35-year-old Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) is on the verge of making his first-ever Xfinity Series start at the Chicago Street Course. It was at this very track that he won last year in his Cup Series debut and put his name up on the NASCAR map. Despite his seeming expertise in navigating through the 2.2-mile, 12-turn circuit, he hasn’t eased off one bit on his preparations for this weekend.
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Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain was recently asked by the press about the New Zealander’s influence on him and his team when it comes to racing in Chicago. Chastain replied by noting how he was leading them all in the armor up for the upcoming battle. SVG currently wears the colors of Kaulig Racing, a partner of Trackhouse, in an interim setting.
Chastain said, “Well, he’s a machine when it comes to preparation. I would say he’s kind of leading the charge for us in the simulator and getting it how he thinks it will be.” He continued, noting SVG’s chances of success this time should the race play out under dry conditions, “He is an animal when it comes to road courses and we’ve seen that with his two Xfinity wins already this season. He’s that good.”
As for himself, Chastain is certainly better prepared than he was last year. He quipped that he had been on the simulator much longer than he had last time and hoped that it would make a difference during the race. However, he is wary of the unknowns that the track brings forward despite all the data there is from last year. He finished in 22nd place in 2023.
Why Shane van Gisbergen can emerge as the biggest winner of NASCAR’s visit to Chicago
SVG will be one of the nine drivers on double duty this weekend. He will be piloting the #97 Chevrolet Camaro on Saturday and hop into the #16 Camaro ZL1 on Sunday. A key point that puts him forward as a favorite to win at least one of the races is his recent performance on road courses. He secured his first victory of the year at the Portland International Raceway just a month ago.
He followed that up with a consecutive win at the Sonoma Raceway and made history. Put this together with the skill that he displayed in 2023 in Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 entry and it becomes hard to cast him off as a potential victor. Should all the intense preparations come in handy with the momentum he has, there’ll be no stopping the Supercars Champion.
