their penalties, dropping Berry to last on Lap 128, then Gilliland on Lap 129. On Lap 138, Allgaier nearly hit the outside wall in Turn 4 and lost spots on track, dropping him to the 32nd spot. On Lap 164, just before the end of Stage 1, Carson Hocevar earned a pit road speeding penalty, but was told he would incur it under the Stage 2 caution, putting his #77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet to the tail end of the longest line. This kept Gilliland in last place. And on Lap 165, the last lap of Stage 2, race leader William Byron caught and passed Gilliland in Turns 3 and 4, putting him a third lap down just before the yellow.
STAGE THREE
Under the Stage 2 caution, Gilliland reported his car was “super tight,” and had only improved slightly during the previous run. Looking ahead to the Lap 174 restart, he radioed “I’d say the chances of them wrecking here are pretty decent.” He took the green behind Custer’s #41, who again made an aggressive move into Turn 1, this time alongside Austin Dillon and Erik Jones. Van Gisbergen’s car was the last in line, now two laps down in 34th. Allgaier made his next stop on Lap 179, saying “I’m out – I switched to Pump 2,” then receiving four tires and fuel. The stop dropped Allgaier from 27th to 35th, then on Lap 199 he climbed to 34th past Van Gisbergen and to 33rd on Lap 205, passing Berry. On Lap 205, Van Gisbergen made his next stop, dropping him a third lap down, then a fourth, putting him in last place once more.
Moments later, on Lap 211, the only on-track incident drawing a caution occurred when Connor Zilisch’s #88 Jockey 150th Anniversary Chevrolet rear-ended Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s #47 NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet at pit entrance, causing Zilisch to spin. Zilisch didn’t rupture the radiator, and after two stops, the crew made enough repairs – at one point with two crew members jumping on the splitter – that he felt the car drove better than it had before. “We’ve got the nose healed up as best we can,” said the team, whose car was now in 35th two laps down, separating last-place Van Gisbergen from the now 34th-place Gilliland.
On Lap 218, the race restarted for the final time with Van Gisbergen still last, showing three laps down. On Lap 223, he had a good run off Turn 4, pulling past both Gragson and Ware, the last two cars running one lap down. By Lap 228, Gragson made his stop, dropping to 34th, two laps down. Gilliland followed suit, dropping three laps down as the new 35th-place runner. The next time by, as Gilliland returned to the track, he was now three laps down, and had just taken last from Van Gisbergen.
It was also on Lap 229 that Ware incurred the day’s final speeding penalty, forcing him to serve a pass-through on Lap 235 that put him in last place on Lap 237, with just 30 laps to go. Gilliland was now 35th with Van Gisbergen in 34th, though Gilliland then climbed past Van Gisbergen to put the #97 back to 35th. Then, on Lap 239, Van Gisbergen made another stop, dropping him five laps down and putting him in last place. By then, there were just 28 laps to go.
With 15 laps to go, Ware was still 35th, but four laps down, just one lap ahead of Van Gisbergen. This margin didn’t change for the rest of the race. As Denny Hamlin held off Chase Elliott for an emotional victory, his first of the year, Van Gisbergen took the checkered flag on the track in last place, five laps down. Ware, Gilliland, Dillon, and Zilisch rounded out the Bottom Five. “That was no fun - let's not do that anymore,” said Van Gisbergen’s team over the radio.
Incredibly, during the entire race, not one team pulled behind the wall for even a single lap. All the time lost by drivers at the tail end of the field was the direct result of either bad pit strategy due to the lack of cautions or pit road penalties.
The 36th spot in Sunday’s field was swapped 20 times between 8 drivers, which stands as one of the most competitive fields in Cup Series history. The most recent contender came on April 1, 2024, when Corey LaJoie finished 404 of 407 laps in an overtime finish at Richmond. There, the last spot was traded 27 times among 11 drivers.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first time the last-place finisher of a Cup race at Las Vegas finished the race under power. The 262 laps turned by Van Gisbergen shatters the previous record of 187 laps set by Kurt Busch, whose #1 Gear Wrench Chevrolet crashed on September 15, 2019.
*This was the first last-place finish for the #97 in a Cup Series race since October 23, 2011, when Kevin Conway’s #97 ExtenZe Toyota dropped out with a vibration after 2 laps around Talladega.
Kevin Conway’s last-place finisher at Talladega, October 2011. (PHOTO: Larry Scavnicky, Front Stretch Photos)
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #97-Shane Van Gisbergen / 262 laps / running
35) #51-Cody Ware / 263 laps / running
34) #34-Todd Gilliland / 264 laps / running
33) #10-Ty Dillon / 264 laps / running
32) #88-Connor Zilisch / 264 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing (2)
2nd) Live Fast Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (2)
2nd) Ford (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
