CHICAGO — A year removed from his historic NASCAR Cup Series victory at the Chicago Street Course, Shane van Gisbergen understands why he’s favored to repeat.
But at the same time, he’s not taking it for granted.
Making his first career NASCAR start, the former Supercars star roared to a surprise victory in downtown Chicago last season, besting the likes of Justin Haley and Chase Elliott in a wet-weather race ultimately shortened by darkness.
Many factors played in favor of the Kiwi. He’s gained street-racing experience in Supercars. He’s proficient in wet-weather racing. It was a track nobody had seen, leveling the playing field.
Now he’s back, ready to run double-duty for Kaulig Racing in his normal No. 97 Xfinity Series car — in which he’s already won twice in this year — and the team’s No. 16 Cup Series entry. But heading into year two, van Gisbergen expects the talent gap to close on him, even though he’s more experienced as well.
“There’s just going to be more guys with data; more guys will have better setups with learning what they did last year,” van Gisbergen said in a press conference Friday. “I think there’s a big chance that there will be 10 or 15 guys (contending). That’s the best thing I find about NASCAR … it’s not the same people every week. This series is so competitive and so tight, but hopefully it’s us that’s in there, as well.
“I’ll be better this year, too … knowing what to expect and what I want from the car. Last year’s car wasn’t perfect by any means. But yeah, I think we’ll all be taking a leap forward, that’s for sure.”
Van Gisbergen led nine laps and prevailed in overtime last year driving Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 entry, a car prepared by veteran crew chief Darian Grubb. While his attempt to go back-to-back won’t be in the same equipment, Trackhouse is still supporting the entry as it did his three earlier Cup starts this season.
Travis Mack, who previously led Daniel Suárez at Trackhouse, is on the No. 16 car and brings a wealth of knowledge to the team that Van Gisbergen thinks will be beneficial.
“(The relationship has) been good on all the ovals we’ve done so far,” van Gisbergen said. “It went into the Kaulig truck to get here, and those guys will run it all weekend. It’s a real combined effort. It was a little messy, maybe, at COTA … it could have been better.
“But every week, the relationship has gotten better and better, the more races we do. Really confident with how it all works now.”
The circumstances of Sunday’s Cup race will be much different compared to last year. Many drivers, including Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs, are running double duty in addition to van Gisbergen. The weather is much more favorable, meaning practice time could translate to the race.
And in terms of racing, it’ll be double-file restarts for the first time. Because of the rain last year, NASCAR elected to use single-file restarts for the entire race.
So while the Xfinity Series is still van Gisbergen’s day job, Saturday’s undercard will allow him to get acquainted with the streets of Chicago in the dry.
“The car difference is huge, but laps and reps overcomes that by so far,” he said. “Getting to experience that is going to be a huge head start for Sunday, which is why so many Cup guys are probably in that Saturday race. Just get reps; get comfortable with the walls on both sides of the car. This racing is so different from anything we do all year, so I think for sure that doing both classes is going to be more of an advantage than a disadvantage.
“Street courses are different every year, no matter where you go. Like the barrier locations are always different, depending if they put them inside the curb or on top of it. The track always changes.
“With only two classes on track and a year’s worth of traffic in between each race, it’ll be really interesting. The track didn’t really ramp up until the end last year when it dried up, so it was like a reset. Whereas if it’s dry all weekend, the track will be completely different.”
While van Gisbergen came to Chicago and the United States as a relative “no name” last year, that’s obviously changed. His victory made him an overnight star in NASCAR circles, though his success — including three Supercars championships — already spoke for itself.
People simply didn’t know what to expect out of him, but he knows that’s changed. He can’t fly under the radar this weekend.
Is he going out Sunday thinking he’s racing for a Cup ride next year?
“I don’t think like that.”
But he knows what another win could do for him, and he certainly knows how high the stakes are.
“I know for sure that there’s probably a target on us. People are going to be looking at us a lot more and try to study what we’re doing,” he said. “Just have to keep our heads down and expectations in check.
“We just had a dream run (last year) and we’re ready to try and do the same again.”