Chicago’s NASCAR Street Race Weekend Has Changed Shane van Gisbergen’s Life
Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, poses with the NASCAR Chicago Street Race trophy after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
By Dennis Krause
In just three years, Shane van Gisbergen has won four NASCAR races - two Xfinity Series and two Cup Series - on the 2.2-mile downtown Chicago street circuit. According to the three-time International V8 Supercars champion, who swept both The Loop 110 Xfinity Series race on Saturday and Sunday’s Grant Park 165 Cup Series race from the pole position, his Windy City success has changed his life.
“Yeah, I’ve said that a few times this week. This joint, it’s changed my life. I didn’t have any plans to do more NASCAR races when I first came over here, and I never thought I’d be in NASCAR full time.
“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.
“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.”
To put van Gisbergen’s weekend sweep into perspective, only once before in NASCAR history has a driver won both the Xfinity and Cup Series races from the pole during the same weekend. Kyle Busch accomplished that feat in 2016 during the Brickyard 400 weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“Yeah, epic weekend for us,” said the driver of the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. “I’m a lucky guy. I got to drive for two great teams in JR Motorsports (in Xfinity) and Trackhouse Racing (in Cup) and it just made my job easy. We had great preparation and my cars all weekend were excellent.
“Then today the strategy was a bit back and forth. I was probably a bit conservative at the start and not aggressive enough, but yeah, our pace was good, and then just believing in (crew chief) Stephen (Doran). He did a great job on painting the picture on strategy again, and even though we were a little bit out of sync, it was going to work out for the better.
“Had some really great battles at the end. The guys at the end I felt were really, really strong, but we probably had a tire advantage. Cool to win here again. I’ve had a great run at this place, and I really enjoy it.”
Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the #9 WeatherTech/Red Bull Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Xfinity Series The Loop 110 at Chicago Street Course. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
With only one top-ten finish in the first 15 races of the Cup Series season, some may see van Gisbergen as a one-trick pony - exceptional on road and street courses, but not much of a factor on ovals.
Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks views it differently.
“Well, I think it’s a unique project with Shane. I wouldn’t do this — we wouldn’t be doing this if we thought we could go win road courses and we know we’re not going to run that good on the ovals because he’s never done it before. At this level of the game, you have to be a complete package.
“For his level of intelligence and how he studies and how he adapts and how he learns, there’s a real opportunity here for him to figure the ovals out and get fast at the ovals and be a complete Cup driver.
“I think we’ve seen him coming that way just in the last month and a half. He’s pretty consistently top 20 now on the ovals when he started running kind of like 30, 32nd, and I think that that development is just going to continue.
“I think when you think about the project, we’ve got somebody who’s talented and that we can make a Cup driver out of, and while he learns in the meantime, we can win a ton of road courses and punch that ticket to the playoffs and give our sponsors a ton of return for their investment.”
According to Marks, it’s van Gisbergen’s mental bandwidth that will eventually make him a complete NASCAR driver.
“Well, I mean, for me in my experience driving race cars for 20 years, it’s his racing IQ. It’s how strategic he can think while he’s on the limit of the race car.
“A lot of drivers, it takes all of your mental bandwidth to drive the car fast, and Shane is one of these guys that can drive the car at the limit but be thinking bigger picture stuff. He knows where he is in the race, and he knows how to — he’s great at managing his tires, his equipment, all that kind of stuff.
“Plus I think for his talent profile specifically, street races are just — they come very, very naturally to him. He’s got a lot of experience doing it in the V8 Supercars series, but I think in races like this where everybody is working so hard just to get the apexes and get out of the corner and right way and all of that, he does that just naturally while he’s thinking about bigger picture stuff so he can really put the whole race together in a super impressive way.”
Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
In just a couple of years, van Gisbergen has become the winningest foreign driver in NASCAR history - something the New Zealander is especially proud of.
“Yeah, that’s a very special stat. That’s why I’m here, I guess. Justin 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. It’s the ovals where I’m really focused on getting better and better.
“I come here and there’s no stress. People probably think there’s more stress and expectation on us, but I kind of just get excited by it and love driving. It’s the ovals where I know I’m getting better. I’m not stressed about it and I’m not forcing it, but I love trying to progress and get better and better.
“But yeah, to be a foreigner here, there’s not many of us who have broken into the sport and stayed here for too long, and pretty cool to be here, that’s for sure.”
Next weekend, NASCAR heads west to Sonoma Raceway for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, where van Gisbergen, who won the race at Mexico City three weeks ago, has a decent chance to get his third Cup Series win of the season - which would tie him for the most in the series to date.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. 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, we’ve been lacking a little bit. Yeah, like our car setup has drastically changed in the last few road courses, and it’s been great trying to understand this car and be able to try stuff.
“I’m slowly starting to understand it, 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. It’s been enjoyable figuring this car out and getting outside the box a little bit.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.