New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen is planning on having "some fun" in the remainder of the NASCAR championship now that his play-off hopes are over.
Van Gisbergen fell out of contention for "The Chase" after a disappointing 20th-place finish in the last round in New Hampshire.
He fell one spot to 17th in the season standings with the top 16 contending for the overall title via a 10-race postseason knockout competition.
SVG admits it would have been nice to have qualified for the playoffs in his second full season in NASCAR.
"I would have been pretty stoked, but the reality is that we have struggled a bit," he said in a Trackhouse team statement.
With two wins and five top five finishes this season, van Gisbergen is two places ahead of team-mate Ross Chastain in the standings.
"We know how good [Chastain] is on the ovals, and I think I've made a big jump this year to be able to match him most weeks.
"There's a lot of hard work going on, but we definitely need to improve if we want to have that opportunity at making [The Chase] next season."
Overall, van Gisbergen is happy with his season so far and the improvement he is making on ovals. All of the eight career wins in NASCAR have come on road tracks.
There are 10 races left in the season, and while all the drivers take part, only the top 16 are in contention for the overall title.
The 37-year-old knows what he'd like to achieve in the remaining rounds.
"I guess we can try things now, take a bit more risk and just have some fun, low stress.
"But also work to do the best we can and learn more about what we need out of the car at certain tracks and prepare for next season."
The next NASCAR round is at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina this weekend.
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