Van Gisbergen leads a session of NASCAR firsts in Chicago practice

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emailBy Mark Glendenning | July 1, 2023 2:56 PM ET

Chicago delivered a couple of firsts for the NASCAR Cup Series on Saturday when cars turned their first-ever laps on a street circuit – and a driver participating in his first-ever NASCAR session took the top spot.

Three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen may have little experience in Cup cars, but he has done a lot of miles in heavy tin-tops on tight street courses, and that came to the fore when he put Trackhouse Racing’s part-time Project 91 car on top with a 1m29.419s trip around the tight 2.2-mile layout.

The Kiwi’s fastest lap was his final one, but he’d been among the top order for most of the 50 minute session, and went to P1 30 minutes in with a 1m30.312s. The entire field continued to get quicker in the final 20 minutes, but van Gisbergen was never knocked off the top spot.

“There was a lot to take in; the intensity of practice,” he said. “The car was good, the guys have done a great job, my preparation has been good. Hopefully we can replicate it in qualifying.

“We do a lot of street courses (in Supercars) but nothing like this, with the cracks in the road and the violence of the braking markers. But it’s the same for everyone. Just have to find the fine line. And the track will get better, too.”

More NASCAR!

Chicago's circuit is 'wild in a good way' to Cup contingent

NASCAR postpones Xfinity race until Sunday due to lightning

NASCAR drivers singing praise on a new atmosphere in Chicago

It was very nearly a NASCAR tourist 1-2 until Denny Hamlin popped up late to go second-fastest a 1m29.732s, meaning Jenson Button – making his second Cup start in Rick Ware Racing’s No. 15 Ford – had to settle for third.

Martin Truex Jr led the session in the opening minutes but ultimately had to settle for fourth-fastest at 1m29.845, leaving Christopher Bell to round out the top five at 1m30.067s.

Early feedback from drivers was that the surface in some sections was rougher than expected, and also more grippy. The latter came into play early on when the higher than expected grip levels on the approach to Turn 4 tempted drivers to carry more and more speed into the corner. Eventually William Byron went in a little too hot, caught the outside wall, and limped back to the pits with a broken left-rear toe-link.

Austin Cindric looped his car at the same corner a few minutes later but appeared to keep it out of the barriers. Justin Haley’s turn came next, and like Byron, his incident ended with a slow trip back to the pits for repairs.

While Haley was having his incident at Turn 4, Ricky Stenhouse Jr was simultaneously running into trouble at the fast Turn 8. Stenhouse tagged the inside wall while turning in, spitting the No. 47 Chevy across to the other side of the track and hard into the outside barriers. The car will not be repaired in time for qualifying.

 

Chicago's circuit is 'wild in a good way' to Cup contingent

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | July 1, 2023 8:41 PM ET

NASCAR Cup Series drivers finally took to the streets of Chicago Saturday after months of hype and anticipation for the sport’s first street course race.

“It’s wild. It’s wild in a good way,” 2 “The only thing I talked to my team about is I don’t feel – when I’m in the race car – the city aspect as much as you see it (outside the car). For me, it’s like, OK, don’t hit that concrete wall, don’t hit that one, look at the brake markers, make sure you hit the apex of the corner.

“So, I think we go into race mode, and it’s a good thing we’re not paying attention to the outside. But yeah, I’d say bonkers is a good word (for the weekend).”


“Honestly, it’s pretty close to what I expected,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s cool to be right there on the limit with literally no room for error.”

Because it’s a new course, NASCAR gave teams 50 minutes of practice before going into qualifying. There were a few issues in practice as drivers like William Byron and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stepped over the limit and hit the wall. In qualifying, Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick had heavy crashes.

“Driving the race car is super fun,” Bowman said. “I am really enjoying that.”

Justin Haley could not qualify after his team had a shock issue in practice. He said Kaulig Racing just missed it when it came to the shock package, leading to him scrapping the wall. Even still, he was complimentary of the course.

“Besides the walls being a lot closer than a normal road course, it’s fine,” Haley said. “There are no issues.”

Some expected the course to feel more claustrophobic than drivers might be used to because of the walls and fencing. Unlike traditional road courses, where there is plenty of run-off area before getting to a tire barrier or fence, Chicago is completely enclosed.

“It’s fun,” Haley said.

Ryan Preece “loved” driving the course. But the Stewart-Haas Racing driver knows the fun can quickly dissipate.

More NASCAR!

‘Wish we could have run all the laps,’ Chicago Xfinity winner Custer says

Custer declared Chicago Xfinity Series winner with race called off before halfway

NASCAR postpones Xfinity race until Sunday due to lightning

“It was awesome,” Preece said. “I enjoyed it because it’s a constant challenge for yourself to keep pushing further and further into the corner and not overstepping it because I think you saw that one time you overstep it, there is no second chance.

“If you hit a wall, you’re going to bounce off into the other wall. If you overdrive it, you’re probably going to slide right into the tire barrier. So, it’s just finding that line.”

Stenhouse’s crash in practice came because he made a mistake entering the loop – Turn 8. Misjudging the right-hander and turning too soon, Stenhouse hit the wall with the right side of his JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet, which sent him into the opposite wall.

The damage was too significant for Stenhouse to make a qualifying attempt. He will be in a backup car for Sunday’s race.

“The track, though, I thought was really well built and it was fun making laps,” Stenhouse said. “The ride quality, at least in our cars, was somewhat OK, I felt like. I was having fun until I wasn’t, I guess.”

Despite worries about how the car would handle on the street course, there weren’t many complaints. In preparation for the event, drivers spoke of how bumpy and slippery the course felt in the simulator. On Saturday, however, some found it wasn’t as bad as the simulator made it seem. Aside from the usual bumps of being on a street course, the Next Gen car felt no different in Chicago than it has on a road course. But a little hype and implied danger might sell a few more tickets. Maybe adding a chicane of dumpsters chained together might add to the excitement.

 

Van Gisbergen didn't expect to be as quick as he was in Chicago

Mark Horsburgh/Motorsport Images I get another 25 bucks if I sneak the Red Bull into the photo....I hope the crew took out the illegal motor, so I can pass tech at the end.
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | July 1, 2023 5:51 PM ET

Shane van Gisbergen will let others decide for themselves if his speed Saturday on the streets of Chicago in a NASCAR Cup Series car was a surprise.

The three-time Supercars champion admitted he’s “surprised” after he was fastest in practice in the Trackhouse Racing PROJECT91 car before qualifying third. He was knocked from the provisional pole in the waning moments of qualifying by Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick.

“No,” van Gisbergen did not expect to be that quick. “I felt comfortable and prep’s been good this week — done a lot of simulator and data study, watching on boards. I’ve done as much prep as I can. But yeah, the track was crazy. I’ve never driven a street track so bumpy, and it was pretty tough.” Those manhole covers should be sunk down level with the road so we don't have to keep dodging them.

The plan was for van Gisbergen to work his way up to speed and aggression level when cars got on track for the first time. Those plans changed when he found himself surrounded by series regulars who paid no mind to the newcomer.

“I thought I would take it easy, but everyone was just flat out,” van Gisbergen said. “I had Austin Dillon, I think it is, just bomb me early on, and it was like a full race, so I tried to find my own piece of track and build up on my own pace.

“Everyone was wild. It was pretty cool. If that’s anything like the race is going to be like, it’s going to be full on.”

It was still an “awesome” Saturday, finally getting on track. Van Gisbergen arrived at the Trackhouse Racing shop in Concord, North Carolina, before the race last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway to begin his preparation for his debut.

More NASCAR!

‘Wish we could have run all the laps,’ Chicago Xfinity winner Custer says

Custer declared Chicago Xfinity Series winner with race called off before halfway

In addition to getting fitted and going through the necessary steps at the race shop, the Kiwi had time on the simulator and attended the Nashville race with Trackhouse to take in how NASCAR races play out and learn team dynamics. Earlier this week, he got a short test on the Charlotte Roval.

“It’s been a lot of anticipation and then anticipation for everyone,” van Gisbergen said. “Nobody knew what it was going to be like. It was cool to finally see it all happen. The crowd will be big tomorrow; I think it’s really cool.”

Although the Next Gen car has been compared to a sports car by some moron reporters who don't know crap, and even close to a Australian Supercar, van Gisbergen said they are “very different.”

“You feel the weight of the car a lot when it slides; it really lets go,” he said. “I had a few moments and it’s difficult here. I was losing a lot of time (under braking) on the data. It’s so intimidating here because there’s no runoff, there’s just a wall in front of you and then some joker painted a tunnel, like in roadrunner and coyote cartoons.

“I didn’t really have confidence to make up the time on the brakes, so I need to keep building up to that tomorrow. And just speaking with Daniel (Suarez), my teammate, he changed the bias a bit different to me. Yeah, I got a bit to learn. I was learning every lap trying to push, and it was a lot of fun.”

Entering the weekend, van Gisbergen shared he had no expectations for his debut but wanted to race with respect and felt optimistic about a good day given the work put in to get there. Now after seeing the speed in his car, he still isn’t changing his approach.

“Well, I think people were getting quicker and quicker, and the track was ramping up,” he said. “Every run was so much faster, so we just got to make sure we keep doing that and make sure our car is still good (when the track is) fully gripped tomorrow.”

 

NASCAR drivers singing praise on a new atmosphere in Chicago. The air stinks.

Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | July 1, 2023 6:50 PM ET

Kevin Harvick was proven wrong once before, so heading onto the streets of Chicago, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver decided he needed to hold off making any assumptions.

NASCAR is holding its first-ever street course races this weekend with the Xfinity Series and Cup Series. It is a unique and much-hyped event born on iRacing during the pandemic. And it was a course that, virtually, looked like a recipe for chaos.

But having learned from another first-time event recently, Harvick said the Chicago street course is something one must approach with an open mind.

“I think you have to because I made the mistake at the (L.A.) Clash the first time we went when I thought it was going to be a disaster, and it turned into a great event and a great race,” Harvick said. “I think you have to just do it because you just don’t know, you just don’t know how these types of things are going to turn out. So an open mind definitely is better than walking in just trying to figure out how to make it fail and trying to figure out all the flaws in it because there are going to be things that probably don’t go 100 percent right and NASCAR will fine us $10,000 if we say anything "detrimental to the sport".

“But going through all these new types of events kind of changes your mindset to how you approach it because you see the enthusiasm, right? You can feel it. You can see it. You definitely don’t have this many colleagues sitting in your press room on a weekly basis, so there’s obviously something different this week that moves the needle.” Those hacks need a story and we are going to give them one.

Harvick arrived in town Friday night. The course was not fully closed until late Friday, but drivers and teams were not permitted to walk the course in its completion until Saturday morning. They had one hour, beginning at 7 a.m. local time, to see it up close and personal before getting behind the wheel.

After doing so with his team, Harvick admitted he “was pretty impressed by just the way the track looked and really after driving it, the way that it flowed and everything that we did in the simulator. I think it lays out well.

“I think there’s a lot of excitement and buzz, and when you create this kind of event to come into a weekend, everybody wants to see how it goes and what happens. There is a lot of intrigue, and I think that’s really part of what makes a great event.”

More NASCAR!

‘Wish we could have run all the laps,’ Chicago Xfinity winner Custer says

Custer declared Chicago Xfinity Series winner with race called off before halfway

Harvick wasn’t alone in being impressed. Three drivers from the Hendrick Motorsports stable also praised the sanctioning body.

Saturday didn’t go well for Chase Elliott on the course, as he crashed in qualifying, but just arriving to the area stood out.

“I’m pleasantly surprised, I think, with just the lay of how everything is operating. The track looks really nice,” Elliott said. “I’m excited about it. My laps and time in the sim — I had a lot of fun running laps, and I thought the track actually had a nice flow to it, so that was cool. We’ll see how that translates.

“It’s been interesting watching (the Xfinity Series drivers) run as test dummies.. So overall, from my end, super impressed — all the logistics and things that go into this stuff… I think props to NASCAR and all the people that put this place together and built the walls and built the fences and have done all the work over these past handful of weeks because a lot went into it. We’re all just showing up here this weekend, but it was a lot of work down there. So just excited to be here and hope we can put on a good show.”

By putting on a race in the middle of a city, traveling by foot, bike or scooter is common. Kyle Larson has been putting in the steps walking the course and walking to and from his nearby hotel.

“I’ve gotten more steps in the last two days than I probably have in the last two months, honestly,” Larson said. “It’s nice being right here at the track, staying across the street, going to restaurants and stuff. It’s been enjoyable getting to see fans waiting outside your hotel and all that sort of stuff. It feels like a different event and I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m sure all of us have also.

“And two, the street course, the racetrack itself, you know what to expect. You know it’s going to be tight in a lot of areas, just like every street course is. But I feel like everybody did a really good job putting this event on and so far, I’d say it’s been a success even though we haven't done a thing yet, except go out drinking every night.”

And from a succinct William Byron after running the course for practice and qualifying: “I think they’ve done a great job with this track. I don’t normally give out compliments, but I think NASCAR’s doing a great job with this whole deal

 

NASCAR postpones Xfinity race until Sunday due to lightning.

Yeah if a spectator gets hit by it, or gets caught drinking white lightning, we might be in trouble.

We might actually sell a few extra tickets if we put it on the news all weekend, and maybe the crowd might be slightly bigger.

Now if we could tell lies about how wonderful it all is like those jerks down in Miami.....never mind...

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emailBy Mark Glendenning | July 1, 2023 7:47 PM ET

NASCAR has pushed the remainder of the Xfinity Series race on the streets of Chicago to Sunday morning due to the ongoing threat of lightning.

The race went onto a lightning hold with 25 laps completed and 30 still to run, and remained on pause for well over an hour while the series waited for the danger to clear. However as the clock ticked past 6:30pm local time and the potential for further lighting in the area remained ongoing, the decision was made to complete the race tomorrow morning at 10am central time. A postrace concert featuring The Chainsmokers was canceled.
It might be a good idea to get that concert going soon, since Chainsmokers have less time than the rest of us. LOL

“Due to the potential for continued lightning strikes and in the interest of public safety and caution, the facility needed to be evacuated,” read a statement issued by the series.

“NASCAR had hoped to resume activities, but not until city officials allowed fans to return to the grandstands. The forecast for lightning extends into the next several hours, forcing NASCAR to postpone the completion of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race until tomorrow morning.”

Cole Custer had led the entire race from pole in the No. 00 Stewart Haas Ford Mustang at the time of the stoppage.

 

Hamlin sold on Chicago street race after early skepticism

Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images Hamlin "tips the can" on his own mix of Kickapoo Joy Juice at the days end....and then yells "YAHOO!"
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emailBy Mark Glendenning | July 1, 2023 6:28 PM ET

NASCAR Cup Series Chicago street race polesitter Denny Hamlin admits he wasn’t immediately sold on the event’s concept when he first heard about it. But he’s starting to come around.

“I certainly was pessimistic when, when it was first announced; started warming up to it a little bit in the months leading up,” he said on Saturday.

“But when you see the fans that are walking around here on, on a Saturday; their excitement of just seeing a NASCAR race car up close, taking pictures… it kind of is like, this is what we were supposed to do here.

“Running the simulator and, and seeing how bumpy it was… it was a, a mess. But when we came out here and saw all the extra paving that they did, it made it significantly better. They really did a good job of smoothing out some of the big jumps that we had down these straightaways.

“It is a tight race track but it is what it is, and I think it’s got three to four major passing zones that if you can stay close enough, you’ll be able to make passes. So I was worried about, you know, this thing’s just going to be single file and that’s how you’re going to finish. But I think that there’s an opportunity if you have a fast car that you can go forward.”

More NASCAR!

‘Wish we could have run all the laps,’ Chicago Xfinity winner Custer says

Custer declared Chicago Xfinity Series winner with race called off before halfway

As the driver who will lead the field at the green, Hamlin will be hoping to spend most of his Sunday afternoon staying ahead rather than moving forward. The pole lap came on his final run and represented an improvement of around 0.4s on his previous best, but Hamlin said he never had any doubt the time he needed was in the No. 11 JGR Toyota.

“I messed up the first time in the final round when I ran the 88.9 (1m28.9s),” he said. “I knew that I left a ton of time on the racetrack. I thought that the competition was going to let me get away with it but Shane (van Gisbergen) obviously put up a great lap and I knew that, 0.3s, 0.4s, I could probably go get that in certain areas. And we did. I still didn’t hit it perfect, but it was just enough.”

Saturday was a learning experience for the entire field, but one of the big takeaways was that street course experience counted as much as NASCAR experience. Jenson Button was significantly more competitive than he was in his first Cup outing at COTA, while NASCAR debutant van Gasburger or whoever he is, led the sole practice session and very nearly took pole. Hamlin said that watching the New Zealander at work was an education.

“The biggest thing I noticed is the guy is lightning fast in all the corners where I feel super-uncomfortable using that extra three inches against the wall,” he said.....but on the last lap, it might be a different story. I'll put that dude into a dumpster without even thinking about it.

“So where the track is the narrowest and where you saw Chase (Elliott) and those guys get into the wall is where he is extremely fast. He’s just got a feel for those barriers, and the car control that he has, and that’s his advantage right now. We’re not used to cutting the corners that tight, and he is. It’s been impressive what he’s done today, for sure. Besides after the race, he can get on that plane and fly back to Timbuktoo and just leave his car a pile of scrap metal if
he wants to. Unfortunately we have to go back to work the next day and the boss may have questions.

 

Cole Custer wins rain-shortened Xfinity race on Chicago Street Course

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

Published: 10 Hours Ago

4 Minute Read


Michael Reaves Getty ImagesEditor’s note: Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Chicago is still on schedule to begin at 5 p.m. ET on NBC.

CHICAGO – Drenching rain and standing water on the Chicago Street Course forced NASCAR to declare Cole Custer the winner of The Loop 121 NASCAR Xfinity Series race three laps short of halfway and five laps short of the completion of Stage 2.

Custer led all 25 laps of NASCAR’s first-ever street course race before lightning strikes in the area on Saturday caused NASCAR to red flag the race and then to postpone completion until Sunday morning. But the rain persisted, forcing NASCAR’s hand.

MORE: Race results | Sunday schedule from the Windy City

“It’s been an awesome weekend overall,” said Custer, who drives the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. “The whole event, the whole thing that NASCAR’s put on here – the whole city – it’s been pretty unreal… The course is such a blast to drive.

“Today, we definitely wish we could have run all the laps. We don’t want to win it this way, but at the end of the day, we had a really fast car. I think everybody knew that.”

NASCAR rules state a race is ruled official either at its halfway mark or at the conclusion of Stage 2, whichever comes first. In this instance, Lap 28 would have signified halfway and deemed the event official. However, because of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the street course, officials chose to instead rule the Xfinity Series race complete per Section 1.6.B of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Rule Book, which states that in “circumstances … that are either unforeseen or are otherwise extraordinary,” the sanctioning body, “as a practical matter, may make a determination regarding the conduct of an event.”

NASCAR issued a statement explaining the decision to curtail the race:

“With standing water and flooding a significant issue at the race track and throughout the city, there was no option to return to racing prior to shifting to NASCAR Cup Series race operations. Throughout the entire planning process for the Chicago Street Race, our relationship with the City of Chicago has been strong and among the most valuable assets in reaching this historic weekend. In the spirit of that partnership, returning on Monday for the completion of a NASCAR Xfinity Series event two laps short of halfway was an option we chose not to employ. Based on several unprecedented circumstances, NASCAR has made the decision to declare Cole Custer the winner of the race.”

The victory was Custer’s second of the season, the 12th of his career and his 10th straight top-10 finish this season.

RELATED: Custer races to Stage 1 victory

John Hunter Nemechek finished second and leads the series standings by 16 points over Austin Hill, who was credited with a fifth-place result. Nemechek clearly was impressed with the spectacle of NASCAR’s first street race.

“Racing downtown on the streets of Chicago was pretty amazing,” he said. “The whole experience, the atmosphere and how many fans were here — I give a lot of props to everyone at NASCAR. Everyone involved with the Chicago Street Course did an amazing job. Riding around under caution yesterday, being able to see all of the fans lined up three or four rows deep along the fence with no open spots was incredible. Probably one of the best attendances we’ve had so far this year in the Xfinity Series.

“The race went OK for us. I ran P2 from the drop of the green flag until Lap 25 when they called it (Saturday). We needed a good stop to be able to make an adjustment and have a shot to contend with Cole for the win and just never had that opportunity. We’ll take that second place, and we’ll move on from it.”

Justin Allgaier finished third and Brett Moffitt fourth. Sammy Smith, Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman and Kaz Grala earned positions six through 10, respectively.

Justin Marks, co-owner of Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series, started 12th in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. But an engine failure at Lap 5 eliminated the vehicle from contention, leading to a plume of smoke through Congress Plaza before the car spun in Turn 11 at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Jackson Drive.

Making his NASCAR national series debut, Andre Castro crashed hard on Lap 17 into the Turn 1 tire barriers at the end of the frontstretch after an apparent mechanical failure sent his No. 34 Jesse Iwuji Motorsports Chevrolet out of control. A native of Chicago, Castro climbed from the car unharmed and was credited with a 37th-place finish after qualifying 28th.

Note: Post-race inspection concluded without issues, confirming Custer’s victory.

 

Respect runs both ways after van Gisbergen's NASCAR Chicago win,
but mostly drives down to the end and turns left.

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emailBy Mark Glendenning | July 3, 2023 10:22 AM ET

Shane van Gisbergen’s historic NASCAR Cup Series win on the streets of Chicago drew widespread plaudits – not least from the series regulars that the three-time Australian Supercars champion was racing against. And the respect ran both ways.

Kyle Busch, who finished fifth, has previously partnered with the New Zealander in AIM Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus line-up at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, and said he was fully aware of the threat van Gisbergen represented on a street course.

“That’s what he’s grown up doing,” Busch said. “That’s what he’s done his whole life. Fortunate for him, he’s done it in bigger, heavier stock cars, not lighter weight GT cars or some IMSA cars or something like that.

“He’s probably four, five, eight years ahead of us in this sort of car in the things that he’s done with the Supercars. I’ve worked with him before as a teammate with the Lexus program down at Daytona at the Daytona 24 Hours. He was on the other car, but we were all in the same meetings talking together. Saw he was talented in that car. We were all really fast, so he always kept probably the quickest time for the team the whole time we were down there for Daytona. He is no slouch. I knew he would be good when he came over.”

Kyle Larson was among the frontrunners when van Gisbergen was making his late charge through the field after being dumped into the pack during the pitstop sequence, and while the battle between the pair was over more quickly than the Hendrick driver would have liked, he said being able to run behind van Gisbergen after being passed was educational.

“It was so fun to watch from my view,” Larson said. “When he got to my back bumper, I felt like I pieced together a really good section and I was like, I thought for sure I’d look in the mirror and I was going to be like two car lengths or something in front of him, and he was glued to my back bumper and I was like, holy ****, this guy is flying.

“He was able to get by me, and then I got to watch the show. I kind of followed him through, and the moves he was making really everywhere — he could pass anywhere, but the moves that he could make into Turn 2 was really neat to see, and then the pass that he had for the lead… I thought the battle for the lead (between van Gisbergen and Justin Haley) was great.
Van Gisbergen “put on a show” for Kyle Larson. Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images

“He made his move into Turn 2. Justin was able to get a good exit and squeeze inside, and I was like, man, he’s going to be able to fight him off here for a little bit longer, and he just made a super-aggressive lane change back to his right side. It was just… it was sick. It was awesome.

“He put on a show and it was cool to see, and I think when a guy like that can come in and kick your ass at your own game, it shows that we all have room to improve. I’m curious what he thinks about us. He obviously passed a lot of us, so I’m curious if he thinks we all suck or if we could actually like compete, if we weren’t really that bad.”

Van Gisbergen had a quick answer for that.

“I’m sure if it was an oval it would be the other way around,” he said. “I guess this is my bread and butter, the street circuits. Almost half of our (Supercars) races are street circuits. I’m comfortable with the walls. It took me a bit to learn the proximity of the car, having the car on the other side of me, so I was missing apexes turning left and struggling turning right to know where that side of the car was.

“But those guys are good. In the wet the tire was so different to anything I’m used to, but they were straight into it and just into it. When I got on the slicks again I was probably a bit too timid and the guys were all over me.

“Everyone is good, and the passes they were making were committed. I probably was a bit too nice to some people, but that’s how it was.

“Come back next year, a lot of those guys will be quicker. You could see guys leaving a lot on the table on corner exits to the wall, where I wasn’t afraid of getting close.”

There could be chances for van Gisbergen to flesh out his NASCAR experience in the future if he has any say in iut. His long-running rivalry with Scott McLaughlin in Australia came to an end with the latter made a full-time switch to IndyCar a couple of years ago, and van Gisbergen says the door for a permanent American move of his own is very much open.

“I miss racing in the States,” he said. “I’ve done (the 24 Hours at) Daytona four or five times now, and just the way the American people are and how they go racing, it’s so much more enjoyable. And even doing the media stuff, which I hate, everyone here is really nice. They ask good questions and they’re respectful and it goes both ways. Everyone here has made me feel comfortable, and it’s so enjoyable the way the races are run.

“I’m committed next year to Supercars. I still love Supercars and hope it goes well there. But in ’25, who knows?”

 

First time's the charm for NASCAR street racing

John Harrelson/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Mark Glendenning | July 3, 2023 3:22 PM ET

I wrote several different versions of a column about NASCAR’s first-ever street race in Chicago in my head over the course of the weekend.

There were the ones I came up with on Saturday, when I was walking through the NASCAR Village in Butler Field and the Fan Plaza area around Buckingham Fountain. (The same Buckingham Fountain that Cole Custer wanted to jump into after winning the shortened Xfinity Series race, but was wisely deterred from doing so by the fact that it would be a felony.)

The word around the event was that 80% of the weekend’s ticketholders were first-time NASCAR race attendees, and based on one highly scientific method of gauging such things — which mostly involves looking at what’s on people’s T-shirts — that seemed believable. There were plenty of people wearing driver merch, but perhaps not to the same extent as you see at a “regular” race. For every person I clocked wearing a Kyle Larson shirt, I clocked someone else wearing a souvenir shirt from Taylor Swift’s tour. In fact, most people who appeared to have dressed for the occasion were wearing gear the celebrated the city itself *rather than NASCAR or a specific driver.

Crowd reactions were also telling. The commentators made frequent references to the crowds being seven-deep in areas where it was possible to get close to the fence, and I can confirm that they actually were, because I was squeezed in among them between Turns 1 and 2 for the Xfinity practice session. A woman next to me was literally open-mouthed — a perfect O, like in a cartoon — when the cars went by the first couple of times, and she wasn’t alone. A large number of the people crowded around me very much gave the impression that they were watching a race car at speed for the first time. And they were into it.
Fans lined the Chicago streets in huge numbers. Motorsport Images

There were plenty of opportunities for fan engagement too, ranging from different backdrops for selfies — many of which had a queue — to a 20-ish foot four-sided LED screen that alternated between screening social media posts that came from the aforementioned selfies, and sharing general information such as maps and schedules. It was a great feature that could be replicated elsewhere.

Fast-forward to Sunday, and the columns in my head had taken on a different tone as it became increasingly clear that the rain we’d woken up to was more than just a passing shower: more than two inches were dumped onto the area around the track during the day, which is in the window of Chicago’s average rainfall for the entire month of July. The rain itself was not necessarily any heavier than conditions we’ve seen other series race in in the past, but visibility was a legitimate concern, and an even bigger issue was standing water.

NASCAR had the dryers out for hours, but the rain was so relentless that whatever water they were able to clear off was replaced by the time they came around again. And while standing water is a pretty common hazard in the wet, this was something else altogether. People were soaked up to their shins on pitlane. Noah Gragson tweeted a video of one of Legacy Motor Club’s race tires bobbing serenely through the pit box.




It doesn’t matter how good your wet tires are – and Goodyear’s really sit in a grey zone between intermediates and true wets – you’re not racing in that. Credit to Kaulig Racing for recognizing a commercial opportunity in the situation, though:


Some of the workarounds that the series came up with to counter the conditions were surreal but effective. The national anthem was performed from the press room, of all places, well before the actual race start. Same as the command to start engines, delivered by Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, which meant we had a front row seat to him practicing the phrase ‘drivers, start your engines’ for several minutes before he did it for real. It was a tiny insight into the quest for perfection that sets pro athletes apart from the rest of us, but from a more practical standpoint, it meant NASCAR had all the pre-race formalities already on tap in the event that a window opened up that would allow the Cup cars to race. And when that moment came, the transition from ‘I don’t know if we’re racing today’ to ‘drivers to your cars’ was whiplash-inducingly quick.

I wrote a third column in my head once the race started. I need to come clean here and admit that in the weeks leading up to last weekend, I told a number of people that I was going to Chicago hoping for the best, but wondering if I was going to be witness to a new series record for laps spent under caution. Just like IndyCar’s new downtown Detroit circuit, the Chicago layout looked tight, dinky and designed to be high on incidents and low on passing.

And as with the Detroit track, we were all wrong. The Chicago course was certainly challenging, especially for a field filled overwhelmingly with drivers who are not used to having walls out of both windows. But the racing was absolutely worth the price of admission: cars could easily run two-wide through two or three corners, and the concrete barriers seemed to intimidate the Cup regulars into showing a level of respect to each other that wasn’t always on show at COTA. There was a clear price to pay for getting too clever, and the racing was all better for it. Shane van Gisbergen deservedly owned the spotlight after the race, but the entire field should get credit for the show they put on.

Long-time fans, especially those who watch IndyCar or F1, are so used to seeing events like Long Beach run without a hitch that there’s a risk of taking for granted just how hard it is to pull a street race off. Jim Michaelian’s so good at it that he makes it look easy. It’s exponentially harder when it’s a completely new market, and with a track laid out squarely in the heart of one of America’s biggest and most culturally- and commercially-significant cities, as opposed to a park on the outskirts or a little-used airport. But pretty much every aspect of the event that NASCAR and the race organizers could control was nailed down. I don’t know how much scope there might be to address how those streets drain water off, but for the most part, there were few clues to suggest that this was a first-time event.

Last weekend’s race on the streets of Chicago looked and felt like you’d stepped into something that you’d only expect to see in a video game. But it was real. And it was great.

 

Bell's strategy 'ruined' by call to shorten Chicago street race

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | July 2, 2023 11:52 PM ET

Christopher Bell felt his race on the streets of Chicago was “ruined” by the timing of NASCAR officials deciding to shorten the distance of Sunday’s race due to impending darkness, while crew chief Adam Stevens called it “complete negligence.”

Bell led a race-high 37 laps and swept both stages. He was in control of the proceedings when the caution flew on lap 45, the final lap of the second stage.

Shortly thereafter, under the caution, officials informed teams the race was going to be shortened from 100 laps to 75. Racing the full distance was not realistic, and teams had begun discussing over the radio it was the likely scenario.

That includes Stevens, but he was immediately frustrated as Bell needed to make a pit stop. As Bell’s No. 20 Toyota and a majority of the leaders came down pit road, 11 other drivers stayed out and inherited the track position.

Those drivers had taken a chance and pitted under a previous caution. Doing so split the field on strategy, and with a few more cautions before the end of the race, it allowed those drivers to make the finish on fuel.

Stevens said he had been reaching out to NASCAR to make sure they were aware darkness was going to be an issue, which officials were. But Stevens said he also wanted to make sure they understood that, “They couldn’t back the race end up far enough that people that already decided to pit would back into the track position, which is what they did.

“So, they made the call too late, and the people that pit on (lap) 31 could make it on fuel with a couple of cautions, and the people that pit prior to the stage end could make it on fuel. So, it was just complete negligence that they let that happen. They should have called that prior to the lap that you could make it to the end so we all had the same chance to pit.

“The way that it was, the teams that were not handling well and running in the back pit when the cautions came and then backed into that strategy, which is not a way to run a race, in my opinion. We all knew there wasn’t enough daylight left and that we were going to have to make that decision at some point in time. They just made it so late that 12 or 13 cars had already backed into the strategy.”

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Bell restarted 12th after the pit stop and with a new running order. On lap 56, any chance of a comeback ended when Bell slid sideways getting into Turn 1 and bounced off the tire barriers.

“Just racing,” Bell said of the incident. “I was racing and lost sight of my brake marker and got in too deep.”

He ultimately finished 18th.

“Just nothing we could have done there as far as the strategy stuff,” he said. “Obviously, I made a mistake getting into the tire barrier trying to come back through traffic, but I don’t know. It wasn’t meant to be today.”

NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell explained the decision to change the race distance and informs teams when officials did as having “a lot of thought” behind it.

“At the time we made it, we waited as long as possible to see if we could get all 100 laps in,” O’Donnell said. “When we knew that wasn’t possible, we waited, we closed pit road. We wanted to make sure everybody knew what the race distance was going to be. Everyone had a chance to come in, pit the car, get fuel. We wanted to take fuel mileage out of it.

“I think we’ve had conversations with some who may have thought it was unfair who pitted on the same lap that the leader did and won. I think we’re more than comfortable with the way the decision was made in this case. Certainly, it can be second-guessed anytime you have to do this, but I feel like the process played out well. Would have liked to get all 100, but we wanted to be as fair as possible for the fans and also not put ourselves in a position where we’re getting questions of why are you racing in the dark.”

Stevens doesn’t see the need to talk to NASCAR officials.

“They know that it was stupid,” he said. “So, there’s nothing I’m going to tell them that’s going to make them change their mind on that.”