Shane van Gisbergen was the clear cut favorite to win the Chicago Street Race for a second consecutive year, one day after winning the Xfinity Series race. His advantage seemingly heightened when rain arrived in the Windy City as the engines roared to life shortly after 4:45 p.m ET.
But on Lap 24, van Gisbergen was wrecked out of the race when Chase Briscoe lost control of his car entering Turn 6, clipping the left-rear corner of the No. 16 Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen gassed the car up but pounded the wall on the corner exit.
“It looked pretty good and then just got smashed by [Briscoe],” van Gisbergen told NBC Sports. “Gutting. The Wendy’s Saucy Nuggs Camaro was really good. We were in the lead for a lot of that race and I felt good taking off in the rain. That sucks. It’s an unfortunate mistake by him; I’m sure he didn’t mean it. When he clipped me there was nothing I could do.”
Van Gisbergen dropped to seventh on the opening lap, but immediately charged to fifth. One lap later, he muscled his way up to third. When race leader Ty Gibbs caught the rear of the field, multiple drivers who were on wet-weather tires, the No. 16 Chevrolet powered to the front around Gibbs.
Like the bulk of the field, van Gisbergen was on standard Goodyear tires. He was running lap times more than 10 seconds per lap quicker than the drivers on wet-weather tires.
“On slicks, it got a little dodgy and I hated being the leader,” van Gisbergen added. “Whoever was the leader, you could see the sliding up and not sure what the condition would be. As soon as you get to the front, you’re unsure of what’s happening and have to take it a bit easy. I had a lot of fun until then.”
Van Gisbergen won the opening stage under caution, his first stage victory at the Cup Series level. By being the first driver to wreck out, the No. 16 car will finish last.
Gutted pic.twitter.com/DNuOQzELH5
— Shane van Gisbergen (@shanevg97) July 7, 2024