Shane van Gisbergen brands NASCAR rival a 'spud' after back-to-back wrecks

Shane van Gisbergen has directed a slightly unusual slight at a fellow NASCAR driver after an incident at Coronado on Sunday.

The New Zealander came into the race as the heavy favorite and looked to well positioned to deliver on that expectation when Austin Hill made an error into Turn 1 at a restart and caused a huge wreck, resulting in Van Gisbergen and his Trackhouse Racing team-mate Connor Zilisch being forced to retire on the spot.

Van Gisbergen posted a video recapping his weekend in San Diego chronologically, ending with him reflecting on the race on Tuesday with some pointed comments.

The Trackhouse star called the driver of the No. 33 a 'spud', and referred back to Hill's involvement in the incident which ruined his day at Pocono the previous weekend too.

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Van Gisbergen still mad about Coronado wreck

"Still pretty s****y after the weekend," he said. "Two weeks in a row, taken out by the same spud. It sucked. Tough one. We had a pretty average start to the race. I wasn't doing very well and I struggled, and then it felt like our car was coming alive.

"Potentially, we were back in the race, and unfortunately, got taken out. So, yeah, that sucked. Pretty gutted – everyone is. Both of us – Connor and myself, ended up wrecked, but yeah, it happens.

"Trying to reset, a couple of days here in L.A. with Red Bull, which is awesome, getting to check out the athlete center. The guys are doing some pit stop practice, and then we'll head up to Sonoma probably Thursday, and try to redeem ourselves a bit."

Van Gisbergen is very much the favorite once again this weekend at Sonoma but, a few points outside the Chase and with this weekend the only remaining road course on the schedule, his Coronado misadventures with the spud may have delivered a gnocc-out punch to his postseason hopes.