For the first time in the three years of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race, all 75 laps of the Grant Park 165 Cup Series were completed on Sunday, July 6. No. 88 Shane van Gisbergen, driving a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, finished in first place.
Van Gisbergen won the same race in 2023, the inaugural year for NASCAR in Chicago, and on Saturday, July 5, won the Xfinity Series race, competing for JR Motorsports.
This win for van Gisbergen, also known by his initials SVG, means that the New Zealander has now won the most NASCAR Cup Series races of any international driver.
“When you’re in the lead like that, you’re just begging for the white flag to come out and to get to it,” he said after the Cup Series race. “I came out of the last corner and just saw a heap of smoke straight ahead on Turn 6, and I just held my breath until I crossed the line”
In both 2023 and 2024, unsafe weather conditions caused the race to be reduced. The rain wasn’t far off this year. With only 11 laps left, the sky got dark and the field flooded with fog.
But the rain held off until after the race was finished. Fans were told to leave quickly because of incoming storms.
With three laps to go, No. 51 Cody Ware, driving a Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, slammed into Turn 6 after miss-guessing the corner. This didn’t immediately put up a caution, but with only two laps left in the race, the caution came out, ending the race.
Immediately after the final lap finished, screens around the track all popped up with a National Weather Service warning, indicating severe weather and fans were told to vacate the race track.
In a pre-race interview at the Ford Performance booth, Ware described the brutal conditions that drivers go through.
“I think the biggest thing is just staying hydrated this weekend, you know whenever the ambient temperature outside is, it’s always going to be about 30 to 40 degrees hotter inside the car,” Ware said.
He also described missing the old NASCAR Chicagoland oval track, “You know, definitely a shame we’re not there anymore,” Ware said. “Chicagoland always put on such a great race, and I look forward to hopefully going back there sometime.”
The Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet was removed from the NASCAR schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic and hasn’t hosted a Cup Series since then. The track has been largely inactive and used to store vehicles.
At the NASCAR experience stage before the race, Julie Giese, the Chicago Street Course president, described the process of planning and setting up NASCAR’s only street race.
“For me, it’s a blank sheet of paper every year,” she said, describing the process of designing the Chicago Street Race.
The track this year featured many improvements for race fans. More TV screens were erected for people to watch, and the music stage was moved to open up more general admission viewing on the south field. The width of the pedestrian bridges across the track was widened, eliminating the bottleneck that occurred in 2023. The 2.2-mile race course itself was identical.
During the race, van Ginsbergen struggled in the first lap, losing his place to American Michael McDowell driving the No. 71 Chevy featuring a DePaul University paint job this weekend, and went on to win the first stage. Van Ginsbergen opted to pit early, very reminiscent of the winning strategy the day before.
On the third lap, there was a massive pileup coming out of Turn 6 caused by the Chevy Camaro of Carson Hocevar, who brushed up against the wall on the exit and spun all the way around, ending up sideways on the track. As a result, six cars were unable to stop in time and slammed into Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevy. It was a real upset for drivers like Will Brown in the No. 13 car, who suffered a poor qualifying but was thought to be in contention for the lead. All of these cars were unable to be repaired and did not finish except the No. 35 driven by Riley Herbst and the No. 38 driven by Zane Smith, who finished in 17th and 14th, respectively, in the Cup Series race.
Defending winner of the Cup Series Chicago Street Race last year, Alex Bowman, No. 48, driving a Chevy Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports, started today’s race from 11th place.
Bubba Wallace and Bowman were fighting neck and neck through the last seven laps, trading paint through most of the laps until Bowman eventually wrecked Wallace’s No. 23 Chevy down the back straight of DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
In another post-race interview, van Ginsbergen credited Trackhouse Racing founder Justin Marks. “You know, Justin took a massive chance on me to bring me over. And, as I’ve said many times, these races are like a holiday to me,” he said.
He liked racing in the tight, winding streets of Chicago.
“It’s the ovals where I’m really focused on and getting better and better,” he said. “I come here and there’s no stress.”
Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco
