In 2023, when Shane van Gisbergen took the wheel in Grant Park, he was an unknown driver competing in his first NASCAR race. Now, he could be on the path to something far beyond just reaching the checkered flag first.
“I don’t want to jump the gun, but he’s the best road-course stock-car racer that I’ve ever seen,” said Justin Marks, owner of the Trackhouse Racing team that employs van Gisbergen. “When he’s done with all this and walks away from this sport, I think he’s going to walk away as the greatest road-course racer that this sport has ever seen.”
Van Gisbergen led 26 laps of the Grant Park 165 on Sunday on his way to his second win in Chicago after prevailing in the inaugural event two years ago. All three of his career wins have come on road courses.
And he was such a force this year in Chicago that he became the first driver since Kyle Busch in 2016 to sweep the Cup and Xfinity Series races in one weekend at the same track from the pole.
“Epic weekend for us,” van Gisbergen said.
Those have become the norm for van Gisbergen in Chicago.
Though he didn’t win either of the first two stages Sunday, van Gisbergen lurked the entire day. He took the lead after passing Chase Briscoe on Lap 60 and won the race after running the last lap under a yellow flag from a crash by Cody Ware, making van Gisbergen the winningest foreign-born driver in NASCAR Cup Series history.
That rise began two years ago in Chicago.
Before the 2023 Chicago race, van Gisbergen said Sunday he didn’t have any plans to do more NASCAR races. He certainly didn’t think he’d be a full-time NASCAR driver.
In an understatement, van Gisbergen said “this joint has changed my life” when he was asked about how Chicago and this event have impacted him.
“It’s pretty special here. Some good memories,” van Gisbergen said. “Some good races. I love the drive. It’s a cool place to come to. You feel a nice vibe. You feel a good vibe in the morning, walking to the track with the fans. It’s pretty unique like that.”
Thanks to his road-course victories at Grant Park and in June in Mexico City, van Gisbergen is a lock for the season-ending playoffs. Though he hasn’t broken through in the circuit’s traditional ovals and will need to improve there to become a true championship threat, van Gisbergen is making the most of his pre-NASCAR experience from racing in New Zealand and on its road courses.
“When you watch him, he’s like a machine out there,” crew chief Stephen Doran said. “He makes no mistakes, and he just waits until somebody misses an apex in front of him and he pounces on it. He just drives through the field. You saw it yesterday and today: His laps are so consistent, and that’s why he saves his tires so well.”
Marks, a longtime driver himself, is impressed by van Gisbergen’s racing intelligence, which is even more crucial on a tight and challenging course like Chicago’s.
“It’s how strategic he can think while he’s on the limit of the race car,” Marks said. “A lot of drivers, it takes all of your mental bandwidth to drive the car fast. Shane’s one of these guys that can drive the car at the limit but be thinking bigger-picture stuff. He knows where he is in the race. He’s great at managing his tires, his equipment, all that kind of stuff.
“Plus, for his talent profile specifically, street races come very, very naturally.”