This weekend in the country’s second city, ace road racer Shane Van Gisbergen will be looking for his second win – another NASCAR Cup Series win.
When the Grant Park 165 takes the green flag on Sunday for the second edition of the Chicago street race, all eyes will be on the New Zealand racer’s return to the Windy City.
The Trackhouse Motorsports driver stunned the NASCAR world a year ago when he won the first Chicago race, a victory seemingly assured even as the street lamps came on and darkness descended on the freeways that run through the city.
Nicknamed S.V.G. for brevity, the Project 91 Chevrolet road-racing specialist outpaced Justin Haley to win the race, which was shortened by 25 laps due to impending darkness.
Johnny Rutherford, a native of Auckland, New Zealand, became the first driver in 60 years to win his debut in NASCAR's top series. Johnny Rutherford won the qualifying race at Daytona in 1963, which was then considered a points event.
Van Gisbergen, 35, is only competing in a handful of races in Cup this season, but he has already made an indelible mark in the Xfinity Series, where he races full-time in the No. 97 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing with teammate AJ Allmendinger.
In June's first Xfinity Series race at Portland Raceway, he beat Justin Allgaier on a restart with four laps remaining. The three-time Australian Supercars champion repeated with another win at Sonoma Raceway the following weekend, leading 32 of 79 laps and beating Sheldon Creed to his second career series win.
Kaulig team chairman Chris Rice is impressed with van Gisbergen and said his style is different from that of road racing veteran Allmendinger.
“It's kind of special,” Rice said. “AJ has come in and been one of the best road course racers we've ever seen in the sport. His driving style and SVG's driving style are so different that SVG is going to be one of the best racers in Australia and he's going to have to learn these cars the way he does it.”
Chance-makers believe his win in Chicago was no coincidence.
According to DraftKings odds, SVG opened as the favorite at +500, followed by Kyle Larson (+600), Christopher Bell (+600), Tyler Reddick (+650) and last year’s third-place finisher Chase Elliott (+800).
“SVG is a special driver,” Rice said. “He has more talent than we’ve seen from anywhere in a long time. He’s going to do very well, but when you move up to Cup, it’s a lot harder than it looks in Xfinity.
“He has so much control over the car, it’s unbelievable.”
Speaking of the news, Stewart-Haas Racing's Josh Berry will leave the No. 4 Ford in 2025 to join the Wood Brothers' famous No. 21 car, replacing second-year driver Harrison Burton.
Berry becomes the second SHR driver to land a driver for next season, joining Chase Briscoe, who will replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece are the two remaining SHR drivers without rides for next season, while Cole Custer looks like a frontrunner to join the new Haas factory team in 2025.
–Field Level Media
