Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain finished ninth, and teammates Shane van Gisbergen and Daniel Suárez finished 32nd and 36th in Sunday's 301-lap NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
The Kansas race marked the fifth of NASCAR's 10 playoff races and served as the second race in the second round of the playoffs.
With his 11th-place finish Sunday, Chastain is ninth of the 12 remaining playoff drivers but only 13 points below the eighth-place cutoff line with this Sunday's race on the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway remaining in the second round.
Four drivers will be eliminated every three races, with the four remaining drivers competing in a winner-take-all Championship race at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., on Nov. 2.
On Sunday, Van Gisbergen recorded his best oval finish in his career, made more impressive by starting a lap behind the field after a penalty forced an opening-lap stop-and-go pitstop. His previous best oval finish was a 12th-place finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Sunday's finish also marked his 10th top-10 of his 45 Cup race career. Engineer Chais Eliason served as the interim crew chief on Sunday.
Chastain raced in the top-10 most of the race, but suffered some right side damage from contact with another car on a restart with 50 laps to go. He ran hard through a regulation restart and overtime but could not finish in the top-10.
Suárez struggled with handling issues early on, but his team made adjustments throughout the race, and he twice regained a lost lap, finishing 17th.
In the first stage, Chastain started ninth and fell back several spots before rallying to finish fifth. Suárez and Van Gisbergen finished 29th and 35th. In the second stage, Chastain finished eighth, Van Gisbergen 19th and Suárez 30th.
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN
“It was really cool to get a top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway. It was good to do it in a Red Bull car. We’ve had some really cool partners this year and stoked to be able to do it here at Kansas Speedway. I feel like we’re getting better and better at these tracks. It was difficult starting a lap down and having that penalty, but Chais Eliason (interim crew chief) did a great job. We had really good speed at points of the race, so I’m stoked to get a top-10. I’m over the moon with that."
ROSS CHASTAIN
“We fought around 10th place all day. I thought our No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet showed signs of brilliance at the beginning and at the end of Stage One. I thought we were really strong, and then I just never had that feeling again. We just couldn’t get the balance right and the grip to go with it. We’ll regroup and get ready for the Charlotte ROVAL next weekend.”
DANIEL SUAREZ
"It just wasn't our day today—just a frustrating race. Our car wasn't connected on the front end and on the back end. My guys tried a lot of things today, but we couldn't find the right combination. Nobody gave up and we salvaged a decent finish, but we expected better."
