CHICAGO — Shane van Gisbergen burned out his tires in celebration, sending white smoke into the air. He signed a rugby ball and punted it into the stands in downtown Chicago. It was a well-known scene.
Van Gisbergen accomplished a Windy Metropolis sweep Sunday, successful the NASCAR Cup Collection race on the difficult avenue course in downtown Chicago.
“Epic weekend for us. I am a fortunate man,” van Gisbergen stated.
A gifted one, too. The 36-year-old New Zealand native grew to become the second driver to brush the Xfinity and Cup races in a single weekend from the pole, becoming a member of Kyle Busch at Indianapolis in 2016. Together with his third profession Cup win, van Gisbergen additionally grew to become the winningest foreign-born driver on NASCAR’s high collection.
It was van Gisbergen’s second victory of the season after the Trackhouse Racing driver additionally gained final month on a Mexico Metropolis highway course.
“He is the most effective highway course inventory automotive racer that I’ve ever seen,” Trackhouse proprietor Justin Marks stated. “I feel when he is finished with us all and walks away from the game, I feel he will stroll away as the most effective highway course racer that this sport has ever seen.”
Marks introduced van Gisbergen over from Australia’s Supercars for the primary version of NASCAR’s Chicago experiment in 2023, and he grew to become the primary driver to win his Cup debut since Johnny Rutherford within the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.
Van Gisbergen additionally gained Chicago’s Xfinity Collection cease final 12 months and the primary stage within the Cup race earlier than he was knocked out by a crash.
“This joint, it is modified my life,” van Gisbergen stated. “I did not have any plans to do extra NASCAR races after I first came visiting right here, and I by no means thought I might be in NASCAR full time.”
In what could be the final NASCAR race on the downtown Chicago circuit, Ty Gibbs was second and Tyler Reddick completed third. Denny Hamlin and Busch rounded out the highest 5.
“My crew referred to as an important technique and obtained me in place to get me up entrance to compete for the win,” Gibbs stated. “It labored out for us in the present day, so I am glad to have a very good end, however we want we may have gone for the win.”
Michael McDowell joined van Gisbergen on the entrance row and shortly moved in entrance. He gained Stage 1 and led for 31 laps earlier than he was derailed by a throttle cable challenge.
Van Gisbergen regained the lead when he handed Chase Briscoe with 16 laps left. As fog and rain moved into downtown Chicago, van Gisbergen managed the motion the remainder of the best way.
AJ Allmendinger was sixth, and Ryan Preece completed seventh. Ryan Blaney, who gained the second stage, was twelfth.
“I believed total it was a reasonably first rate day. It was good to win that stage,” Blaney stated.
William Byron’s day was reduce quick by a clutch downside. The Hendrick Motorsports driver leads the purpose standings by 13 factors over Chase Elliott.
After McDowell seized the lead early within the race, Carson Hocevar prompted a multicar crash when he hit the wall and spun out between Turns 10 and 11. Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Will Brown have been among the many drivers collected within the wreck.
“I did not see it till the final second,” Keselowski stated. “I slowed down and I truly felt I used to be going to get stopped after which I simply type of obtained ran over from behind. It is only a slender avenue course and typically there’s nowhere to go.”
Ty Dillon and Reddick moved into the third spherical of NASCAR’s inaugural in-season event when Keselowski and Hocevar have been unable to complete the race. Dillon, the No. 32 seed, eradicated Keselowski after he upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin final weekend at Atlanta.
Gibbs, Preece, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith and Erik Jones additionally superior. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style event takes residence a $1 million prize.
Bowman, the 2024 champion on the downtown avenue course, gained his head-to-head matchup with Bubba Wallace. Bowman and Wallace made contact as they battled for place late within the race after in addition they tangled in Chicago final 12 months.
“I wasn’t anticipating that to occur or to get raced like that, however we did,” Bowman stated. “We simply have to maneuver on from it and maintain digging. I do not actually know what I may have finished a lot completely different.”
TOP-20 FINISH
Katherine Legge completed nineteenth for her greatest profession Cup outcome. She grew to become the primary girl to complete within the high 20 in a Cup race since Danica Patrick at Texas in November 2017.
Legge was the primary girl to qualify for the Cup race in downtown Chicago.
UP NEXT
The Cup Collection is at Sonoma Raceway in California on July 13.