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Shane van Gisbergen sweeps Chicago Street weekend, wins Cup Series race
Mandatory Credit: Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

A clean sweep! Shane van Gisbergen gets it done again in the Windy City, and this time, he takes all of the accolades himself. Two poles, two wins – SVG just dominated NASCAR weekend on the streets of Chicago.

While this race ended with a caution on the final lap, no one was catching Shane van Gisbergen at the end of this one. Once Michael McDowell went out of the race with his throttle issue, SVG had this one all to himself. He didn’t mess it up, either.

A massive weekend for SVG. He now has two Cup Series wins, and next week is another road course at Sonoma. Let’s see how many of these the Kiwi can claim for himself ahead of the NASCAR Playoffs.

Two out of three years, Shane van Gisbergen has been the winner of the Chicago Street Race. He also has two wins in the Xfinity Series race. This is his event, his city, and no one was going to stop him today. Not without being perfect.

For the first 31 laps of the race, Michael McDowell was the man to beat. He took the lead from the start of the race and held off SVG for many laps. McDowell earned a stage win, but his P32 finish is far from what this team was capable of.

For the first time in this race, we had a dry event from start to finish. No rain, no lightning, no sundown risks, none of that. Just straight up, entertaining stock car racing.

Shane van Gisbergen makes another statement at Chicago

Perhaps it is fitting for Shane van Gisbergen to win this race. We know that he has the talent to do it. Any track that has left AND right turns is right in his wheelhouse. As he gets more comfortable in the car, he only gets better in many aspects, but so does the rest of the field.

McDowell was the most impressive driver today outside of SVG. But you had drivers like Chase Briscoe play with strategy and put themselves in a good position. Tyler Reddick was great all day. Ty Gibbs was the closest to running SVG down on the last green flag run, but even he didn’t have what it took to even attempt a pass.

A lot of people talk about how SVG doesn’t belong in the playoffs with his points situation. But with two wins and possibly two more wins coming up at Sonoma and Watkins Glen before the playoffs, he could be the winningest driver before the regular season is over.

There were hurt feelings today on the streets of Chicago. Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman got into it again. Ross Chastain and Joey Logano were not happy with each other. Above all else, Shane van Gisbergen put on another masterclass. Two wins in 2025 for the Kiwi.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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