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Xfinity Breakdown: Shane van Gisbergen, New King of the Road?

When Shane van Gisbergen comes to the Chicago street course (or any road course), he’s a favorite to win.

But what is impressive is seeing him drive through the field and win in the final laps.

That’s precisely what van Gisbergen did in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ The Loop 110 on Saturday (July 6). After battling with Kyle Larson for much of stages one and two, both drivers pitted after a caution for AJ Allmendinger (who was running in third at the time). Thanks to the alternate strategy, SVG and Larson had to restart behind most of the others who pitted during prior cautions.

See also
Shane van Gisbergen Drives Through the Field for 3rd Xfinity Win of 2024

After a few more yellow flags, both drivers reached the top 10. It wasn’t until the final two cautions with about 10 laps to go that van Gisbergen battled in the top five. On the last caution, SVG made the necessary passes on Ty Gibbs and Jesse Love to take the lead and earn his third-straight road and/or street course win.

Gibbs came home second, Larson snagged third, Parker Kligerman took fourth and Love rounded out the top five.

Winners

Shane van Gisbergen became the first Xfinity driver to win three races, all on his specialty: road and street courses. But like last year’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Chicago, van Gisbergen had to pass several cars in the late laps to get there.

It’s a testament to his talent, as he had to execute each turn and pass carefully and with precision. Kligerman, Larson, Allmendinger, and Gibbs are all good on road courses, and holding them off while making passes in several turns requires confidence and stellar driving, which SVG is showcasing.

And boy, was it a fun battle between him and Larson, especially in stage one. Both cars passed each other for the lead several times in the first 15 laps, with van Gisbergen emerging as the stage one winner.

See also
Shane van Gisbergen Outduels Kyle Larson In Windy City Weekend Round 1

While there’s only one road course in the playoffs, you have to think that if SVG can grab enough stage wins throughout the remaining races, he might just make it to the Round of 8.

As I mentioned, Larson also worked through the cars to get into the top five once again, though he couldn’t get around them as fast as SVG. The race was only 50 laps on the 2.2-mile course, which didnÊ»t give drivers much time to make passes.

But besides advancing through the field, Larson’s duel with SVG showed just how good of a racer he is. After the race, van Gisbergen said he learned some things from Larson, and Larson probably learned from him. For a driver who already won at Portland International and Sonoma Raceways in the Xfinity Series, it sure says something about Larson that the winner acquired knowledge for his own driving.

Fourth-place finisher Kligerman also wheeled his No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet through the field after the team changed engines after qualifying. In fact, he went up to the top 10 by the end of stage one. That’s quite a lot of cars to pass.

But it shouldn’t be surprising for the Connecticut native; he won (and dominated) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2022 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Plus, Kligerman earned top 10s on the other road course Xfinity races so far this year.

It’s his second top-five and eighth top-10 of the season, which is crucial to hold his position above the playoff cut line. He currently sits 11th in the playoff standings and could use every point he can get.

I’d also like to highlight Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier and Austin Green. Logano ran for AM Racing in place of Hailie Deegan, and though the Cup driver endured a bit of a learning curve, his experience shined through. He came home eighth.

Allgaier finished ninth after starting in the back due to an incident during practice in which he hit the tire barrier, and Alon Day crashed into him several seconds later at a faster rate of speed under red.

He had to work hard to get in the top 10 with all he went through. Not only did Allgaier start in a backup car, but he also got spun entering pit road during green flag conditions. Thanks to the alternate pit strategy and others getting turned in front of him, the No. 7 earned his 10th top 10.

Last but not least, Green once again finished in the top 10. In four races, his worst finish was 15th. That’s not bad for a driver who’s not full-time.

Losers

I actually thought I was going to put Sheldon Creed among the winners. That is, at least, until he appeared to get sideways coming out of a turn and got tagged by Kligerman.

Instead, I’ll put Joe Gibbs Racing (minus Ty Gibbs) in the losers section.

Creed was running in the top 10 before that incident happened. As a result, he finished 26th. It’s his second consecutive finish outside the top 10 – certainly not a trend he’d like to continue. But he does know he had a car that could’ve gotten a top five. He’ll try to get one next week at Pocono Raceway.

Creed’s teammate John Hunter Nemechek finished just ahead of him in 25th, while Chandler Smith was dead last. Nemechek’s team changed engines, which caused him to start in the back, and Smith lost an engine early on after qualifying ninth.

Nemechek finished where he did because contact from Sammy Smith sent him into Daniel Suarez and both hit the wall. It wasn’t his fault, but it wasn’t the finish that Nemechek and JGR wanted.

A couple of drivers who also began in the top 10 and had undesirable results were Cole Custer and Sam Mayer, who placed 18th and 19th, respectively. Custer was penalized for going next to and passing Gibbs on the left side on pit lane when Gibbs accidentally had his car in first gear (Gibbs told NBC Sports after). It seemed he wasn’t able to fully recover, and got outside the top 10 for just the fourth time this season.

Mayer suffered a similar fate to Creed, being turned after a restart on lap 3. Fortunately for both drivers, they’re in the playoffs (so far), with Custer leading the points and Mayer having two victories.

Playoff Pit

Riley Herbst (who had a run-in with Creed early on in the race) still sits eighth in the playoff standings. Allmendinger is ninth, Creed is 10th, Kligerman is 11th (plus 46 above the cut) and Sammy Smith is 11 points to the good. It’s cutting things awfully close here for Smith, and if a new winner joins the fold, it will likely boot him out of contention.

On the other side of the cut line, Ryan Sieg is 11 points below, while Brandon Jones is 54 below.

Paint Scheme of the Week

One of the cars that definitely stood out from all the others this week was the No. 43 of Ryan Ellis. Its design is full of all kinds of colors, with “Less likes, more love” on the hood (along with a ghost). The sides feature a butterfly, hearts and another ghost, among other things.

But even better than a wild design is Ellis and Alpha Prime Racing’s involvement and marketing on social media. The team and driver’s X accounts have posted images and videos of Ryan using Snapchat filters.

I mean, how can you not like the commitment to their sponsor?

Ellis finished 21st, up six positions from where he started.

Fuel for Thought

A few topics come to mind this week, from SVG’s humility to the potential rivalries of van Gisbergen/Larson and Creed/Herbst.

But since I’m always a proponent of safety, I’d like to discuss further the crash involving Allgaier and Day in practice.

Day said he couldn’t hear that there was a yellow, and his Alpha Prime Racing team owner (who also spotted for Day) Tommy Joe Martins, commented on X about the visibility and radio communications.

“Street racing = Low visibility, bad comms,” Martins said. “Spotter can’t see cars til late entry to 4. Alon making his first laps at speed. No lights, no flags. Spotters call caution but the driver hears it 1/2 the time. I was spotting T11. Hard to hear. Gutted for @Alon_Day. He deserved more.”

Martins makes an interesting point. “No lights, no flags.” That’s definitely something that should be considered not just on this road course but also on other road courses. If there’s a blind turn and a driver can’t see an incident because they’re driving close to another car, then they need something to know that a car has crashed.

Other series like Formula 1 utilize local yellows; I would offer that NASCAR has safety marshals at certain areas of the track to let drivers know to slow down.

This incident could’ve been avoided. Yes, I know the drivers have spotters, but a lot of good it does if they don’t hear them. Regarding visibility, perhaps spotters could have tablets or cameras that show where their driver is on the track to help them see the car. It wouldn’t be used instead of looking out on the track itself, but rather another view for blind spots that the cars sometimes go in.

I know NASCAR wants things to stay as safe as they can (while still allowing for excitement), and I’m sure if it returns to Chicago next year, they’ll make more adjustments to the track to continually make it safe.

Where to Next

A trip to the Tricky Triangle, Pocono Raceway, is up next for the Xfinity Series. Austin Hill won last year’s race.

The Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 is set to run Saturday, July 13 at 3 p.m. ET and airs on USA Network.

Joy Tomlinson

Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.

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4 Comments
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Shayne

AM Racing, a 2nd tier organization according to the so-called experts, showed what a competent driver can do with their equipment.

Bill W.

Larson said Shane had a better car! Wow,so Shane had a better car then mr. H’s car.

TiminPayson

Dinger used to come from the back too but wouldn’t have any fenders left on the car. SVG is so smooth.

Don starrett

Deegan should be out of NASCAR next week. No talent = no ride.