'This Is Embarrassing': Shane van Gisbergen Voices Frustration Mid-race at Darlington as NASCAR Playoffs Kick Off

Shane van Gisbergen came into the NASCAR Cup playoffs sixth in the 16-driver field. He came into Sunday’s playoff-opening race at Darlington Raceway with high expectations.

Instead, SVG, who tied with Denny Hamlin for most wins during the 26-race regular season with four victories each, fell far behind midway through Stage 2, dropping one lap off the lead lap and ending Stage 2 in a disappointing 29^th place showing.

“This car is unraceable,” SVG told his crew over the team radio. “This is embarrassing. I can’t turn, there’s no drive, it’s just not even close.”

His Trackhouse Racing team responded that the car will improve as the race fell into full darkness, which led SVG to respond, “Yeah, I f***ing hope so … sorry for the language.”

But somehow, van Gisbergen worked his way back to get the free pass and then kept moving to get back into the top 10, even as high as third place with about 85 laps left in the Cook Out Southern 500 Crown Jewel event.

As the No. 88 car roared back into contention, SVG thanked his team for their efforts to make the car go from unraceable to very much race worthy.

“That’s what we needed,” SVG said on his team radio after getting the free pass. “It was absolutely awful in traffic. Thanks for getting me through that. I was losing my s**t out there.”

Van Gisbergen needs to have a good finish because ovals are not his strong point. The only road course in the playoffs is on the Charlotte Roval. But even that comes only in the Round of 12, meaning SVG has to find some way to not be one of the four drivers that are eliminated after the three races in the Round of 16.

Unfortunately, the New Zealand native fell two laps down late in the third stage, which will be a big hit to his hopes of getting into the Round of 12.