Shane van Gisbergen surged past Connor Zilisch with two laps to go, seizing a late restart to win The Loop 110 Xfinity Series Race on the streets of Chicago on Saturday, July 5. The victory marked van Gisbergen’s fourth career Xfinity win and his second in Chicago, capping an aggressive charge for JR Motorsports after a poorly timed caution ended the race just before stage two.
Zilisch visibly tried everything in his power to keep his No. 88 Chevrolet in front, but van Gisbergen managed to squeeze by on Turn 2, pushing Zilisch up against the wall on Dusable Lake Shore Drive.
Van Gisbergen’s history in the Australian Supercars Championship gives him an advantage on the NASCAR street circuit, as their tracks are either a road course or street circuit, similar to the Chicago one.
It was a fearsome race through the streets of Chicago, with many nail-biting moments and near misses.
Big Machine Racing driver Nick Sanchez, who was driving the No. 44 Chevrolet, passed a car between Turns 1 and 2 on the second lap.
The first stage of 15 laps saw Brad Perez lose control under caution and slam into tire barriers on Turn 4.
In the second stage, No. 99, driven by Matt DiBenedetto, slammed the barrier and needed body repair. With NASCAR’s more lenient repair rules, mechanics were able to mend the car, and he finished in 28th place.
In other forms of racing, a collision often means that the team has to retire fully from the track because they cannot perform any repairs mid-race.
Van Gisbergen faced many difficulties throughout the day, including engine issues that seemed to come up midway through the race on his early pit. He also had his cool suit fail at one point during the race.
The driver’s cool suit is a long sleeve shirt that pumps cool water directly through the driver’s clothes to keep them temperature controlled. However, if it fails, the water will heat up, making it extremely dangerous for the driver.
After the race, van Gisbergen was asked if he could win another race in Sunday’s Cup Series, where he will be starting in pole position.
“I would love to, I’m lucky. I got some great cars this weekend,” he said.
Zilisch said in a post-race interview that he could tell the moment he lost the race. “I was clear by a foot just before the breaking zone,” he said.
Despite getting second in the race, Zilisch said that he learned a lot throughout the course of his first ever Chicago Street Race.
“I felt like my biggest weakness was probably the break zones,” he said. “I feel like if I just pushed any harder, I would start wheel hopping and that would kind of make it hard to keep up with them.”
Zilisch said that this may be his new favorite form of racing because of the amount of discipline it takes to perform well.
“You have to be so perfect as a driver, and I wasn’t in practice. I hit the wall, and my team had to do a lot of work today,” he said.
The Loop 110 finished with a celebration at the Mobil 1 Victory Lane.
Fans will be back Sunday for the Grant Park 165 Cup Series Race, eager for more racing even with an 80 percent chance of rain in the forecast.
If the rain doesn’t hold, it would mark the third straight year that Chicago’s NASCAR Street Race ends with a shortened Sunday race.
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
