Shane van Gisbergen Pulls Off Major Upset in Inaugural NASCAR Street Race

The Chicago Street Weekend went down as one of the most historic events in NASCAR’s 75-year history. Despite the weather delays with record rainfall, fans still showed up, the atmosphere was great, and we witnessed historic moments that will be remembered for a very long time.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race, The Loop 121, gave us the first glimpses of NASCAR street racing, however, the race was cut short as it only ran for 25 laps, three laps from the official halfway point. The race was delayed due to lightning and was postponed to Sunday morning, but due to the standing water and record rainfall, they weren’t able to race and the race had to be called, giving the win to Cole Custer, which would be his second win of the season.

“It’s been an awesome weekend overall,” said Custer after the race was called. “The whole event, the whole thing that NASCAR’s put on here – the whole city – it’s been pretty unreal… The course is such a blast to drive.”

“Today, we definitely wish we could have run all the laps. We don’t want to win it this way, but at the end of the day, we had a really fast car. I think everybody knew that.”

Custer led all 25 laps that were run in the race, as John Hunter Nemechek finished second, Justin Allgaier was third, and Brett Moffitt and Austin Hill rounded out the top five. Sammy Smith, Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, and Kaz Grala finished in the top ten.

“The race went OK for us. I ran P2 from the drop of the green flag until Lap 25 when they called it (Saturday). We needed a good stop to be able to make an adjustment and have a shot to contend with Cole for the win and just never had that opportunity. We’ll take that second place, and we’ll move on from it.”

NASCAR also gave out a statement as to why they decided to call the race.

“With standing water and flooding a significant issue at the race track and throughout the city, there was no option to return to racing prior to shifting to NASCAR Cup Series race operations. 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.”

Justin Marks, co-owner of Trackhouse Racing, made a start for Kaulig Racing in the No. 10 Chevrolet as he started in 12^th. He was a favorite to win the race but his chances of winning went up in smoke by lap 5 when his engine expired.

The Grant Park 220 was delayed to a point where NASCAR was 15 minutes away from postponing the race to Monday, but the race was able to go on even if it was shorted to a 75-lap race instead of 100. In the end, it was all worth it as Supercar Champion Shane van Gisbergen stunned the NASCAR world as he took the checkered flag in Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 team, giving the team back-to-back wins. This also marks the first time a driver has won in their first-ever Cup Series start since Johnny Rutherford back in 1963.

“No, of course not, but you always dream of it,” van Gisbergen said on whether he thought this victory was possible. “Thank you so much to the Trackhouse team and Enhance Health, Project 91. What an experience in the crowd out here. This was so cool. This is what you dream of. Hopefully, I can come and do more.”

The three-time Supercar Champion from New Zealand passed Justin Haley for the lead on lap 71 after a late restart, and while Haley tried to fight back, van Gisbergen had the upper hand and drove with confidence as he had to battle an overtime restart as well to win the race. Haley crashed in practice the day before and had to start 36^th but managed off strategy to work his way to the front, despite being beaten by a driver with 16-lap fresher tires.

“Yeah, it was tough,” Haley said. “I put it in the tire barrier yesterday and we stayed up all night. I stayed with the guys through the rain and rewrapped this thing, put a new body on it. Obviously congrats to Project 91. It sucks, obviously, where we are right now we don’t have a… we aren’t in position to win every week, so coming that close obviously is not what you want.”

Chase Elliott was able to hang on to a third-place finish after also crashing in practice with Kyle Larson in fourth, and Kyle Busch in fifth. Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

Christopher Bell had a strong race going as he took the lead from Tyler Reddick on lap 9 and went on to sweep both stages in the race. After stage two, the field flipped around with pit stops, causing Bell to fall back and finish 18^th, also thanks to a late spin into the tire barriers. There were quite a few incidents involving the tire barriers as pole-sitter Denny Hamlin had an incident on lap 2 but recovered to an 11th-place finish. Kyle Busch also had an incident being stuck in the tire barrier but he was able to fight back to a top-five finish.

The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series head next to Atlanta Motor Speedway, while the Truck Series will be at Mid-Ohio.