NASCAR: Van Gisbergen schools the NASCAR boys in Chicago

For the 2nd year running, Supercars transplant Shane Van Gisbergen took the NASCAR boys to school on the streets of Chicago, winning Saturday’s The Loop 110 NASCAR Xfinity Race.

NASCAR Cup regulars Ty Gibbs was 2nd and Kyle Larson 3rd. The Australian rookie gave them a driving lesson they won’t soon forget.

Van Gisbergen was unstoppable in the final stage, surging from ninth to first in the yellow-disrupted run.

The deciding moment was Lap 47 out of 50 where after the final restart the #97 flew past Ty Gibbs before smartly setting up the race-winning move on Jesse Love through turns 6 and 7.

Van Gisbergen flew home to take a crushing 1.287s win over Gibbs.

For much of the first two stages van Gisbergen was in a thrilling back and forth battle with Kyle Larson.
But the Kiwi shot clear in the deciding final stage to ensure he was the favourite, running third when the final restart took place with three to go as Larson had to settle for third.

Van Gisbergen marked his third straight road course win of 2024 and second on the streets of Chicago with a special burnout where he whacked the wall, but it didn’t matter as his crew chanted “SVG” as he kicked a signed rugby ball into the crowd.

That is awesome, what a great race!” Van Gisbergen said.

“It was pretty wild there at the end but I cannot thank all the Kaulig Racing guys enough. The Weathertech Camaro was really fast.
“Had some great racing with Kyle, he was really good on the restarts and amazing under brakes, we made our car better for the second set of tyres.

“Had some great fun racing hard with everyone.”

Van Gisbergen started from pole and led the way on the outside forcing Larson to settle for second, which set up a race-long battle.

Larson made his first move at turn 2 which worked only after two more corners of fighting, only for the Kiwi to hit back three corners later.
Larson fired his next move on Lap 3 and made it stick at turn 4 and this time van Gisbergen could not respond.

But a lock up coming into Turn 12 proved costly for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, which sacrificed the lead to the Kiwi.

He led all the way to the first caution that arrived on Lap 9 for the spun Matt DiBenedetto.

The racing was alive at the restart as Anthony Alfredo announced himself with a hail Mary move at the first turn.

Alfredo made a massive dive-bomb on the inside but locked up, which allowed the Kiwi to snatch back P1 with ease.
But two laps later van Gisbergen was once again side by side with Larson through Turns 5-6.

It was not until late in the lap the Kaulig Racing driver was able to ensure he retained the lead and take a thrilling opening stage.

All the leaders boxed under caution where Cole Custer and Ty Gibbs even made contact on pit road.

At the restart on Lap 19 Larson was able to snatch the lead again from van Gisbergen as Allmendinger became a contender in third.

Two laps later the Kiwi launched a counterattack with the pair running side by side through the first two corners.

But being on the outside, the #97 lost out with the Hendrick Motorsports star having his elbows out.

Trying to keep up with the leading duo was NASCAR’s road course specialist Allmendinger, but he pushed too hard and slid into the Turn 1 tires hard.
This brought out the caution with just eight to go in the second stage

With the likes of Sammy Smith and Austin Hill and co of those who pitted on Lap 17 were 5s back and looking good on strategy, the caution arrived at an ideal time for the leaders.

Both Larson and van Gisbergen took the chance to pit, which sent them midpack just inside the top 20.

Larson was able to get a crucial three cars between him and the #97 for the restart where Hill took control.

The #17 Hendrick Camaro only needed a lap to soar from 17th into the top 10 with some gutsy moves as the Kaulig Racing driver followed him through.
Although Larson appeared to hold the high ground, van Gisbergen jumped his rival and snatched 10th at turn 10 in the final laps of Stage 2.

Hill took a commanding Stage 2 victory ahead of Smith and Love with van Gisbergen 10th as Custer spun at the final corner.

Under the caution Smith and Allgaier pitted which ensured van Gisbergen and Larson restarted from eighth and ninth respectively.

Love snatched the lead from Hill notably early before the start-finish line as van Gisbergen made some important ground on Larson at the start of stage 3.
SVG made up two spots straight away as Larson was still stuck in ninth halfway through the lap before a caution.

The stoppage was required to collect Josh Bilicki and Sage Karam who were spun at the end of a multi car concertina at turn 12 also involving Kyle Sieg, Andre Castro and Parker Retzlaff.

With five cars to pass, van Gisbergen was confident with his #97 Camaro ahead of the restart with Larson back in ninth.

Racing resumed with 12 to go and Love held on the inside, while van Gisbergen immediately snatched fifth from Mayer.

This all happened just before the cautions returned with Preston Pardus stopped at turn 12 and Brendon Jones also in a spin.
Eight lap sprint to the flag and the field fanned out at the restart as Love defended his lead ahead of Gibbs.

Van Gisbergen held position initially before picking off Hill and clawing third with a big move on Mayer at the tight Turn 11.

This put the #97 in a strong position with only the battling Love and Gibbs ahead of him with seven to go.

But Gibbs had the elbows out and van Gisbergen almost lost it, sliding on exit of the final turn with Mayer getting into his rear.

Being crossed up the Kiwi did a good job at saving a spin, but lost significant time to the leaders.

However, in a big win for SVG a caution came at the perfect time for Leland Honeyman, who had a flat right and went straight into the Turn 1 tires.
With Larson back in seventh, van Gisbergen was arguably the favorite heading towards the final three laps.

Love nailed the restart and so did SVG, which allowed the #97 to snatch second from Gibbs around the outside of turn 1 where Mayer spun in front of the pack.

Van Gisbergen now sensed a shot at victory and had his first look on the outside of Turn 6.

But this was purely a setup to be on the inside for the following Turn 7 where Love had no answer for the Kiwi.
As van Gisbergen flew into the lead, Gibbs also muscled his way past Love to steal second.

The leading pair charged 2s clear of Love, who also could not keep Larson behind.

Meanwhile van Gisbergen made the now familiar cruise to the checkered flag in Chicago.

Van Gisbergen was already a two-race winner as a rookie in the Xfinity Series – claiming trophies at both the Portland and Sonoma, Calif., road courses. His technique—right-foot braking—is admired by his competitors, even though most say they cannot replicate it successfully real time.

“To me, it’s normal,’’ he said, laughing. “I see stuff that Kyle Larson does on ovals and I go, ‘What the hell? How did he do that?’ so it’s relative right? It’s what I’ve always been used to with this kind of racing and making moves like that. On the ovals, people are doing stuff to me and I’m like, ‘how did he come up with that or know that I was going to do the opposite.’ “

Larson, the 2021 series champion and Sunday’s race polesitter, smiled speaking about van Gisbergen’s winning move last year to claim the trophy in his first ever NASCAR Cup Series start.

“We hope we’re closer to him but you just never know,’’ Larson said of van Gisbergen.

“I feel like with him, some of us can go as fast as him, but his race craft is just way better than ours,’’ Larson added. “Last year he was making passes I’ve never seen before—the pass for the lead, the passes into Turn 2 and making it look really easy.

“He sees things different than us and is able to execute it better than us because he’s real experienced. When you can race with a guy like that, it elevates everybody.”

Race Results