Shane van Gisbergen crashes out of Chicago Street Race after contact with Chase Briscoe
Shane van Gisbergen’s bid to go back-to-back in the Chicago Street Race is over.
van Gisbergen, the race favorite, was involved in the Lap 25 caution after Chase Briscoe came sliding into the tire barriers. Briscoe clipped the back of van Gisbergen’s No. 16 Chevrolet, who then made hard contact with the wall.
van Gisbergen told NBC Sports he’s gutted to be out of the race and no longer going for Cup Series win No. 2
“Turned it in and looked pretty good and then just got smashed by someone,” van Gisbergen said. “Gutting. Wendy’s ‘Saucy Nuggs’ Camaro was really good. We were in the lead for a lot of that race and felt good taking off in the rain. So, that sucks. It’s an unfortunate mistake by him [Briscoe], I’m sure he didn’t mean it but yeah, when he clipped me there was nothing I could do.”
Shane van Gisbergen done at Chicago after Lap 25 wreck
van Gisbergen, who won the inaugural Chicago Street Race last year in his NASCAR Cup Series debut, won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race and looked primed to win again on Sunday. He started P5 and quickly made his way to the lead, winning Stage 1.
But with drivers having limited visibility on a wet racetrack, the chance for something to go awry was high. Unfortunately for van Gisbergen, he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Of course I’m disappointed,” van Gisbergen said. “We had a really amazing Camaro and Kaulig Racing, Trackhouse — they gave us a great car and we were able to lead. I felt like I was driving well within myself. So, it’s a shame to be out so early. And a shame we couldn’t have a proper crack at it at the end.”
van Gisbergen believes that any of the drivers in the current top-three have the best shot at securing the checkered flag. That would be Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson.
“Those guys were all racing well,” van Gisbergen said. “We had some really cool battles with them [that were] respectful, really fair. So, any of those top three I think are the favorite.”