CHICAGO (AP) — Shane van Gisbergen burned out his tires in celebration, sending white smoke into the air. He signed a rugby ball and punted it into the stands in downtown Chicago.

It was a familiar scene.

Van Gisbergen completed a Windy City sweep Sunday, winning the NASCAR Cup Series race on the tricky street course in downtown Chicago.

“Epic weekend for us. I’m a lucky guy,” van Gisbergen said.

A talented one, too.

The 36-year-old New Zealand native became the second driver to sweep the Xfinity and Cup races in a single weekend from the pole, joining Kyle Busch at Indianapolis in 2016. With his third career Cup win, he also became the winningest foreign-born driver on NASCAR’s top series.

It was van Gisbergen’s second victory of the season after the Trackhouse Racing driver also won last month on a Mexico City road course.

“He’s the best road course stock car racer that I’ve ever seen,” Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said. “I think when he’s done with us all and walks away from the sport, I think he’s going to walk away as the best road course racer that this sport has ever seen.”

Marks brought van Gisbergen over from Australia’s Supercars for the first edition of NASCAR’s Chicago experiment in 2023, and he became the first driver to win his Cup debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.

He also won Chicago’s Xfinity Series stop last year and the first stage in the Cup race before he was knocked out by a crash.

“This joint, it’s changed my life,” van Gisbergen said. “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.”

In what might be the last NASCAR race on the downtown Chicago circuit, Ty Gibbs was second and Tyler Reddick finished third. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.

“My team called a great strategy and got me in position to get me up front to compete for the win,” Gibbs said. “It worked out for us today, so I’m glad to have a good finish, but we wish we could have gone for the win.”

Michael McDowell joined van Gisbergen on the front row and quickly moved in front. He won Stage 1 and led for 31 laps before he was derailed by a throttle cable issue.

Van Gisbergen regained the lead when he passed Chase Briscoe with 16 laps left. As fog and rain moved into downtown Chicago, van Gisbergen controlled the action the rest of the way.

AJ Allmendinger was sixth, and Ryan Preece finished seventh. Ryan Blaney, who won the second stage, was 12th.

“I thought overall it was a pretty decent day. It was nice to win that stage,” Blaney said.

William Byron’s day was cut short by a clutch problem. The Hendrick Motorsports driver leads the point standings by 13 points over Chase Elliott.

After McDowell seized the lead early in the race, Carson Hocevar caused a multicar crash when he hit the wall and spun out between Turns 10 and 11. Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suárez and Will Brown were among the drivers collected in the wreck.

“I didn’t see it until the last second,” Keselowski said. “I slowed down and I actually felt I was going to get stopped and then I just kind of got ran over from behind. It’s just a narrow street course and sometimes there’s nowhere to go.”

Ty Dillon and Reddick moved into the third round of NASCAR’s inaugural in-season tournament when Keselowski and Hocevar were unable to finish the race. Dillon, the No. 32 seed, eliminated Keselowski after he upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin last weekend at Atlanta.

Gibbs, Preece, Alex Bowman, John H. Nemechek, Zane Smith and Erik Jones also advanced. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament takes home a $1 million prize.

Bowman, the 2024 champion on the downtown street course, won his head-to-head matchup with Bubba Wallace. Bowman and Wallace made contact as they battled for position late in the race after they also tangled in Chicago last year.

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen or to get raced like that, but we did,” Bowman said. “We just have to move on from it and keep digging. I don’t really know what I could have done much different.”

Top-20 finish

Katherine Legge finished 19th for her best career Cup result. She became the first woman to finish in the top 20 in a Cup race since Danica Patrick at Texas in November 2017.

Legge was the first woman to qualify for the Cup race in downtown Chicago.

Up next

The Cup Series is at Sonoma Raceway in California on Sunday, July 13.

There are mixed feelings ahead of Sunday’s race about whether it will be the final NASCAR event in Chicago, and whether drivers want to see it remain on the schedule.

Denny Hamlin has no such hesitation.

“I personally would like to see them do everything they can to keep it here,” Hamlin said. “I’d like to see the city rally behind this race. I could just tell you that non-racing fans at the hotel I’m staying at are talking about the race. I think that it’s certainly got some sort of economic impact to the city itself. We’re certainly exposing some new fans to this. I think it’s very important. I think you try everything you can to get this thing back here in Chicago, because I believe it is an important place for us.”

