Kyle Larson on Shane van Gisbergen winning Chicago: 'Think he was having fun just playing with me'

NASCAR took on Chicago for the second straight year, and that meant it was Shane van Gisbergen Time once again. He won The Loop 110 in the Xfinity Series on Saturday, with Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson coming in behind him.

The race had quite the backdrop with the iconic skyline in the background – with much better weather than last year, too. Larson looked like he had fun throughout The Loop 110 as he battled van Gisbergen to the end.

Ultimately, Larson said van Gisbergen might’ve had even more fun. Their battles were entertaining as the race went along, and there was still plenty to take away from Saturday’s run.

“I was having a blast,” Larson said. “He was obviously way faster than me and I think he was having fun just playing with me. I wanted to use this race to learn and I wanted to take the first opportunity I got to battle him. We were going to give each other space because it was early on, but you just never know when the race plays out, if I’m gonna have a chance to battle him and learn racecraft stuff. So that was big on my agenda and I feel like I learned quite a bit, battling him and creating different angles and all that.

“I think today was a success. Obviously, we’d like to win, but our car just wasn’t quite as good as his. He could just exit Turn 5 just way smoother than me. I just was bouncing so aggressively. I couldn’t accelerate. Same through Turn 9. I just couldn’t carry the speed that he could. If I carried just a little bit too much, which was never even close to how much speed he was pulling through there, I would just sheer and get loose. And that carries all the way to 11. It was a fun, fun race, even through the restarts in the beginning of the third stage was cool.”

Saturday marked Larson’s second Xfinity Series run of the year, and it got him ready for Sunday’s main event. That’s when the Grant Park 165 gets underway to cap the Chicago Street Race weekend, and he said he’s feeling confident in what he can do after Sunday’s race.

Of course, van Gisbergen will be going for the Chicago Sweep. That would include a second straight Cup Series victory. Larson said he likes his chances for Sunday’s showdown.

“I think my car is much more competitively matched to his car for tomorrow,” Kyle Larson said. “And others, too. I think my car’s really good, I feel like, in five and in nine all the way to 11. That gives me confidence for tomorrow.

“But Cup races are really, really hard. There’s way more good cars, way more good drivers. A lot of drivers with great racecrafts. It’s tough, but I like my chances for tomorrow to at least have another good run. We’ll see.”