What. A. Weekend.
The NASCAR Cup Series did something it’s never done before by taking on the streets of Chicago late Sunday afternoon.
Forced to start at 5 p.m. because of torrential rains all weekend, there was fear of the race not being able to finish before dark. With this in mind, NASCAR made the decision to race to 75 laps instead of the scheduled 100.
As practice wrapped up on Saturday, there was a brand new name at the top of the leaderboard. Shane Van Gisbergen. If you’re a V8 Supercars fan like me, you know that name all too well. If not, you’re missing out on one of the greatest race car drivers you’ve ever seen.
SVG is a three-time V8 Supercars (Australian touring car racing series) champion who has won 80 Supercars races, one Bathurst 12-hour race, two Bathurst 1000 races, and much, much more. Many say that Supercars and NASCAR are similar, to which I would agree. I knew from the moment it was announced that SVG would be racing, he’d have no trouble catching on.
When qualifying rolled around, it was Denny Hamlin up front with Tyler Reddick rounding out the front row. Taking third place, and proving that his practice results were no fluke, was Shane Van Gisbergen.
When 5:00 finally rolled around, it was still raining cats and dogs. After some track-drying efforts, the race was ready to go green at 6:15 pm. Switching to single-file restarts for the race, it was Hamlin out front with Reddick and Van Gisbergen behind. The green flag waved, and the chaos started immediately.
Multiple cars found themselves in the tire barrier throughout the first and second laps but were able to get going again to avoid a caution. On lap three, the 8 of Kyle Busch was not so lucky. He ended up windshield-deep in the barrier and needed to be towed out.
At the restart, it was the 45 of Tyler Reddick up front. It wasn’t until lap 12 that another caution was brought out, this time for the 42 of Noah Gragson getting stuck in turn six. After 10 cars pitted, the 20 of Christopher Bell found himself in the lead. He was able to hold that lead for the remainder of the stage and take the stage victory.
At the stage break, Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman decided to switch to slick tires. The leaders did not switch until four laps later. On lap 29, the caution came out again for Gragson in the tire barriers.
Bell led the field to green again for six laps before another yellow was flown for the 48 of Alex Bowman who spun in turn 11. He made it just five more laps before bringing out yet another caution after his engine went out. Bell won the second stage under caution.
The decision to shorten the race came on lap 46. This is where the race got turned upside-down. Multiple back-of-the-back drivers had pitted before the caution came out, so when the leaders pitted at the caution, they found themselves at the front for the first time today. This shake-up put the 32 of Justin Haley in the lead. The previous leader, Bell, fell back to 12th.
The caution flew yet again just three laps later for a typical Chicago traffic jam. The 24 of William Byron hit the wall, causing a chain reaction of 12 cars getting stuck in turn 11. After some cleanup, the race restarted with Haley out front and the 3 of Austin Dillon hot on his tail.
The race stayed green for six more laps before the 45 of Reddick got stuck in turn six. At the restart, the battle between Haley and Dillon heated up. As they approached turn 12, Dillon found himself fighting a bit too hard for the lead and hit the barrier. He was able to make it to the pits to avoid a caution.
On lap 67, the 91 of Shane Van Gisbergen had made it all the way up to second from the middle of the pack. He had just made it past the 31 for the lead when another caution came out for the 19 of Martin Truex Jr. who slid into the turn one tire barrier.
At the restart, the 31 was no match for the speed that the 91 had all day. The two traded the lead until turn five when Van Gisbergen began to pull away from Haley. With two to go, it looked like SVG was going to take the win in his first ever NASCAR start with a 1.6 second lead. But the 23 of Bubba Wallace and 47 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had other plans.
The final caution was flown on lap 73 for Wallace and Stenhouse Jr. getting into the turn one tire barrier. With darkness quickly approaching, the race restarted for two final laps. With single-file restarts still in effect, Van Gisbsergen quickly pulled away from Haley and never looked back.
Two laps later, Shane Van Gisbergen was a NASCAR Cup Series winner in his first-ever start. Haley finished second with Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and Kyle Busch rounding out the top-five.
While this has been a very polarizing race since its announcement, it was ultimately a fantastic decision by NASCAR and an even more fantastic race. Much like this race attracted many new fans, I hope many NASCAR fans tune into a Supercars race sometime.
Featured photo from @shanevg97 on Twitter.
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