NASCAR brought $109 million in economic impact to Chicago during the 2023 inaugural event. The number rose to $128 million last year. As for the attendance of new race fans, Julie Giese, president of the Chicago street course, said it was 80 percent the first year and close to 70percent in 2024.

Sunday is the last race in a three-year contract between NASCAR and the city of Chicago. However, there are option years in the contract.

“Chicagoland (Speedway) is not a substitute for this race,” Hamlin said of the dormant intermediate oval in Joliet, Illinois. “I’d like to see us run both. I don’t know where you go next, not really sure. Wild thought is, what about a street oval?

“All you need is just flat pavement to make a race track. We run a flat Clash, right? It’s at a flat track and we kind of make it work. I get it, though. There are so many things to put on a race so I wouldn’t know. But there’s a lot of hospitality and stuff around this track that you need miles to expand into. But I’m not sure the right place, I just know that it seems like it works here.”

Chicagoland has recently become a more vocal wish list item for some drivers and fans, although NASCAR has not publicly acknowledged its return being on their radar. But given that the Next Gen car performs reasonably well on intermediate racetracks, some would like to see it back on the calendar. NASCAR last competed there in 2019.

San Diego is the biggest rumor at the moment. The Athletic has reported NASCAR is working on a deal, but RACER is unaware of one having been finalized to this point.

The question then becomes: Would a Chicago street course race and a San Diego event exist on the same schedule? Or, is San Diego next in line to try and replicate what NASCAR did in Chicago?

“Until we know the alternative, I don’t know whether they’re ones better or worse than this,” Hamlin said. “I just feel like this is a bigger event than some of the ovals that we go through, simply because of the atmosphere of where it’s at. The exposure to new fans that are here casually in the city. I can only speak from my experiences in the casual people that for instance, I go shopping yesterday. I go to all these different stores, ‘What are you in town for? Oh yeah, there’s a race. We were talking about going to that. We didn’t go last year because the rain, but we’re thinking about going.’

“You want these are younger people that they’re not going to travel to Chicagoland to go to a race. You have to have it right here where they can walk to it. I don’t know if anyone shares the same sentiment I do, but I don’t run the series, I don’t make the decisions. But it just seems like from my standpoint, there’s more excitement around the venue itself than what a normal NASCAR race venue has.”

Shane van Gisbergen is the king of the Chicago Street Race.

In the third edition of the NASCAR Cup Series event through the downtown Windy City course, SVG reigned for the second time. He took the lead with 16 laps to go on July 6, streaking past Chase Briscoe seconds before a caution flag came out. Van Gisbergen held on after the green flag returned.

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He also won the first Chicago Street Race, which was his NASCAR debut, in 2023. Alex Bowman claimed it in 2024.

Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five Sunday.

Let’s check out the results.

NASCAR standings: Results from Cup Series race in Chicago today

1. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88

15. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42

31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47

(This story was updated to add more information.)

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR today: Results, winner of Chicago Street Race

CHICAGO (AP) — Shane van Gisbergen burned out his tires in celebration, sending white smoke into the air. He signed a rugby ball and punted it into the stands in downtown Chicago.

It was a familiar scene.

Van Gisbergen completed a Windy City sweep Sunday, winning the NASCAR Cup Series race on the tricky street course in downtown Chicago.

“Epic weekend for us. I’m a lucky guy,” van Gisbergen said.

A talented one, too.

Shane van Gisbergen does a victory burnout after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at the Grant Park 165, Sunday, July 6, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Photo:

The 36-year-old New Zealand native became the second driver to sweep the Xfinity and Cup races in a single weekend from the pole, joining Kyle Busch at Indianapolis in 2016. With his third career Cup win, he also became the winningest foreign-born driver on NASCAR’s top series.

It was van Gisbergen’s second victory of the season after the Trackhouse Racing driver also won last month on a Mexico City road course.

“He’s the best road course stock car racer that I’ve ever seen,” Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said. “I think when he’s done with us all and walks away from the sport, I think he’s going to walk away as the best road course racer that this sport has ever seen.”

Marks brought van Gisbergen over from Australia’s Supercars for the first edition of NASCAR’s Chicago experiment in 2023, and he became the first driver to win his Cup debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.

He also won Chicago’s Xfinity Series stop last year and the first stage in the Cup race before he was knocked out by a crash.

“This joint, it’s changed my life,” van Gisbergen said. “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.”

