Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen has seen his first win on the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity series slip through his fingers on the iconic Circuit of the Americans road course at Austin, Texas.
After leading over much of the 69-lap event, he had to contest two overtime restarts and could not hold off his rivals on the second, having to settle for second behind championship leader Kyle Larson.
Soon after the finish, he was penalised 30 seconds for shortcutting the course and relegated to 27th.
"It was a crazy race," said van Gisbergen. "We got better and better.
"That last restart, he just drove through me and won. I guess that's how it is here, I just stood up for myself.
"There was some pretty awesome racing with AJ and Kyle, but at the end, it just turned into a mess."
In just his fifth start in the division, van Gisbergen led with four remaining, but saw his dominance eroded by a late accident that left fluid on the track.
Forced to line up in grid formation for a two-lap overtime shootout, he lost the lead on the first corner, but ran wide on a hairpin to shunt his rivals off the track and regain the initiative.
Another two-car incident forced a second restart and this time, Austin Hill outmanoeuvred van Gisbergen at the hairpin, but as they diced for the lead on the final lap, Larson got the jump on both to claim victory.
Van Gisbergen edged ahead of Hill - second on championship standings - for the runner-up position.
After qualifying second fastest behind Larson, the Kiwi took the lead off the startline and led 10 laps, until Kaulig Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger moved ahead. He tracked the American until lap 38, when he retook the lead, but was foiled by the late-race drama.
Van Gisbergen made his switch to NASCAR, after winning his maiden appearance at Chicago last year, and will start his first Cup race of the year on Monday, qualifying 12th on the grid.
