Shane van Gisbergen won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Chicago Originally appeared in NBC Sports Chicago
When it comes to the streets of Chicago (or any track, really), van Gisbergen is one of the best drivers in NASCAR.
The 35-year-old New Zealand native proved it once again on Saturday, pulling away from Ty Gibbs to claim his third Xfinity Series win of the season.
Van Gisbergen started from pole but dropped back after a pit stop. He then moved up through the field before taking the lead after a late restart. He led four times for a total of 14 laps.
“It was a little frustrating seeing all the yellow flags,” he said. “But I managed to get points on every restart and kept moving forward. I had some amazing battles.”
Van Gisbergen earned his first two Xfinity wins for Kaulig Racing at the Portland and Sonoma circuits on back-to-back weekends last month. Just as he did after those wins, he celebrated by signing a rugby ball and kicking it into the stands in Chicago.
Gibbs was second, followed by Kyle Larson, Parker Kligerman and rookie Jesse Love.
“We just needed to get a little bit better, be a little bit more together,” Gibbs said. “I felt like we were pretty solid all day.”
Larson and van Gisbergen dueled throughout the first stage in a possible Sunday preview. Larson is on pole for the Cup Series race.
“I was having a blast,” Larson said. “I wanted to win today, but most of all I wanted to learn. I wanted to battle him because he’s so good at creating shapes and angles and making passes.”
Van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion in Australia, was an unknown in the United States before winning last summer on NASCAR’s rainy opening weekend at the downtown Chicago circuit. He became the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.
This time around, they’ve been watching him closely every time he gets into his car, and he seems to be handling the increased attention just fine.
“Obviously, everyone had expectations, but I think I’ve been treating it like any other week,” he said. “Like I said yesterday when I was here, I’m more focused on the ovals right now and these things are like a vacation or a fun weekend.
“Still, I studied hard for this and I wanted to be good at it. Yeah, I just got down to business and did what I had to do.”
Love led the race for 14 laps in pursuit of his second Xfinity Series win in his impressive rookie season, but was unable to hold on to the lead at the end.
Love, 19, won at Talladega in April in his ninth start for Richard Childress Racing. He was in pole position at Atlanta in February before running out of fuel.
The Xfinity Series is coming to Pocono Raceway next weekend.