Supercars hero Shane van Gisbergen has won his NASCAR Cup Series debut in rainy downtown Chicago, chasing down Justin Haley and Chase Elliott in a memorable finish to the series’ first street race.
After passing Elliott, van Gisbergen duelled with Haley in the final laps before the three-time Supercars champion moved in front for good. Haley held on for second, and Elliott was third.
The 34-year-old van Gisbergen had a chance to drive the No. 91 Chevrolet in Chicago as part of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91. The goal for the team is expanding its global reach.
The New Zealander won his first Supercars championship in 2016 and added two more in the past two years.
He was helped in his NASCAR debut on Sunday by Darian Grubb, who was the crew chief for Tony Stewart when he won the Cup Series championship in 2011.
The race was scheduled for 100 laps and 220 miles but was shortened because of fading sunlight after the start was delayed for more 90 minutes due to historic rainfall that flooded the course.
He was asked if he thought this dream would come true and he replied with an emphatic “Of course not”.
“But you always dream of it. What an experience and the crowd out here. This was so cool and it’s what you dream of. Hopefully I can come and do more.
“I’m doing one more year in Aus, then I’d love to come over here.”
Right before the scheduled start, as the rain persisted, pole-sitter Denny Hamlin took to Twitter to lobby for a delay, and Noah Gragson posted video of one of his tyres floating on pit road. NASCAR then decided to allow the drivers to return to their caravans.
The weather eventually cleared up, but there were puddles on the course when the race began. Even as it started to dry out — and teams started breaking out their slick tyres, though that didn’t stop several drivers colliding with tyre barriers through the race.
There also was a massive pile-up involving 14 cars on the city’s famed Michigan Avenue on the 50th lap, clogging the course and almost certainly drawing smiles from regular Chicago drivers familiar with the area.
© AAP
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