For the second year in a row, rain was a heavy factor in NASCAR’s trip to the Chicago street course.
When the NASCAR Cup Series resumed racing after a lengthy red flag for rain, last year’s winner and heavy favorite, Shane van Gisbergen, sat as a non-factor.
Van Gisbergen won stage one of the Grant Park 165 on July 7 (Sunday) before being involved in a crash with Chase Briscoe that ended his day on lap 25.
“I just got taken out,” van Gisbergen said.
After maneuvering through lapped cars that opted to run wet-weather tires, Van Gisbergen passed Ty Gibbs for the lead on lap 12. The defending Chicago street course winner clinched stage one when Corey LaJoie spun, and rain forced NASCAR to run the remaining laps of the stage under caution.
After the restart, Briscoe carried too much momentum into turn six, spinning into the tire barrier and clipping SVG’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen hit the concrete barrier in turn six and could not drive away. With a finish of 40th, van Gisbergen will be credited with his first DNF in six Cup Series starts.
“It’s gutting, you know,” van Gisbergen said. “The Saucy Nuggs Camaro was really good … I felt like I was driving well within myself the whole race, under control. And that restart, I looked behind in turn six and I had a decent gap behind me and just turned in. Took me by surprise there.”
“Looking at it now, of course [I could’ve done something different], but it happens.”
After van Gisbergen came off pit road fourth after stage one pit stops, heavy rain created spray and low traction on the restart.
“It was tough, but as soon as you got out of the wheel tracks of the car ahead of you then you could see,” van Gisbergen said. “It was fine. There was a bit of standing water, but after two laps, we would have been ready to go. I guess [the rain] is a bit too heavy now, but the conditions when we were racing were good.”
Van Gisbergen won the Xfinity Series race in Chicago on Saturday (July 6) for the third road course win of his NXS rookie season. He qualified and started fifth in his Cup ride, posting the second-fastest time in practice behind only Kyle Larson.
“It’s frustrating,” van Gisbergen said. “Obviously, we had a car good enough to win.”
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.