In what might be the last NASCAR race on the downtown Chicago circuit, Ty Gibbs was second and Tyler Reddick finished third. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.

“My team called a great strategy and got me in position to get me up front to compete for the win,” Gibbs said. “It worked out for us today, so I’m glad to have a good finish, but we wish we could have gone for the win.”

Michael McDowell joined van Gisbergen on the front row and quickly moved in front. He won Stage 1 and led for 31 laps before he was derailed by a throttle cable issue.

Van Gisbergen regained the lead when he passed Chase Briscoe with 16 laps left. As fog and rain moved into downtown Chicago, van Gisbergen controlled the action the rest of the way.

AJ Allmendinger was sixth, and Ryan Preece finished seventh. Ryan Blaney, who won the second stage, was 12th.

“I thought overall it was a pretty decent day. It was nice to win that stage,” Blaney said.

William Byron’s day was cut short by a clutch problem. The Hendrick Motorsports driver leads the point standings by 13 points over Chase Elliott.

After McDowell seized the lead early in the race, Carson Hocevar caused a multicar crash when he hit the wall and spun out between Turns 10 and 11. Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suárez and Will Brown were among the drivers collected in the wreck.

“I didn’t see it until the last second,” Keselowski said. “I slowed down and I actually felt I was going to get stopped and then I just kind of got ran over from behind. It’s just a narrow street course and sometimes there’s nowhere to go.”

Ty Dillon and Reddick moved into the third round of NASCAR’s inaugural in-season tournament when Keselowski and Hocevar were unable to finish the race. Dillon, the No. 32 seed, eliminated Keselowski after he upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin last weekend at Atlanta.

Gibbs, Preece, Alex Bowman, John H. Nemechek, Zane Smith and Erik Jones also advanced. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament takes home a $1 million prize.

Bowman, the 2024 champion on the downtown street course, won his head-to-head matchup with Bubba Wallace. Bowman and Wallace made contact as they battled for position late in the race after they also tangled in Chicago last year.

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen or to get raced like that, but we did,” Bowman said. “We just have to move on from it and keep digging. I don’t really know what I could have done much different.”

Top-20 finish

Katherine Legge finished 19th for her best career Cup result. She became the first woman to finish in the top 20 in a Cup race since Danica Patrick at Texas in November 2017.

Legge was the first woman to qualify for the Cup race in downtown Chicago.

Up next

The Cup Series is at Sonoma Raceway in California on Sunday, July 13.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

NASCAR race results from the Chicago Street Race

NASCAR Cup Series drivers are on the grid in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago Street Course is set to host the Grant Park 165.

View Chicago results for the NASCAR Cup Series below.

Chicago Menu
Xfinity: Prac/Qual | Race
Cup: Prac/Qual | Race

Chicago TV Schedule

William Byron is suffering from a clutch issue ahead of the green flag. He’s already starting in the back of the field after a crash yesterday.

Shane van Gisbergen and Michael McDowell set the front row. 75 laps of street racing are up next…

Chicago
Stage 1 – Report

Laps: 20 (1-20 / 75)

Green flag, they run side by side for the lead into turn one. McDowell brakes later and clears him for the lead. Shane van Gisbergen crosses under him off the corner but McDowell holds the lead.

Lap 3, Carson Hocevar slams the wall and breaks the suspension. Hocevar spins across the track and we have a traffic jam. Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Will Brown, Todd Gilliland and Riley Herbst are collected. The red flag is out.

Chris Buescher heads to the pit lane with a mechanical issue. The hood is up as the team attempts a fix.

Green, McDowell gets the jump and he’s clear before turn one.

Lap 13, Shane van Gisbergen is all over the bumper of McDowell in the battle for the lead.

Lap 14, Alex Bowman is around under braking, no caution.

2 to go in stage one, Shane van Gisbergen heads for the pit lane from 2nd.

Penalty: Christopher Bell has been caught speeding on the pit lane.

Michael McDowell stays out and he wins stage one in Chicago!

Chicago Results (Stage 1) : 1. Michael McDowell; 2. Kyle Busch; 3. Tyler Reddick; 4. Chase Briscoe; 5. Ryan Preece; 6. Ross Chastain; 7. John Hunter Nemechek; 8. Zane Smith; 9. Austin Hill; 10. Noah Gragson

Chicago
Stage 2 – Report

Laps: 25 (21-45 / 75)

Michael stays out with several others. Shane van Gisbergen restarts 9th with fresh tires.

