Van Gisbergen wins in Chicago
New Zealand road course ace Shane van Gisbergen roared to the lead on Lake Shore Drive and ran away from the field in a nine-lap shootout, winning today's third annual Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series Chicago Street Race.
The Trackhouse Racing driver, who won yesterday's Xfinity Race and the Cup race's pole, got by leader Chase Briscoe with 16 laps left and had a 2 1/2-second lead over Ty Gibbs before a caution on the final lap gave him his second win of 2025.
The victory was the Kiwi's third in 33 career starts and helped Chevrolet to sweep three victories in the streets of Chicago.
Following Gibbs were Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.
Michael McDowell led a race-high 31 laps but developed a stuck throttle midway through the race and finished 32nd.
With the entire Hendrick Motorsports stable starting at the rear of the 40-car field due to failed qualifying runs or repairs, four drivers holding playoff spots had to work to move through the field.
Alex Bowman finished eighth, while Kyle Larson was 13th. Chase Elliott ended up 16th, and points leader William Byron was last.
In what may have been the final start in the Windy City's streets, race favorite van Gisbergen led the field from the pole position, but Row 1 starter McDowell snagged the lead in less than half a circuit.
Carson Hocevar caused the first caution on Lap 4 when he bounced off the apron of Turn 10 and smacked the outside wall, coming to rest as seven cars, including Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski, piled into Hocevar's No. 77 car as it sat sideways against the outer barrier.
While much of the field pitted, McDowell stayed on the 3.5km course, leading every circuit to beat Busch and Reddick for the top bonus points as Stage 1 ended at Lap 20.
Ryan Blaney put his No. 12 Ford in position to claim 10 segment points as Stage 2 concluded on Lap 45. Briscoe, Reddick, Bowman and Bubba Wallace trailed the Team Penske driver.
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