Shane van Gisbergen breakout oval night featured two epic NASCAR quotes

It was a night to remember for Shane van Gisbergen. It was also a night that featured two more classic quotes from the native New Zealander. Van Gisbergen finished in fifth place in Sunday’s Window World 450. It was a tremendous finish for the Trackhouse driver as he continues to show improvement on ovals. ‘What the f* do I do now?’ He led laps in Stage 1 and was just edged out at the green-white-checkered for the stage win by Ty Gibbs. As he was leading the field, van Gibergen delivered one of the night’s classic quotes. “I’m leading,” said van Gisbergen over his radio. “What the f*ck do I do now?” Following the race, van Gisbergen laughed about that moment with TNT Sports’ Marty Snider. He also admitted he’s mad at himself for letting Gibbs beat him to the line to end Stage 1 at North Wilkesboro. “Yeah, it’s got to be up there to genuinely lead,” said van Gisbergen on his best oval finish of the season. “When I took the lead, I got pretty excited. “I don’t know what to do. But thank you to Wendy’s, Trackhouse, and Chevy. Awesome day and just amazing to get stage points in both stages. A bit pissed I threw it away at the last corner on that first stage. “But it was awesome racing up front all night.” ‘Oh, sh*t, I’m pretty cooked’ The return of a NASCAR Cup Series points race to North Wilkesboro Speedway was the story of the weekend. The second most prevalent was the heat on the track. Van Gisbergen felt it on Saturday when he finished P3 in the NASCAR Craftsman Series Truck race. And he felt it again on Sunday night in the Cup Series race “I mean, it’s just hot, man. Just soaked the whole time. “And when you’re behind people, you just start cooking as well. You feel the brakes, tires. Everything just gets hot. “So, I was struggling. Like, I felt fine, but when I stopped, I went, ‘Oh, shit, I’m pretty cooked.’” In Stage 3, van Gisbergen asked for 2 bottles of water and some sugar. He was reporting cramping. Van Gisbergen made an adjustment to his driving style to compensate for the cramps. “Yeah, I swapped a right foot brake for half the race because my left leg was sore. And that was fine.” What’s up next on the NASCAR Cup Series Schedule This week presents another oval challenge for van Gisbergen, who moved up one spot in the Chase standings to 14th. On Sunday, July 26, NASCAR makes its return to historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. This will be the final round of the In-Season Challenge, starting at 1 p.m. ET on TNT. Bubba Wallace is the defending Brickyard 400 winner. The 23XI driver held off Kyle Larson on a pair of overtime restarts to secure the crown jewel win. Shane van Gisbergen finished P19 in last year’s running of the race.