The NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the streets of Chicago saw some of the best racing action of the season. Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Larson turned up the heat in the first stage as they battled back and forth for the lead. The Hendrick Motorsports driver fell off in the subsequent stages and SVG ended up winning the race. While Larson would have liked to win that contest, it was more of a learning curve for the #5 Chevrolet driver.
Advertisement
Several Cup Series regulars ran on Saturday to be at ease with the street course as much as possible come Sunday’s main event. Yung Money arguably got the best experience of them all while battling the now 3-time road course winner in the junior nationwide series this season. Sunday’s event could also see both drivers gear up for round two on the streets of Chicago.
“I was having a blast,” Larson said in a post race press conference. “Obviously I wanted to win today but I wanted to learn more than anything. I wanted to get to battle with him because he is just really good at creating shapes and angles and passing.”
REPOST IF YOU'RE WATCHING THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES ON NBC AND PEACOCK!
What an EXCITING first lap on the streets of Chicago between Kyle Larson and SVG. pic.twitter.com/kq76onU294
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 6, 2024
SVG’s mastery of road courses comes from several years of running in the Australian Supercars. His skill set on such tracks is seemingly unmatched in NASCAR. Larson was left with his jaw dropped last year when the Kiwi made a move for the lead in Chicago.
Kyle Larson fawns over Shane van Gisbergen’s race craft during last year’s inaugural Chicago Cup race
At the time, SVG was battling at the front of the pack while Larson ran in P4. Yung Money had a clear view of what was going down ahead of him with Justin Haley and SVG battling for the lead of the race. The Kiwi’s move into turn four impressed the Hendrick Motorsports star so much that he still remembers it like it was yesterday.
“That move he made last year was probably like the sickest move I’ve ever seen on a road course,” he told Dustin Long in an interview. “He just sees things, with his experience, different. Like his race craft is just way better than ours here.”
It has been a year since that incident and the rest of the pack will be hoping to close the gap to SVG. It was not the case in the Xfinity Series race but Larson certainly put up a strong fight. That will give the rest of the Cup drivers a bit more hope against the Supercars champion.
