CHICAGO — Shane van Gisbergen celebrated by burning out his tires, creating a cloud of white smoke. He signed a rugby ball and kicked it into the crowd in downtown Chicago. It was a scene that felt familiar.
On Sunday, van Gisbergen completed a sweep in the Windy City by winning the NASCAR Cup Series race on the challenging street course in downtown Chicago.
“What an epic weekend for us. I feel like a lucky guy,” van Gisbergen said.
He’s also very skilled. The 36-year-old from New Zealand became only the second driver to win both the Xfinity and Cup races in one weekend from the pole position, joining Kyle Busch, who did it at Indianapolis in 2016. With this being his third career Cup victory, van Gisbergen is now the most successful foreign-born driver in NASCAR’s top series.
This win marked his second of the season after he also triumphed last month at a road course in Mexico City.
“He’s the best stock car racer on road courses that I’ve ever seen,” said Justin Marks, owner of Trackhouse Racing. “I believe that when he’s finished with us and leaves the sport, he’ll be remembered as the greatest road course racer this sport has ever known.”
Marks brought van Gisbergen from Australia’s Supercars to participate in the inaugural NASCAR event in Chicago in 2023. He made history as the first driver to win on his Cup debut since Johnny Rutherford did it during the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.
Last year, van Gisbergen also claimed victory at Chicago’s Xfinity Series and won the first stage of the Cup race before a crash ended his day.
“This place has changed my life,” van Gisbergen shared. “When I first arrived, I didn’t plan to do more NASCAR races, and I never imagined I would be racing in NASCAR full time.”
In what could be the final NASCAR event on downtown Chicago’s track, Ty Gibbs secured second place while Tyler Reddick came in third. Denny Hamlin and Busch completed the top five finishers.
“My team created an excellent strategy that put me in a good position to compete for the win,” Gibbs stated. “It worked out well today, so I’m happy with this finish, but we wish we could have fought for the win.”
Michael McDowell started alongside van Gisbergen on the front row and quickly took the lead. He won Stage 1 and led for 31 laps until a throttle cable problem interrupted his race.
Van Gisbergen took back the lead by overtaking Chase Briscoe with 16 laps to go. As fog and rain rolled into downtown Chicago, van Gisbergen maintained control for the remainder of the race.
AJ Allmendinger finished in sixth place, while Ryan Preece came in seventh. Ryan Blaney, who won the second stage, ended up in 12th place.
“I thought it was a pretty good day overall. It felt great to win that stage,” Blaney shared.
William Byron’s race ended early due to a clutch issue. The Hendrick Motorsports driver currently leads the points standings by 13 points over Chase Elliott.
After McDowell took the lead at the start, Carson Hocevar caused a big crash when he hit the wall and spun out between Turns 10 and 11. Several drivers, including Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, and Will Brown were caught up in the wreck.
“I didn’t see it until the last moment,” said Keselowski. “I slowed down thinking I could stop, but then I got hit from behind. It’s a tight street course, and sometimes there’s just nowhere to go.”
Ty Dillon and Reddick moved on to the third round of NASCAR’s first in-season tournament after Keselowski and Hocevar could not finish. Dillon, who is seeded No. 32, knocked out Keselowski after he surprised top-seeded Denny Hamlin last weekend in Atlanta.
Gibbs, Preece, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith, and Erik Jones also made it through. The winner of this five-race bracket-style tournament will take home a $1 million prize.
Bowman, the 2024 champion on the downtown street course, triumphed over Bubba Wallace in their direct matchup. As they fought for position late in the race, Bowman and Wallace made contact, recalling their earlier clash in Chicago last year.
“I didn’t see that coming or expect to be raced like that, but it happened,” Bowman stated. “We just need to move forward and keep pushing. I’m not sure what else I could have done differently.”
TOP-20 FINISH
Katherine Legge achieved her best career Cup finish by placing 19th. She became the first woman to finish in the top 20 of a Cup race since Danica Patrick at Texas in November 2017.
Legge was also the first woman to qualify for the Cup race held in downtown Chicago.
UP NEXT
The Cup Series will head to Sonoma Raceway in California on July 13.
