On Sunday, the NASCAR Cup Series held its inaugural Grant Park 220 on the streets of Chicago, Illinois, on the Fourth of July weekend.
Red Bull Ampol Racing driver and three-time Repco Supercars Champion Shane van Gisbergen debuted his NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing driving the No. 91 Enhance Health Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen has 80 career wins in the Repco Supercars Series.
Gisbergen was impressive in practice and qualified third in the race. It took a while for the race to start as Mother Nature dumped lots of rain on the track and it looked like the race was not going to start. However, the rain let up and NASCAR got the race in.
In the race, Gisbergen fell back to 18th place with 25 laps to go after making his final pit stop. Gisbergen worked his way back up front and found himself in third place with ten laps to go. Two laps later, he passed Chase Elliott for second place. Then, with three laps to go, Gisbergen passed Justin Haley for the lead. A late caution bunched up the field which sent the race into overtime.
In overtime, Gisbergen floored the gas pedal and drove away. He became the first driver since Johnny Rutherford 60 years ago at Daytona to win his first NASCAR Cup Series race in his first start by 1.259 seconds over Justin Haley. He led a total of nine laps, including the last eight laps to win the race.
Shane van Gisbergen joins seven other drivers to win in their debut. They are Jim Roper (Charlotte, 1949), Jack White (1949, Hamburg), Harold Kite (Daytona Beach, 1950), Leon Sales (North Wilkesboro, 1950), Marvin Burke (Oakland, 1951), and Johnny Rutherford (Daytona, 1963). In addition, he is the first road course ringer to win a NASCAR race since Mark Donahue in 1973 at Riverside International Raceway, and the last time a No. 91 car saw victory lane was Tim Flock since Atlanta in 1953.
With this historic performance, do not be surprised to see Shane van Gisbergen make the jump to NASCAR in the next couple of years since Marcos Ambrose did in 2006.
Ambrose raced in all three NASCAR divisions (Craftsman Trucks Series, Xfinity Series, and Cup Series) in nine years (2006-14) winning seven races (5 in Xfinity, 2 in Cup) before returning to the Supercars Series in 2015 (then known as the Australian V8 Supercars Series).
In addition, this was a win for the Supercars Series overall. Scott McLaughlin is in his fourth year in IndyCar with three poles, four wins, and nine podium finishes since leaving the Supercars Series after the 2019 season. He is currently sixth in the IndyCar standings.
McLaughlin is one of Gisbergen’s biggest rivals. He won three championships before joining Team Penske in the IndyCar Series and is having a successful career.
One could only wonder what is in store for Gisbergen. He will likely start fielding offers from other NASCAR teams to race for them. Gisbergen recently signed a one-year extension with Red Bull Ampol Racing.
With this win, 2024 will likely be his final season in the Repco Supercars Championship unless he is let out of his contract early. The skies are the limit for Gisbergen and it will be exciting to see where his career goes next.
