Shane van Gisbergen masters NASCAR in Chicago again
CHICAGO — Shane van Gisbergen remains undefeated in NASCAR on the Chicago Street Course after winning Saturday’s The Loop 110 in the Xfinity Series.
Van Gisbergen had to put on another fierce drive Saturday. He led 11 of the first 23 laps and won stage one while racing Kyle Larson fiercely. Then after pitting, he restarted 20th on lap 25 of 50 and drove to 10th in four laps. Stage three started on lap 35 and van Gisbergen was sixth. Five of the next seven laps were run under caution, keeping his progress to just one position.
With eight laps to go, van Gisbergen rallied to third and hung on as the racing intensified. On the restart with three laps to go, after a caution for Leland Honeyman Jr. wrecking in turn one, van Gisbergen claimed second from Ty Gibbs and snagged the lead from Jesse Love in turn seven.
Van Gisbergen held on to get his third consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series road course win. It comes a year after he shocked the NASCAR world with a win in the Chicago Street Race in the Cup Series.
TOP-10 FINISHERS: Shane van Gisbergen (led four times for 14 laps), Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson (led three times for 12 laps), Parker Kligerman (led 14 laps), Connor Mosack, Austin Hill (led eight laps), Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier, Austin Green.
Sammy Smith led two laps (24 and 25) and finished 13th. He bumped into John Hunter Nemechek in turn six on the last lap, causing an incident involving Nemechek and Daniel Suarez.
Two spots ahead of Smith was AJ Allmendinger who recovered from a crash on lap 22 in turn six to finish 11th.
Allmendinger was third to Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Larson when the incident happened.
Although the numbers will show that van Gisbergen and Larson officially swapped the lead five times at the start-finish line in the first 23 laps, there were some laps where van Gisbergen passed Larson, then Larson passed him back — and vice versa — before they came back to the line.
van Gisbergen held the lead at the end of stage one after making the perfect move on Larson to get the stage win.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 15): Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Connor Mosack, Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman
During the stage break, Ty Gibbs, Cole Custer, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed, Joey Logano and John Hunter Nemechek pitted from the top-15. Custer was sent to the rear for an improper pass on Gibbs on pit road. Then Gibbs had a bad pit stop.
“I was taking a break on pit road. I was going slow. (pause) Nah, I was in first gear, I was in the wrong gear,” Gibbs said post-race. “That was a little embarrassing.”
Stage two was more of the same intensity with van Gisbergen and Larson. Then, the caution for AJ Allmendinger shuffled the running order.
Hill claimed the stage win with Sammy Smith, who hadn’t pitted all day, in second on lap 30.
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 30): Hill, Smith, Love, Justin Allgaier, Creed, Gibbs, Kligerman, Mayer, Nemechek, van Gisbergen
In stage three, Jesse Love got a better restart than teammate Austin Hill. Hill took issue with this under caution a few laps later when Kyle Sieg checked up more than anyone else in turn 11 and collected Josh Bilicki, Andre Castro, Sage Karam, Blaine Perkins, Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton in a wreck.
Everyone involved, except for Perkins and Burton, fell out of the race because of the wreck. Preston Pardus joined them in the garage after stalling on track on lap 41.
Shane van Gisbergen rallied to the win in the final laps, sending Jesse Love back to finish fifth after leading with three laps to go.
“I was kind of in a predicament. They were a little better than I was and I knew that. And then the cautions, I thought about the next task I had to execute on and then go from there. That was get the greatest restart and then hold on,” Love said. “Brent Crews taught me this at GoPro (Motorplex) where, he would do it to me. I’d pass him, he’d block super low and park it on the bottom, wait for me to hit him and he’d jump off the corner. And I was trying to do that to Ty because our drive off was really good. Then I started spinning the tires more.”
Van Gisbergen has won every road course in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year, except for the race at Circuit of the Americas. At COTA, he led before contact with Austin Hill handed the win to Kyle Larson.
Larson finished third and admitted he didn’t have much for van Gisbergen.
Sheldon Creed finished 26th after running inside of the top-5 on the final restart with three to go. Parker Kligerman, who he made contact with, setting off the incident, said Creed was more at fault.
“I think Sheldon Creed slowed off of 11. You know, I was there. He tried going to the right. When he watches it back, I think he’ll see that. He and I drove around each other all day, drove through the field together. He made a lot of holes by hitting a lot of people which worked for me. But I think he tried one move too many at the end,” Kligerman said.
Sam Mayer also finished 19th after running inside the top-10 late.
RACE RESULTS AND POINTS AFTER CHICAGO
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com