2025 NASCAR Cup Grant Park 165 Chicago Street Race: Shane Van Gisbergen Sweeps The City

CHICAGO -- I wrote yesterday that NASCAR driver Shane Van Gisbergen has been so dominant at the Chicago street course he may need to move to Chicago, despite being a grass-loving country boy from New Zealand. Today, I am suggesting that Van Gisbergen might need to run for mayor, after he won the NASCAR Cup Grant Park 165.

He's won two of three Cup races in Chicago, and two of three Xfinity races in Chicago. For the mathematically challenged, that's four out of six.

The Kiwi is an experienced street racer, which surely helps explain his success on NASCAR's only circuit that consists of public city streets. It's an unforgiving track with pretty much no run-off room -- mistakes mean contact with the wall or a tire barrier.

At least this year, for the first time in three tries, it was a dry track. Mother Nature hadn't been cooperative in 2023 and 2024, but this time the rain showers waited until after Van Gisbergen's burnout -- which was so smoky it might've seeded clouds.

Third time's the charm, I guess

Still, exiting fans and media felt a few raindrops as the P.A. announcer suggested folks get indoors sooner than later.

Van Gisbergen started on the pole, but second-place starter Michael McDowell took the lead early and rolled to an easy stage-one win (this is where I note that McDowell was sponsored this week by Chicago's DePaul University, which is my alma mater. Full disclosure, ya know).

Throttle problems sent McDowell to the pits, and later, the back of the pack. Ryan Blaney picked up the stage-two win, and later Chase Briscoe took the lead, but it was clear as the race wore on that Van Gisbergen was going to pass Briscoe for the lead. It was just a matter of time.

Van Gisbergen was overcoming heat-related health issues that forced him to go to the care center after his Xfinity win. He then had to skip his press conference to rest and recover.

"Yeah, epic weekend for us," he said. "I’m a lucky guy. I got to drive for two great teams in JR Motorsports and Trackhouse and it just made my job easy. We had great preparation and my cars all weekend were excellent."

Rain was in the forecast and given the torrential downpours that set local records in 2023 and spot showers that led to delays last year, there was concern. Yet, the race started on time. Well, almost -- there was a short delay as debris from celebratory pre-race fireworks fell on pit road.

Then there was a delay for old-fashioned racing reasons as Carson Hocevar lost control on lap 3, collecting several other cars in the process and blocking the track. The race had to be red-flagged for nearly 15 minutes to deal with the mess. Brad Keselowski, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Will Brown, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Todd Gilliland, and Riley Herbst were collected, with Hocevar, Brown, Keselowski, and Dillon having their days ended.

Overall, there were seven cautions for 15 laps. Two were for stage conclusions, of course. On-track incidents included Josh Berry crashing on lap 32, Austin Cindric locking his brakes and causing a multiple-car crash on lap 64, and Cody Ware slamming the Turn 6 tire barriers with the race nearly finished. NASCAR did what it could to keep the race green -- there was already a tire carcass on the side of the track that came off of Briscoe's car -- but eventually the caution flew. Since the white flag had flown, Van Gisbergen, often called SVG, was able to easily cap off the race with the win.

There was one other caution on lap 61 as a spectator needed medical assistance, requiring an ambulance to cross the track.

There were other storylines to watch in Chicago, such as Alex Bowman, last year's winner, dueling Bubba Wallace in the NASCAR Cup Bracket Challenge, an in-season tournament in which the winner will take home $1 million. Bowman contacted Wallace and sent him spinning into the wall, and, eventually, to the back of the field.

The top five was Van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Allmendinger, Ryan Preece, Bowman, Austin Hill, and Ross Chastain made up the rest of the top 10.

William Byron remains in the points lead with 632.

This may or may not be the last year for a NASCAR Chicago Street Race. As the boss of the event, Julie Giese, told us on our podcast, the series has had "good conversations" with the city of Chicago, but nothing has been decided yet. The original contract has mutual options for 2026 and 2027. NASCAR officials have said they wanted to focus on the 2025 race before decisions are made -- and it's worth noting that current Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson wasn't yet in office when the deal was struck, but he's been part of pre-race ceremonies in 2024 and 2025.

Meanwhile, rumors swirl that NASCAR and San Diego are working on a street race.

There are several options that seem to be, from the outside looking in, on the table. One is continuing the race as is. Another is returning to Chicagoland Speedway in far-suburban Joliet. Or perhaps returning to the Road America road course two-and-half hours north in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Perhaps there could be a Chicago Street Race and a race at Chicagoland, but that would require adjustments to the schedule. Yet another option is keeping the Chicago Street Race but changing weekends so it's not so close to the busy Fourth of July holiday.

As for San Diego, there's no reason the series can't have two street races in a year, but that would also likely mean schedule changes -- the calendar is already jam-packed.

Perhaps the Chicago race could be on a semi-annual timeline.

NASCAR faces a tough balance -- it is trying to grow into markets that are either new or have historically been under utilized. Chicago fits as one of those -- the Cup series was at Chicagoland in recent years but moving to the heart of the city is likely to draw new fans. Not to mention that racing with an iconic skyline in the background makes for good TV.

Drivers and fans that I spoke to seemed mostly to lean towards the Chicago Street Race returning, but some drivers and at least one fan I talked to acknowledged Chicagoland isn't a bad alternative. We'll have more coverage on fan and driver reaction this week.

NASCAR, fully aware of how much disruption the event can cause, did shorten construction time from over 40 days to about 25, so that could change perceptions from locals.

The very biased Van Gisbergen had this to say: "Yeah, I’ve said that a few times this week. This joint, it’s changed my life. I didn’t have any plans to do more NASCAR races when I first came over here, and I never thought I’d be in NASCAR full time. Yeah, it’s pretty special here, some good memories, and some good races. I love the track. It’s a cool place to come to. You feel a nice vibe. You feel a good vibe in the mornings walking to the track with the fans. It’s pretty unique like that. Yeah, I enjoy it. I hope it stays next year. But as the guys were saying, when I arrived, I’m biased. Obviously I love street circuits, but if we go to a new place, I’m all for that, as well."

We'll dig deeper into that subject this week.

For now, the fans who showed up saw good weather from green flag to checkered, and they saw a driver in complete mastery of this type of circuit.

Can New Zealanders be the mayor of Chicago?

[Images © 2025 Tim Healey/TTAC.com]

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