07-07-2025
Nascar: Shane van Gisbergen triumphs in Chicago Street Race
Shane van Gisbergen kicks a rugby ball as part of his celebration for winning the Chicago street race, the Nascar Cup Series Grant Park 165 on July 06, 2025.
Photo:
AFP
Kiwi motor racer Shane Van Gisbergen has won Nascar's Chicago Street Race, a day after his triumph in the latest Xfinity event.
It is his second win in the street race, known as the Grant Park 165 event, after he won on debut in 2023.
It was also the Truckhouse Racing driver's second win of this year's Nascar Cup series, after
winning the inaugural race in Mexico City last month
and his third career Cup win.
Van Gisbergen started from the pole, but was passed early by qualifier Michael McDowell. But he took the lead with 16 laps to go and had to hold on through two caution restarts. After the second one, with nine laps remaining, he went out to a solid lead, eventually winning by 0.887 seconds from Ty Gibbs, with Tyler Reddick third, with the race ending under caution.
His victory followed that of
fellow New Zealander Scott Dixon in the IndyCars event at Mid-Ohio
.
"What an amazing weekend for me," van Gisbergen said afterwards.
"I love this place,'' he added, before his trademark celebration of punting a rugby ball into the crowd.
"I guess we made no mistakes, there were some really fast cars, we just seemed to get it right. Make no mistakes, be smooth every lap, be cool."
Van Gisbergen said it had been very hot out on a slick track.
"The times were a lot slower and the margin for error was very tiny. Just had to get it right and I'm rapt."
Australian Supercars driver Will Brown's race came to an abrupt end in a pile-up on lap four.
A day earlier, the three-time Australian Supercars champion outmanoeuvred 18-year-old Chris Zilsch with two laps to go, holding on by a comfortable 0.823 seconds in the latest Xfinity event, the Loop 110 race on the Chicago street course.
The next race in the Nascar Cup series is at Sonoma next weekend.
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