When Australian Supercars star Shane Van Gisbergen showed up to his first ever Cup series race and spanked the field of American drivers in the rain-stricken streets of Chicago, in its inaugural showing, both NASCAR fans and media alike knew what they had on their hands. 

With years of experience overseas throwing the heavy Australian V8 supercars across various road courses, Van Gisbergen immediately found familiarity with not only the Cup car, but the Xfinity car as well. After Sunday, Van Gisbergen has officially won four of the five total races at the Chicago street course. Just two weeks after winning his second Cup race in Mexico, the Kiwi continues his blazing hot summer. 

Starting on Saturday morning, SVG nabbed the pole for both races and went onto win Xfinity in the #9 Red Bull/WeatherTech Chevrolet. Immediately the favorite for Sunday’s Cup race, it wasn’t a complete walk in Grant Park for the New Zealander. 

Stage one started with an immediate challenge as the #71 of Michael McDowell darted past Van Gisbergen and assumed the lead. McDowell’s talent at road courses continued to show early on. 

It didn’t take long for chaos to grace the track as the ever controversial Carson Hocevar clipped the inside wall of turn 10, careening him into the outside wall and causing a massive stack up. The caution would take out or set back contenders like Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Austin Dillon and AJ Allmendinger. 

“Carson Hocevar is the biggest dumb*ss in the entire sport”, said Dillon, who started in the top 10. 

McDowell once again captured the lead against the likes of SVG and Kyle Busch, taking it all the way to the stage win. Van Gisbergen pitted on lap 18, opting to go for the win and not stage points. The last driver to win at a road course after winning stage one was none other than McDowell, at the Indianapolis Road Course in 2023. 

Stage two saw Busch challenge McDowell to no avail, falling back to the jaws of Tyler Reddick, who had a fast car all weekend. No doubt is the #45 Jordan Toyota Camry hungry to win, coming so close to securing it for his boss and Bulls legend Michael Jordan twice before. 

With a nudge to Josh Berry by Erik Jones, Berry’s Mustang was planted in the road for a significant period of time before the caution flew. The pause allowed a few drivers to hit pit road before the lap 32 caution, giving them a big position boost as the restart would begin. 

Van Gisbergen was one such benefactor getting to start on the front row against Allmendinger, who has years of road racing experience in NASCAR and beyond. As the two battled, the one dominant McDowell was forced to go to pit road for a throttle issue, ending his day and adding to a list of “almost had it” moments for the veteran. 

As pit cycled ensued again, Allmendinger would suffer a 16 second pit stop and see the 88 of Van Gisbergen dart past him. Ryan Blaney would benefit from the cycle and win stage two, his fourth stage win of 2025. 

Chase Briscoe, enjoying a nice summer swing in results, restarted the final stage in first and quickly secured the lead. Behind him was Reddick and the 23 of Bubba Wallace, who started in 37th after a qualifying spin. 

Working his way up, Wallace was on older tires and needed to fight off various drivers behind him for the final 25 laps to continue to try and stay above the playoff cut line.

Another interesting story not far behind Wallace was his in-season challenge tournament opponent Alex Bowman, who was last season’s winner of the Chicago race. Not only with the million dollar prize eventually on the line, Bowman and Wallace have plenty of history together. 

Van Gisbergen slowly started to chip away at the lead of Briscoe and Reddick in second, soon passing the 45 and setting his eyes on Briscoe. Van Gisbergen quickly snatched the lead in turn four but yet another caution wouldn’t allow him to ride it home in the final 15 laps. 

The caution would end up being for an ambulance leaving the track after a spectator suffered a medical emergency. 

Van Gisbergen drove away on the restart yet again with the young Ty Gibbs behind him, followed by Allmemdinger. 

Behind them could be seen a struggling Wallace, bouncing off the wall while battling his teammate Reddick. The issues would set up the 23 right next to his bracket challenger Bowman, and immediately Wallace began to race hard. 

Sending the 48 up the track a few times, Wallace proved he wouldn’t back down. Whether it was the million dollar challenge or the twos prior history, no favors were being given to the 48. 

Wallace’s hard driving would come to bite him however, as the 48’s newer tires would stick him to Wallace’s bumper and spin him out into the wall, ruining both his bracket chance and further eroding his playoff chances. 

“I thought [Bubba Wallace] and I squashed our beef, but I guess not”, said Bowman after the race. 

Despite this, the green would stay out and Van Gisbergen would yet again drive down the front stretch and take his Chevrolet to victory lane in Chicago. The road course ace, who sits at 27th in regular season points, now has a firm 5th place spot in the playoff standings. 

The win makes Van Gisbergen the third driver ever to sweep the poles and races of both Xfinity and Cup in the weekend. While the driver has a long way to go on oval tracks, his immediate success at road courses is why he was hired at Trackhouse. 

With the Cup Series going to California’s only scheduled race next weekend in Sonoma, Van Gisbergen has a serious chance to add his third win of the summer to his repertoire. 

Even after a so-so day for the #5 of Kyle Larson, he maintains a four point cushion in first in the playoffs. Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell are behind him in second and third. 

Speaking of Hamlin, the veteran enjoyed a fourth place finish today after losing an engine in qualifying on Saturday. When asked about the ordeal, Hamlin noted he was ready to move onto next week. 

The Cup Series drivers will take the green flag in the escalating hills of the Sonoma Valley at 12:30 PM PST.