Shane van Gisbergen winning at the Chicago Street Course is nothing if not familiar. He won the first race at the track in his own NASCAR debut and followed it up by winning last year’s Xfinity Series race. His victory in Saturday’s The Loop 110 in the Xfinity Series gives him three wins in five races at the track.
But as he punted a rugby ball to the fans in what has become the New Zealander’s signature victory celebration, one of his competitors was left with more of a bitter taste than some of those past victories. Namely, his teammate and friend, 18-year-old phenom Connor Zilisch.
SVG and Zilisch were both the class of the field throughout the race, but both faced their own adversity. For Zilisch, that was a crash in practice that required lengthy repairs and meant he could not qualify and had to start from the rear. For SVG, that was a combination of a missed call to pit sending him back in the pack, some engine issues, and a broken cool suit that meant he was sitting in overheated water.
Despite all that, both drivers ended up one-two within ten laps to go, setting up a battle to the checkered flag before the caution flag was brought out by a spin from Andre Castro. That set up a two-lap shootout, within regulation, for the win.
There was contact from the start, as SVG and Zilisch made contact in the restart zone coming to the line. They raced side-by-side down the fronstretch and into Turn 1, where SVG had the inside. He ran wide and pushed Zilisch into the wall to get the lead. Zilisch was able to recover and chase down van Gisbergen, cutting into his lead and nearly getting to his bumper on the final lap, but never had enough.
After celebrating his win, SVG described the move as almost inevitable if he wanted to get the win.
“Yeah, I just had to take it, you know? He’s an awesome young driver and in the same car as me, so had to take my chance,” van Gisbergen justified the move. “What a great day, thanks to JRM, Weathertech, Red Bull. So much fun to win another race.”
As for the missed opportunity to pit in the second stage, which his crewchief admitted was an oversight, that was a result of one mistake compounding. SVG stayed out as the contenders behind him came down pit lane, and then a caution came out that lap. When SVG was finally able to pit, then, the field was bunched together and he went from potentially keeping the lead to falling back to 19th.
“Obviously passed a few people,” van Gisbergen drily described of his drive through the field. “It was a bit worrying when so many pulled down, but got to trust [crewchief] Cory [Shea], he made a great call, and we had great tires at the end.”
Even despite the cool suit failure leaving him “a bit cooked,” the track’s most successful shared his continuing elation with the venue, which is in the third year of its original three-year contract.
“I really like this place. Hopefully not the last time here, I’ll miss it. Really cool.”
Van Gisbergen has the potential add to his success at the track this weekend in a monumental way, too, by pulling off a double ‘perfect weekend.’ If he can win the pole and the race in the Xfinity Series and Cup Series at the same track in the same weekend, that would be in effect a perfect weekend in both series when such a weekend is rare in just one.
He already swept poles for both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series and won the Xfinity race. That leaves just the Cup race win to complete the weekend sweep. SVG has had a chance to do it before, sweeping the Charlotte Roval poles last fall, but this would be his first chance to score a perfect weekend in two different series in a single weekend.
Of course, there are two sides to every contact, and Zilisch did not come out of the finish of the race particularly happy. Instead of a good, clean battle for the end, he felt that his friend just took him out of contention.
“Yeah, I understand he’s racing for the win, but, yeah, I didn’t even have a chance there, he just stuffed me in the wall,” a clearly displeased Zilisch said. “Definitely frustrating, but still really cool to get Red Bull and Weathertech a one-two [finish].
“I’ll definitely remember the way he raced me there, I didn’t expect him to do that, but I get it, we’re racing for the win,” Zilisch added.
Zilisch was a step away from a huge win for his team by rewarding them for all the work they did to repair his car after the practice crash, work which clearly paid off given the pace in his car.
“Man, my team worked so hard. The entire JR Motorsports team came in to help. We had a shot to win, that’s really all you can ask for there.”
Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, and rookie and defending winner in the series Nick Sanchez all earned a top-five finish. Jesse Love, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer, Austin Green, and Brennan Poole rounded out the top ten.
The Xfinity Series returns on Saturday, July 12th at Sonoma Raceway, another road course. Shane van Gisbergen plans to compete in that race as well, meaning he and Zilisch will have another chance to face off in the Xfinity Series.
- SVG Has a Shot at Three as NASCAR Heads to Sonoma - July 10, 2025
- SVG Punts the Rugby Ball in Chicago; Zilisch Feels Like He Got Punted - July 5, 2025
- NASCAR Heads to Chicago for a Third Time, and Potentially the Last - July 3, 2025