Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen has a new song in his heart: Frank Sinatra’s “Chicago”, with the iconic lyrics, “My kinda town, Chicago is!” For the second time in the three-year history of NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race, the New Zealand native held on to win Sunday’s Grant Park 165 on the temporary street course along the downtown Chicago lakefront.
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“I love this place,” van Gisbergen said. “We made no mistakes, had a fast car, and just seemed to get it right. I’m proud right now.” And he has good reason to feel that way.
Four weeks ago, SVG was a dismal 32nd place in the Cup standings and statistically out of the NASCAR playoffs. But since then, van Gisbergen has racked up a win at Mexico City to earn an automatic berth in the playoffs, added another triumph on Sunday, now has 10 playoff points to the good, and with another road course coming up next weekend at Sonoma, the SVG Express is likely to continue its roll.
But in the manner we’ve come to expect from him, the soft-spoken van Gisbergen was almost shy at his achievement, saying, “I hope we put on a good show.”
Indeed, the Kiwi import did put on a good show, leading 26 of the event’s 75 laps. He had a great 1-2 battle with Michael McDowell throughout the first stage. McDowell suffered an issue in Stage 2 that ended his day early, finishing a disappointing 32nd, paving the way for SVG to hover near the front of the pack before finally regaining the lead with 16 laps to go.
And the rest became history. It was a great way to end what van Gisbergen called “an amazing weekend for me.” Not only did he win Sunday’s race, he did so after earning the pole position during qualifying on Saturday.
But that was only part of it, as he also won the pole for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race and then wound up going to victory lane. If you need a calculator to figure it out, we’ll simplify SVG’s achievements this weekend: he swept the weekend, earning both poles and both wins in just over 24 hours.
“Epic weekend for us,” he said. “I’m a lucky guy to drive for two great teams, JR Motorsports (in Xfinity) and Trackhouse (in Cup). Our cars were both excellent. I’ve had a great run at this place, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”
In three combined Cup/Xfinity weekends at Chicago, van Gisbergen now has four wins — two each in Cup and Xfinity.
Although it likely wouldn’t have made a difference because he had built enough of a lead to hold off any last-minute challengers, van Gisbergen was scored as winning Sunday’s race under caution. He took the white flag under green conditions before NASCAR threw a yellow due to a last lap crash, giving SVG the win automatically.
“I tried not to get caught up in it,” he said about his final lap around the 2.2-mile street course. “The spotters started celebrating and I’m like, ‘Guys, let’s get to the (finish) line first.’ I just drove around, tried not to make any mistakes because there were safety trucks all over the place, and so much debris. I just cruised and then celebrated when we got to the line.”
As an added bonus, with his win Sunday and third career Cup win overall, van Gisbergen becomes the winningest foreign-born driver in NASCAR Cup history, surpassing Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Daniel Suarez, who have two wins each.
“That’s a very special stat,” SVG said. “That’s why I’m here, I guess. Justin (team owner Justin Marks) took a massive chance on me to bring me over, and as I’ve said many times, these races are like a holiday to me.
“To be a foreigner here, there’s not many of us who have broken into the sport and stayed here for too long. It’s pretty cool to be here, that’s for sure.”
But in a sense, Sunday’s win may wind up being bittersweet for van Gisbergen. It has been rumored — and talked about considerably among drivers — that NASCAR will not return for a fourth straight street race in Chicago next year.
Rather, there has been increasing talk of NASCAR moving the street race concept to San Diego or Philadelphia. Racing on a street circuit north of the border in Vancouver and Toronto has also been mentioned.
If Sunday was his last time in Chicago, van Gisbergen will remember the Windy City with both fondness and thankfulness, especially since the first street race in 2023 was also his first-ever NASCAR race in any series and he wound up in victory lane.
“This joint has changed my life,” he said. “I didn’t have any more plans to do more NASCAR races when I first came over here and didn’t think I’d be in NASCAR full-time.
“Yeah, it’s pretty special here, some good memories, and some good races. I love the track. It’s a cool place to come to. You feel a nice vibe. You feel a good vibe in the mornings walking to the track with the fans. It’s pretty unique like that.
“Yeah, I enjoy it. I hope it stays next year. But I’m biased. Obviously, I love street circuits, but if we go to a new place, I’m all for that, as well.”
Van Gisbergen now sets his sights on the next race, next Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. While he’s never raced there before in Cup, he won last year’s Xfinity Series race there.
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” he said. “We’ve had a pretty good year on road courses so far and had glimpses of speed, but I really think we’ve developed our car as well. There have been some areas that we haven’t been good at … but there’s still some things we can be a lot better at.
“But try again next week, and we can just keep trying to be better. We’re near in the position now where you have that playoff spot, you can take more risk.”
There are seven Cup races remaining in the 26-race regular season, with two road courses in the mix: Sonoma and Watkins Glen four weeks after that.
As much as he’s trying to remain focused on those seven races, van Gisbergen is also looking forward to the 16-driver, 10-race Cup playoffs. He admits the first round will be tough, especially with the lack of overall success he’s had on oval tracks this season.
“That first round is going to be very difficult,” SVG said. “It’s got my favorite oval in it, Darlington. I love that place. I haven’t been to Gateway. And then Bristol, which is what I’ve found the most difficult track. It’s so hard.
“It’s some difficult places for me. But I feel like we’re making still massive leaps on the oval, and there’s still a few weeks left to keep getting better. So yeah, just got to keep our heads down and try and keep pushing through.”
If van Gisbergen gets through that first round and advances to Round 2, wrapping up the Round of 12 three-race segment is the Roval road course layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway. If he can win there, he’d punch his ticket to the Round of 8 semifinal round.
