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Associated Press
Jul 6, 2025, 05:46 PM ET
CHICAGO -- Shane van Gisbergen burned retired his tires successful celebration, sending achromatic fume into the air. He signed a rugby shot and punted it into the stands successful downtown Chicago. It was a acquainted scene.
Van Gisbergen completed a Windy City expanse Sunday, winning the NASCAR Cup Series contention connected the tricky thoroughfare people successful downtown Chicago.
"Epic play for us. I'm a fortunate guy," van Gisbergen said.
A talented one, too. The 36-year-old New Zealand autochthonal became the 2nd operator to expanse the Xfinity and Cup races successful a azygous play from the pole, joining Kyle Busch astatine Indianapolis successful 2016. With his 3rd vocation Cup win, van Gisbergen besides became the winningest foreign-born operator connected NASCAR's apical series.
It was van Gisbergen's 2nd triumph of the play aft the Trackhouse Racing operator besides won past period connected a Mexico City roadworthy course.
"He's the champion roadworthy people banal car racer that I've ever seen," Trackhouse proprietor Justin Marks said. "I deliberation erstwhile he's done with america each and walks distant from the sport, I deliberation he's going to locomotion distant arsenic the champion roadworthy people racer that this athletics has ever seen."
Marks brought van Gisbergen implicit from Australia's Supercars for the archetypal variation of NASCAR's Chicago experimentation successful 2023, and helium became the archetypal operator to triumph his Cup debut since Johnny Rutherford successful the 2nd qualifying contention astatine Daytona successful 1963.
Van Gisbergen besides won Chicago's Xfinity Series halt past twelvemonth and the archetypal signifier successful the Cup contention earlier helium was knocked retired by a crash.
"This joint, it's changed my life," van Gisbergen said. "I didn't person immoderate plans to bash much NASCAR races erstwhile I archetypal came implicit here, and I ne'er thought I'd beryllium successful NASCAR afloat time."
In what mightiness beryllium the past NASCAR contention connected the downtown Chicago circuit, Ty Gibbs was 2nd and Tyler Reddick finished third. Denny Hamlin and Busch rounded retired the apical five.
"My squad called a large strategy and got maine successful presumption to get maine up beforehand to vie for the win," Gibbs said. "It worked retired for america today, truthful I'm gladsome to person a bully finish, but we privation we could person gone for the win."
Michael McDowell joined van Gisbergen connected the beforehand enactment and rapidly moved successful front. He won Stage 1 and led for 31 laps earlier helium was derailed by a throttle cablegram issue.
Van Gisbergen regained the pb erstwhile helium passed Chase Briscoe with 16 laps left. As fog and rainfall moved into downtown Chicago, van Gisbergen controlled the enactment the remainder of the way.
AJ Allmendinger was sixth, and Ryan Preece finished seventh. Ryan Blaney, who won the 2nd stage, was 12th.
"I thought wide it was a beauteous decent day. It was bully to triumph that stage," Blaney said.
William Byron's time was chopped abbreviated by a clutch problem. The Hendrick Motorsports operator leads the constituent standings by 13 points implicit Chase Elliott.
After McDowell seized the pb aboriginal successful the race, Carson Hocevar caused a multicar clang erstwhile helium deed the partition and spun retired betwixt Turns 10 and 11. Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Will Brown were among the drivers collected successful the wreck.
"I didn't spot it until the past second," Keselowski said. "I slowed down and I really felt I was going to get stopped and past I conscionable benignant of got ran implicit from behind. It's conscionable a constrictive thoroughfare people and sometimes there's obscurity to go."
Ty Dillon and Reddick moved into the 3rd circular of NASCAR's inaugural in-season tourney erstwhile Keselowski and Hocevar were incapable to decorativeness the race. Dillon, the No. 32 seed, eliminated Keselowski aft helium upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin past play astatine Atlanta.
Gibbs, Preece, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith and Erik Jones besides advanced. The victor of the five-race, bracket-style tourney takes location a $1 cardinal prize.
Bowman, the 2024 champion connected the downtown thoroughfare course, won his head-to-head matchup with Bubba Wallace. Bowman and Wallace made interaction arsenic they battled for presumption precocious successful the contention aft they besides tangled successful Chicago past year.
"I wasn't expecting that to hap oregon to get raced similar that, but we did," Bowman said. "We conscionable person to determination connected from it and support digging. I don't truly cognize what I could person done overmuch different."
TOP-20 FINISH
Katherine Legge finished 19th for her champion vocation Cup result. She became the archetypal pistillate to decorativeness successful the apical 20 successful a Cup contention since Danica Patrick astatine Texas successful November 2017.
Legge was the archetypal pistillate to suffice for the Cup contention successful downtown Chicago.
UP NEXT
The Cup Series is astatine Sonoma Raceway successful California connected July 13.
