How Shane van Gisbergen won the NASCAR Chicago Street Race in first Cup Series start

Remember the name Shane van Gisbergen.

NASCAR history books certainly will.

The New Zealand-born driver in the Supercars Championship series in Australia won NASCAR’s first street race through downtown Chicago on Sunday evening — something instantly historic.

But there was more history on top of that, too: van Gisebergen won in his first Cup Series start.

It had been 60 years since a driver had won in his Cup Series debut. (And that’s saying a lot because NASCAR, of course, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.)

“You always dream of it,” the victor said with a big smile. “Thank you so much to the TrackHouse team and to all of Project91. I mean, what an experience, in the crowd out here. This is so cool.”

The driver of the 91 car competed for TrackHouse Racing under Project91 — an effort to bring in some of the biggest names in motorsports around the world to specific Cup Series races and to have them competitively represent THR.

But no matter how much Gisbergen believed in the project, he admitted he didn’t realistically believe a trip down Victory Lane was possible, he said.

Until it was.

“Anything is possible,” he said. “The fans in Australia and New Zealand, the response this week, the coverage — I can’t explain it. The support has come from everyone, and even over here, how welcoming everyone has been. I can’t believe it. A dream come true.”

The win for van Gisbergen, in addition to being historic, was also unlikely midway through the race. The driver started Sunday in third and ran in the Top 10 all day until the end of Stage 2, right around Lap 45.

What happened then? A lot.

Alex Bowman spun out and prompted a caution. Cars were running single-file under yellow. And then, of course, chaos rained down: NASCAR announced that the race would be shortened to 75 laps instead of the planned 100 because of impending darkness — and that meant that a bunch of cars in the back of the pack that had pitted right before the end of Stage 2 could make it the rest of the way on fuel.

The race’s complexion, thus, changed: The front half who were racing for Stage 2 points had to file down pit road, while everyone else leap-frogged them.

The Top 3 for so long consisted of van Gisbergen, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson.

But after Lap 45, a new crop of drivers showed up in winning contention. Among them: Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch.

But, somehow, van Gisbergen stayed resilient, rising back up through the field as others couldn’t. He then passed Haley with five laps to go for the lead, stayed perfect even after a caution emerged with two laps to go — and won it all in overtime.

The New Zealander’s win certainly amplified the “international” aspect of this event. The Chicago Street Race, after all, was meant to be a flex of innovative muscle for NASCAR as well as an introduction of the sport to a whole bunch of prospective fans from all around the world.

Those new fans got a handful on Sunday. They saw nine cautions for 21 laps, seven lead changes and five different leaders. Among those leaders were Bell (who led a race-high 37 laps), Haley (23), van Gisbergen (9) and Reddick (8).

Those fans also saw van Gisbergen waving a checkered flag, making history.

The burning question came up soon after he came out of his car victorious: Would van Gisbergen come race in America full-time?

When asked, he modestly shrugged, as if he was still in awesome disbelief.

“I’m doing one more year in Australia,” he said, “and then I’d love to come over here.”

For full unofficial results, visit NASCAR.com.

3 other observations from Chicago

▪ What a day for Justin Haley. The driver of the 38 car for Kaulig Racing came so close to earning his second career Cup win and his first of 2023 on Sunday. He was leading with five laps to go thanks to some mid-race fortune — the aforementioned race-shortening decision by NASCAR due to the sunset — but he couldn’t hold off van Gisbergen. After the race, Haley called the event “great” and added that there was “nothing to be upset about” after his best run of the season by far (a P2 finish). The down side? This might’ve been Haley’s one shot at a win, and subsequently his one shot at a playoff spot this season.

▪ Chase Elliott will get more chances, but he was close on Sunday. NASCAR’s most popular driver likely needs to win a race in order to secure a playoff spot this season. His path to the postseason is feasible on points alone — but that is a tough ask for someone who has missed a handful of races due to a leg injury and a one-race suspension. Elliott couldn’t get the win, but a third-place finish was still admirable.

▪ A promising day for Toyota turned on its head — quickly. At one point it was looking to be a banner day for the manufacturer: Denny Hamlin was on the pole. Tyler Reddick was ahead of the field early before being passed by Toyota teammate Christopher Bell. But then that NASCAR call to make the race 75 laps instead of 100 changed the race’s complexion, and all of a sudden, this was Chevy’s race to remember.

The manufacturer commanded the entire Top 5. Toyota, meanwhile, only had Ty Gibbs in the Top 10, and Ford had the four other Top 10 slots: Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher.