Van Gisbergen leads a session of NASCAR firsts in Chicago practice
Mark Horsburgh/Motorsport Images
490 shares
share
tweet
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!
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.