NASCAR in Chicago updates: Shane van Gisbergen wins Cup Series race in overtime

Live updates have concluded for this race. For a full recap of the race, click here.

NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow will be providing updates throughout Sunday afternoon regarding all the action (and inaction) at NASCAR’s historic Chicago Street Race. Check below for the latest news. Refresh this page as needed. Full results will be posted here after the race.

All times are Eastern.

Live updates: Chicago Street Race

Stage 3

Overtime: Shane van Gisbergen pulls away on the restart with two to go, and doesn’t leave anything to chance with Justin Haley stalking him in second. Haley could theoretically have tried to wreck van Gisbergen to try and win the race — which would have guaranteed him a playoff spot. But the driver from New Zealand, racing in his first NASCAR Cup Series race, didn’t really give him the option, pulling away from the field on the last lap.

It’s the first time since 1963 — 60 years — that a driver won in his NASCAR Cup Series debut.

Lap 74: And we’re going to OVERTIME! Bubba Wallace wrecks Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the tire barrier, and the white flag had not yet waved ... so off to OT we go. That was about the only thing, other than a wreck, that was slowing Shane van Gisbergen down. Now he’ll start with Justin Haley on his bumper and Chase Elliott right behind him.

Lap 72: Shane van Gisbergen maintains the lead and would be the first driver since 1963 to win a Cup Series race in his first start. The gap to the front is now more than 1.5 seconds!

Lap 70: Shane van Gisbergen has taken the lead with less than five to go with a move to the inside early in Lap 70. Justin Haley holding on to second!

Lap 67 - Take 2: With fewer than eight laps to go, caution comes out as Martin Truex Jr. hits the tire barrier. At the front, Shane van Gisbergen was making a pass on Justin Haley. But... BUT ... Haley was just ahead of SVG when the yellow flashed. So: Haley will lead on the restart, but SVG is on his bumper.

Lap 67: Shane van Gisbergen is making a charge. The renowned road-course racer has found his way into the top three, hunting down Justin Haley and Chase Elliott.

And he makes the pass on Elliott! SVG into second place behind Haley.

Lap 62: Haley maintains his lead as Austin Dillon drives his car into a tire barrier trying hard to press for the lead. His right side clipped a wall, sending him careening across the track and into the barrier. Dillon tried to drive away, but something in his front end was bent and he couldn’t turn. Important, though: The caution never flew.

Haley still in front, Chase Elliott now running right behind him in second.

Lap 60: And we’re green once more!

Lap 56: Tyler Reddick into the tire barrier! Road course Jesus! The driver of the 45 car had risen up the field after being buried around 15th after a pivotal pit stop at the end of Stage 2, but now he’s in the wall. This all prompts a caution, and his winning chances appear to be gone. Tough break.

Lap 55: Christopher Bell slips on Turn 1 and slides into the tire barrier. Oof. The driver of the 20 car was once dominating the race, but a few bad breaks — namely from seeing the race get shortened and having 11 bottom-dwelling cars pass him because of unlucky pit strategy — have him out of winning contention now. That’s tough. Top 5 running: Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch.

Lap 50: Track block! Eight cars get piled up on one another after William Byron and Kevin Harvick and Corey LaJoie end up sideways on a turn. Caution comes out. Justin Haley and Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott are up front; they stayed out after most of the field filed down pit road. They were able to do so because NASCAR moved the race-finish up 25 laps — and they were pleasantly surprised with being good on fuel the rest of the way.

Here’s a look at the pile-up:

Lap 47: NASCAR has declared that the race will end after 75 laps due to impending darkness. Yes, there are lights in the downtown streets of Chicago, but those lights aren’t equipped for competitive stock car racing. Virtually every leader makes a trip down pit lane; several who pitted before the last caution stayed out because they are good on fuel ‘til the end. It’ll be interesting to see how this one shakes out!

Stage 2

Lap 44 and 45: Alex Bowman has stalled on-track with what appears to be an engine issue — and that’ll end his day. Caution. The driver of the 48 car didn’t have the day he wanted when it came to making up ground in the playoff chase. In other news: Christopher Bell wins Stage 2 — his second stage win of the day — but not before feeling the strength of Kyle Larson. That Hendrick 5 car has been super quick ever since the track dried out. The Top 10 entering Stage 3: Bell, Larson, Tyler Reddick, Shane Van Gisbergen, Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Chase Briscoe.

Lap 40: Caution! Alex Bowman gets tied up on a turn and loses a bunch of spots before the yellow caution comes out. Now cars filing down pit road. Sixty laps remain — but how many more will we run? This street course doesn’t have lighting to sustain competition, so it’s conceivable the race gets called for darkness before Lap 100.

Lap 34: Green green green!

Lap 30: Noah Gragson hits the same tire barrier he did in Stage 1 and prompts another caution.

Lap 22: Chaos to begin Stage 2! Joey Logano knocks into the tire barrier. Jenson Button tries to file down pit road and gets turned around. Some cars toss on slick tires, which is a gamble considering how wet the track still is. The Top 3 are running nearly six seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Stage 1

Lap 20: Christopher Bell wins Stage 1! That’ll be his first stage win of the year. No caution gets thrown because of a new NASCAR rule, but the Top 10 drivers still get points toward their respective postseason runs. The Top 10, in order: Bell, Tyler Reddick, Shane Van Gisbergen, Martin Truex Jr., Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Jenson Button.

