Kiwi racer Shane van Gisbergen scored a top 10 finish in his second NASCAR outing at the Brickyard 200 in Indianapolis.
Van Gisbergen won in his NASCAR debut on the streets of Chicago in early July, shocking the stock car racing world.
The win led to Team Trackhouse asking him to drive the Project 91 car for a second time at the Brickyard 200 on Indianapolis' road course.
Despite qualifying eighth, SVG was unable to push much further up the grid for much of the race. He was attempting to become the first NASCAR driver to win their first two races.
Front Row's Michael McDowell raced to his second NASCAR win, dominating the race — and putting himself in the playoffs for the second time in three years.
The 38-year-old Arizona driver, who has made more than 450 career starts, beat Chase Elliott across the yard of bricks by 0.937 seconds in the road-course race that had only one yellow flag. Pole winner Daniel Suarez was third as the regular season winds down.
McDowell, also the 2021 Daytona 500 winner, gave Front Row Motorsports its fourth victory.
“We did it. We won Indy,” he shouted into the radio. “So thankful.”
McDowell made it look easy this time, too, winning the first stage, finishing behind only Denny Hamlin in the second stage and then inheriting the lead on Lap 54 during a round of pit stops and never trailed again. He led a career-best 54 laps in the 82-lap race.
He had to sneak through traffic following a wild crash to win at Daytona.
“These guys gave me everything today,” he said. “We had the fastest car. I don't know if it was dominant, but it felt dominant.”
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