Shane Van Gisbergen sweeps the NASCAR Chicago Street Course weekend in the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series on Saturday and Sunday.
CHICAGO—Once again, Shane van Gisbergen asserted his superiority on the streets of Chicago, and in doing so, he matched a major NASCAR milestone.
Shane Van Gisbergen Sweeps Chicago
In winning the Grant Park 165 on the Chicago Street Course, the New Zealander completed a weekend sweep of the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Cup races, both from the pole position.
Taking the checkered flag under caution, after Cody Ware plowed into the sixth turn tire barrier as Van Gisbergen charged through the 12th turn on the next-to-last lap, SVG matched Kyle Busch’s sweep of both races from the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July of 2016. No other driver has won races in NASCAR’s top two divisions from the pole on the same weekend.
The three-time Australian Supercars champion said he was panicked at the possibility of a caution and potential overtime after Ware’s wreck. Van Gisbergen, however, reached the start/finish to start the final lap before NASCAR called the caution.
“What an amazing weekend for me,” said Van Gisbergen, who drove the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to his second Cup victory on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn circuit, his second win this season and the third of his career.
“Lucky guy to drive some great cars. I thank Trackhouse, WeatherTech Chevy, and all these guys and girls here—what an amazing weekend. Thanks, everyone for coming out, and hope we put on a good show.”
The Grant Park 165 Results
Ty Gibbs ran second, equaling his career-best finish at Darlington last year. Tyler Reddick restarted 15th on fresh tires with nine laps left and climbed to third before he ran out of time.
Van Gisbergen took the lead for the final time on lap 60, moving to the inside of front-running Chase Briscoe in the second turn, racing side-by-side with the recent Pocono winner through the third turn and out-braking him into the fourth turn to gain the top spot.
From that point, SVG had to survive two cautions and restarts, the first to get an ambulance across the track for a spectator medical emergency and the second for Austin Cindric’s stalled car.
Ty Gibbs Settles for Second
After that sixth yellow, Gibbs, running second, didn’t get a strong launch on the final restart and fell a car-length behind before reaching the first turn. SVG pulled away from the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from that point on.
“Well, it really depends on the restart zone, because it’s right in that last corner, and the dude on the outside gets shafted every single time,” said Gibbs, who restarted on the outside approaching the 12th turn.
“If you watch every one of them, the inside guy wins almost every time. He just got a good enough gap, had a good restart. I had a little bit of rear tire degradation that didn’t really help me on my launch off the corner. (He) just got a good gap and got away from me.”
Déjà vu for Reddick
For Reddick, the race was a case of déjà vu. Last year he chased race winner Alex Bowman with a faster car over the closing laps and finished second.
“We kind of ended up in a tough spot there on the penultimate restart, I guess,” Reddick said. “Some of the cars were spinning—I can’t name them all, but unfortunately we kind of just got stuck in the wrong lane where I had to check up. I got behind those cars that we were on the same tire strategy as, so we just lost a bit of time there passing those cars back.
“It’s great to finish third, but it’s for sure a bummer when you look at how much ground you made up.”
Thunderstorm Looming: Checkered Flag Beats the Rain at Chicago
For the first time in the three years of the Chicago Street Race, weather in the form of rain didn’t play a role—but anticipation of possible thunderstorms did.
As the race neared conclusion, fog and storm clouds began to roll in from the north, but rain didn’t reach the track until after the checkered flag.
“The strategy was a bit all over the place, as we knew it would be today, racing the weather, racing cars and different (pit) stops,” Van Gisbergen said. “Stephen (Doran, crew chief) did a really good job on the box all day of just painting the picture in my head of who I was up against.
“We had two great pit stops. Just so stoked to get (sponsor) WeatherTech in Victory Lane for their home race.”
Michael McDowell Leads and Hocevar ignites an Eight-Car Wreck Early in the Race
Michael McDowell got past SVG at the start of the race and led the first 31 laps, but he had to take his car to the DVP (damaged vehicle policy) area to repair a stuck throttle and lost 22 laps in the garage.
A massive eight-car crash on lap 3 blocked the track between the tenth and 11th turns and forced a stoppage of 14 minutes, 42 seconds. Carson Hocevar started the melee when he clipped the inside wall in the tenth turn and crashed into the opposite wall with enough force to move the Jersey barrier.
Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet turned sideways, and the cars of Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Todd Gilliland, Will Brown, and Riley Herbst piled into the wreck. Only Herbst and Suarez were able to continue.
“I didn’t see it until the last second,” Keselowski said. “I slowed down, and I actually felt I was going to get stopped, and then I just kind of got ran over from behind. It’s just a narrow street course, and sometimes there’s nowhere to go.”
In-Season Challenge Moves to Round 3
Keselowski’s early exit made a winner of 32nd seed Ty Dillon in the In-Season Challenge. Dillon will face Bowman in next Sunday’s third-round event at Sonoma Raceway, after Bowman traded shot after shot with his Chicago opponent, Bubba Wallace, until Wallace spun in the closing laps to lose the head-to-head battle.
John Hunter Nemechek finished 15th, one spot ahead of Chase Elliott, to eliminate the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the In-Season Challenge. Nemechek will face Erik Jones, who advanced when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. retired after colliding with a tire barrier.
Ryan Preece ran seventh and eliminated 30th-place finisher Noah Gragson. He’ll face Reddick, who ousted Hocevar. Gibbs prevailed over sixth-place finisher AJ Allmendinger and will race against Zane Smith at Sonoma.
Smith came home 14th and knocked out 18th-place Chris Buescher, who ran most of the race with an engine down on power.
The NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings
Series leader William Byron was out of the race with a broken clutch after one lap and finished 40th. His lead in the standings over second-place Elliott shrank to 13 points.
With his second win of the season, Van Gisbergen secures his place in the playoffs. Bubba Wallace now sits just two points above the cut line, while Preece is just two points below the line.
Up Next for the NASCAR Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series moves on to another road course at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, July 13th. The Toyota Save Mart 350 begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and MAX. The defending winner is California native Kyle Larson.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Loop 110 Results
Shane Van Gisbergen started the weekend by taking the pole for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and winning The Loop 110. Connor Zilisch finished second after challenging Van Gisbergen unsuccessfully. Sheldon Creed led early in the race and finished in third place. Jesse Love and Nick Sanchez round out the top five.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Point Standings
Justin Allgaier now leads Austin Hill (second) and Sam Mayer (third) by 49 points in the series point standings. Austin Hill holds the advantage with his three wins on the season. Jesse Love and Connor Zilisch round out the top five.
Up Next
The next race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, July 12th. The Pit Boss/Food Maxx 250 begins at 4:30 pm ET on CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Shane Van Gisbergen won the 2024 race.