Lap 13: Noah Gragson runs into a different tire barrier on the track, prompting a caution. Has to get to pulled out via tow truck. Also of note: Christopher Bell passed Tyler Reddick for the lead a few laps ago. Before the caution, the Top 3 — Bell, Reddick and Shane van Gisbergen — were over 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Lap 6: Anddd we’re back green! Single-file restart. Top 5: Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Shane Van Gisbergen, Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell.

Lap 4: Woahhhhh! Kyle Busch with a huge slide and ends up windshield-deep in the tire barrier on Turn 6. Caution. He has to get towed out into the clear. His car emerges largely unscathed, remarkably. The crowd cheers that he’s back and in the action.

Take a look at the slide here:

Lap 2: What an eventful first two laps! Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson get into a tire barrier on a turn on Lap 1. Aric Almirola sees himself do a single-car spin-out on Lap 1, too. Tyler Reddick passes his 23XI Racing owner Denny Hamlin early on in the first lap — and now he’s leading the rest of the field by nearly six seconds. Hamlin wrecked on Lap 2. What the heck is going on?!

Green flag, 6:36 p.m.: History! We’re green in the streets of downtown Chicago!

6:21 p.m.: Engines fired! Justin Fields with a smooth command! NASCAR has deemed the track “wet” — which means that cars will need to be equipped with certain functions. Among them: wet weather tires and rear lights. Also, restarts will be single file until NASCAR says otherwise.

6:05 p.m.: NASCAR has called drivers back to their cars with the tentative plan to begin its Cup race at 6:15 p.m. ET. Watch it now on NBC. The track is still wet, but the cars will run on wet-weather tires. Let’s see what happens!

5:56 p.m.: It’s now approaching 6 p.m., and still no solid word on timing. That said, the rain has stopped for the time being, and teams are taking off the covers of their cars on pit road. Fans are drenched. Track drying machines are marching on, getting rid of the high standing water on various turns — particularly Turns 3 and 8. Racing could come soon.

4:52 p.m.: And the rain ... has not given up. Drivers have been told they can go back to their haulers. The national anthem was pre-recorded in the media center because the rain was coming down so hard. Flash flood warning until 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 ET). A few of the more outspoken drivers on the Cup circuit — including Denny Hamlin — have pleaded with NASCAR to postpone the race to Monday to avoid having a rain-ruined, boring and potentially dangerous run on Sunday evening.

4:36 p.m.: The weather hasn’t cleared up much, but NASCAR has told teams to put on wet weather tires and make final adjustments. Here’s another, updated look at the radar.

4:25 p.m.: A few fresh notes from NASCAR: Seven cars will drop to the rear of the pack before the race. Four are for unapproved adjustments — Austin Cindric, William Byron, Justin Haley and Todd Gilliland — and three are for teams who had to resort to backup cars. (Teams using backup cars are Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) Also: invocation is set for 4:42 p.m., followed by the national anthem at 4:43 and the command at 4:50. The green flag is still scheduled for 5:05 p.m.

Here’s an insightful look at the radar, per FOX Sports reporter Bob Pockrass:

4:10 p.m.: Rain is still coming down in downtown Chicago, but it has softened a bit. Cup cars filed onto pit road at 3:30 p.m., and there has been no additional word from NASCAR about timing — so it looks like we’re still trying pull off a 5:05 p.m. green flag. Denny Hamlin will start on the pole, with Tyler Reddick is starting alongside him on the front row. Shane van Gisbergen — a New Zealander with plenty of street racing experience who is competing in this thanks to TrackHouse Racing’s Project91 — will start P3, and Christopher Bell will start P4. Check here for Sunday’s full starting lineup.

Xfinity Series race called early: Cole Custer wins

Inclement weather continues to disrupt NASCAR’s historic weekend in Chicago.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the specially built 2.2-mile, 12-turn track through the streets of downtown Chicago has been officially called due to rain, per the NASCAR communications team. Cole Custer has been named the winner of the race. (The Xfinity Series is the level just below the Cup Series — which is NASCAR’s premier series. Xfinity races generally serve as the primer to Sunday’s Cup activities.)

“With standing water and flooding a significant issue at the racetrack and throughout the city, there was no option to return to racing prior to shifting to NASCAR Cup Series race operations,” a NASCAR PR rep said in a statement just after 1:30 p.m. “Throughout the entire planning process for the Chicago Street Race, our relationship with the City of Chicago has been strong and among the most valuable assets in reaching this historic weekend. In the spirit of that partnership, returning on Monday for the completion of a NASCAR Xfinity Series event two laps short of halfway was an option we chose not to employ.

“Based on several unprecedented circumstances, NASCAR has made the decision to declare Cole Custer the winner of the race.”

Rain and lightning have spoiled a bunch of activities NASCAR had in place to accentuate the first weekend of street racing in NASCAR’s 75-year history. Among the activities collected in the carnage: Saturday’s Chainsmokers concert, Sunday’s pre-race concerts and the end of the Xfinity race.

The venue did, however, get to host a big block party where Bubba Wallace was the central figure on Wednesday. The event saw thousands of people descend on the city’s streets and get a close look at what stock car racing is all about.

Chicago has been experiencing severe weather all Saturday night and Sunday morning. Some parts of Chicago have seen 3 to 5 inches of rain from midnight to noon Sunday. As a local television station put it in a tweet: “4.03 (inches) is typical for the whole month of July.”