This weekend in the nation’s second largest city, standout road racer Shane Van Gisbergen will be looking to win his second NASCAR Cup Series victory.
When Grant Park 165 takes the green flag on Sunday for the second annual Chicago Street Race, all eyes will be on the New Zealand rider’s return to the Windy City.
The Trackhouse Motorsports driver shocked the NASCAR world a year ago when he won the inaugural race in Chicago, sealing the victory as the street lights came on and the city’s freeways went dark.
The Project 91 Chevrolet road racing specialist, nicknamed SVG for brevity, edged out Justin Haley to win in a race that was shortened by 25 laps because of the approaching darkness.
The Auckland, New Zealand native became the first driver in 60 years to win his debut in NASCAR’s top series when Johnny Rutherford won the qualifying race at Daytona in 1963, which was then considered a points event.
Van Gisbergen, 35, has only raced a handful of Cup races this season but has already made an indelible mark in the Xfinity Series driving the No. 97 Chevrolet full time for Kaulig Racing alongside teammate AJ Allmendinger.
In June’s first Xfinity Series race at Portland Raceway, he won against Justin Allgaier on a restart with four laps remaining, and the three-time Australian Supercars champion repeated his victory the following weekend at Sonoma Raceway, leading 32 of the 79 laps and beating Sheldon Creed to claim his second career series victory.
Kaulig team president Chris Rice said he was impressed with van Gisbergen and that his style was different to that of road racing legend Allmendinger.
“This is something special,” Rice said. “AJ has joined our team and is one of the best road course racers in the history of the sport. His driving style and SVG’s driving style are completely different, so SVG is going to be the best racer in Australia and he’s going to have to know how they do things and he’s going to have to learn these cars.”
Oddsmakers don’t think his win in Chicago was a fluke.
According to DraftKings odds, SVG starts as the favorite to win at +500, followed by Kyle Larson (+600), Christopher Bell (+600), Tyler Reddick (+650) and last year’s third-place finisher, Chase Elliott (+800).
“SVG’s a special driver,” Rice added, “he’s got more talent than any other driver has had in a long time. I’m sure he’ll do well, but on the Cup side it’s a lot harder to get there than it is to get into Xfinity.”
“He has incredible control over the car.”
In news, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry will leave the No. 4 Ford to replace second-year driver Harrison Burton in the Wood brothers’ legendary No. 21 car in 2025.
Berry becomes the second SHR driver to secure a seat for next season, joining Chase Briscoe, who will replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Noah Gragson and Ryan Priece are the two remaining SHR drivers without seats secured for next season, while Cole Custer appears to be the front-runner to drive for the new Haas factory team in 2025.
–Field Level Media
