Shane van Gisbergen entered the NASCAR weekend on Naval Base Coronado as the overwhelming favorite to win. Yet, he did not finish the race due to a stunning crash in the second stage.
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The incident occurred on Lap 31. The Cup Series field lined up for a restart after Brent Crews — replacing an injured Christopher Bell — brought out the caution with a gearbox failure.
As the field went into Turn 1, Austin Hill and Connor Zilisch battled for the lead. Hill's car went straight instead of turning, and it sent Zilisch's car hard into the wall. This knocked the wall out of position and kicked off a multi-car crash.
HUGE crash at Turn 1 on the restart 😱 #NASCARonPrime pic.twitter.com/UMxRV9tWvq
— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) June 21, 2026
Van Gisbergen had nowhere to go, and he slammed into the crash from behind. Riley Herbst slid to the right and mostly avoided the incident. Although he sustained some left-side damage.
Other drivers did not have as much luck. Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez, John Hunter Nemechek, and Ryan Blaney all sustained some damage in the incident. Gibbs took one of the harder hits.
"Sorry, guys," Hill said over the radio after the crash. "Locked up the rear brakes."
The incident brought out the red flag. NASCAR had to send the track crews out to repair the wall yet again. This brought the race to a halt for several minutes. Teams waited to make repairs while Zilisch and van Gisbergen underwent evaluation at the care center.
"It's just unfortunate to end the day like that for both Red Bull Chevrolet's with Shane and I," Zilisch said. "We had a really fast car today. We got out front and it felt really good, but that's how it goes sometimes."
👎 pic.twitter.com/RAUZ4kNkh3
— Shane van Gisbergen (@shanevg97) June 21, 2026
This crash had major implications on the Cup Series standings, especially for van Gisbergen. He had an opportunity to build a buffer to The Chase cutline. After all, he had won six of the last seven road courses, and NASCAR now pays 55 points to each race winner.
He entered the weekend 14th in the standings and above The Chase cutline. The crash dropped him to 19th in the standings for the start of the final stage. He left San Diego having missed out on stage points due to strategy.
"Just a shame," he said after exiting the care center. "Red Bull Chevy was real fast once the track rubbered up. Real shame."
