Australian Supercars champ Shane van Gisbergen wins NASCAR Chicago street race
Van Gisbergen is the first driver to win his first Cup Series start in 60 years
Shane van Gisbergen put on a clinic over the final laps of Sunday’s race on the Chicago street course to win in his first NASCAR start.
The three-time Australian Supercars champion outclassed everyone over the last laps of the race and passed Justin Haley with five laps to go for the win. Van Gisbergen had the lead right after a caution came out with less than 10 laps to go for Martin Truex Jr.’s crash, but NASCAR ruled that the pass wasn’t complete before the caution came out.
Van Gisbergen then had to hold on for a green-white-checker restart and didn't have any challenge from Haley or third-place finisher Chase Ellliott. Van Gisbergen drove away from Haley over the final two laps and won by over a second.
Van Gisbergen’s street course prowess was on full display over the final 20 laps of the race. He drove his way to the front with ease and gapped Haley right after he passed him. He’s the first driver to win his first Cup Series start since Johnny Rutherford won at Daytona in 1963.
"Wow, when we had that ... strategy back to 18th I started to worry a bit but had some full stands on some people, and the racing was really good, everyone was respectful," he said. "It was tough but a lot of fun."
Who is Shane van Gisbergen?
Van Gisbergen won the Australian Supercars championship in 2016, 2021 and 2022. The 34-year-old New Zealand native has 79 Supercars wins and is the fourth-winningest driver in series history.
He’s one of three drivers who have won the Bathurst 1000, Bathurst 6 Hour and Bathurst 12 Hour. Simply put, he’s one of the best drivers in Australian Supercars history and was well deserving of his shot in NASCAR.
He raced Sunday because of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 program. The team has fielded the No. 91 car in select events since 2022 and the Chicago race was the third start for the No. 91 car after Kimi Raikkonen ran once in 2022 and at Circuit of the Americas in 2023.
Project 91 seemed more like a novelty than anything else in Raikkonen’s starts after he finished 37th at Watkins Glen and 29th at COTA this year. But it’s clear that Trackhouse has a competitive car with the right driver and circuit. And van Gisbergen was the class off the field on Sunday.
The win is the fifth in Trackhouse Racing history and the second for the team this season. Ross Chastain won a week ago at Nashville.
The race was delayed by rain
NASCAR was staring down the barrel of a disastrous Chicago weekend as rain pelted the area and forced the Cup Series race to be delayed. Saturday’s Xfinity Series race was pushed to Sunday after it didn’t get to halfway before lightning was detected near the track. But persistent rain on Sunday meant the race could never get restarted and NASCAR invoked a little-known provision in the rulebook to declare the race official before it reached halfway.
The Chicago area had a record amount of rainfall for July 2 on Sunday as the temporary street circuit in Grant Park had standing water in numerous areas. The rain tapered off near 5 p.m. CT and NASCAR made the decision to start the race on a wet track. The track never fully dried over the course of the race.
That ended up being the right call, though the sanctioning body had to shorten the 100-lap race by 25 laps to make sure it finished before sunset. Thanks to the green-white-checker finish, the race ended up having 78 laps. That call to shorten the race put Haley and Elliott at the front of the field because they pitted earlier than others. But van Gisbergen’s speed over the final run was too much for the track position that they gained.
Race results
1. Shane van Gisbergen
2. Justin Haley
3. Chase Elliott
4. Kyle Larson
5. Kyle Busch
6. Austin Cindric
7. Michael McDowell
8. Joey Logano
9. Ty Gibbs
10. Chris Buescher
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Aric Almirola
13. William Byron
14. Corey LaJoie
15. Ryan Preece
16. Erik Jones
17. AJ Allmendinger
18. Christopher Bell
19. Todd Gilliland
20. Chase Briscoe
21. Jenson Button
22. Ross Chastain
23. Josh Bilicki
24. Brad Keselowski
25. Noah Gragson
26. Andy Lally
27. Daniel Suarez
28. Tyler Reddick
30. Harrison Burton
31. Bubba Wallace
32. Martin Truex Jr.
33. Ryan Blaney
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
35. Ty Dillon
36. Austin Dillon
37. Alex Bowman