Green flag on stage two, McDowell clears Busch at the launch.

Lap 28, Shane van Gisbergen outbrakes Chase Briscoe and he takes 5th away. He’s climbing to the front.

Lap 31, Josh Berry spins with help from Erik Jones and the caution is out. Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick were on the pit lane as the caution came out.

Michael McDowell heads to the pit lane. He hands the lead to Shane van Gisbergen. McDowell has a struck throttle and the crew has lifted the hood to try and make repairs.

Green, Shane van Gisbergen leads AJ Allmendinger into turn one. McDowell heads to the garage area.

Lap 34, Kyle Busch is around under braking, no caution.

6 to go in stage two, Katherine Legge is around in turn one and she slams the tire barrier, no caution.

3 to go in stage two, Shane van Gisbergen and most of the leaders head for the pit lane. Allmendinger is handed the lead.

2 to go, AJ Allmendinger heads to the pits from the lead.

Ryan Blaney stays out and he wins stage two in Chicago!

Chicago Results (Stage 2) : 1. Ryan Blaney; 2. Chase Briscoe; 3. Tyler Reddick; 4. Alex Bowman; 5. Bubba Wallace; 6. Denny Hamlin; 7. Chase Elliott; 8. John Hunter Nemechek; 9. Erik Jones; 10. Christopher Bell

Chicago
Stage 3 – Report

Laps: 30 (46-75 / 75)

Blaney and others head to the pit lane. Chase Briscoe cycles to the race lead. Shane van Gisbergen restarts 8th with fresher tires than all the cars ahead.

Green flag on stage three, Briscoe clears Reddick at the jump.

Lap 50, rain is on the way.

24 to go, Shane van Gisbergen takes 3rd away from Hamlin. He’s 3 seconds behind the leader.

19 to go, Shane van Gisbergen dives inside of Reddick. Van Gisbergen takes 2nd away. Briscoe leads by three car lengths.

16 to go

16 to go, Shane Van Gisbergen has a run and he looks inside into turn three. Shane van Gisbergen to the lead! And the caution is out due to a medical emergency on the infield.

Shane van Gisbergen stays out. Reddick heads for the pit lane with just a few others.

Green, Shane Van Gisbergen leads Ty Gibbs into turn one. Austin Cindric completely missed the braking zone and he puts Ross Chastain is in the tire barrier but he keeps rolling. Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr find the turn two tire barrier.

12 to go, Cindric is stalled, caution.

Green, van Gisbergen and Gibbs rub fenders at the launch. Shane van Gisbergen holds the lead into turn one.

9 to go, Chase Briscoe bangs wheels and he picks up a flat tire in turn twelve! No caution as Briscoe will limp around for a full lap.

6 to go, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman are banging bumpers for 7th. They are competing in the In-Season Challenge. Wallace is in the wall, no caution!

5 to go, Bell is around, no caution.

4 to go, Reddick has climbed to 4th. He’s 4 seconds behind the leader with much fresher tires.

2 to go, Cody Ware is buried in the tire barrier. No caution.

1 to go, the caution is out. Shane van Gisbergen wins the Chicago Street Race!

Chicago Street Course
Race Results
July 6, 2025
NASCAR Cup Series

Pos | Driver

1. Shane van Gisbergen

2. Ty Gibbs

3. Tyler Reddick

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Kyle Busch

6. AJ Allmendinger

7. Ryan Preece

8. Alex Bowman

9. Austin Hill

10. Ross Chastain

11. Joey Logano

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Kyle Larson

14. Zane Smith

15. John Hunter Nemechek

16. Chase Elliott

17. Riley Herbst

18. Chris Buescher

19. Katherine Legge

20. Ty Dillon

21. Josh Bilicki

22. Christopher Bell

23. Justin Haley

24. Chase Briscoe

25. Cody Ware

26. Erik Jones

27. Austin Cindric

28. Bubba Wallace

29. Daniel Suarez

30. Noah Gragson

31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

32. Michael McDowell

33. Cole Custer

34. Josh Berry

35. Carson Hocevar

36. Austin Dillon

37. Brad Keselowski

38. Todd Gilliland

39. Will Brown

40. William Byron

NASCAR Cup Series
Point Standings

Pos | Driver | Wins | Points

1. Kyle Larson
3 Wins

2. Denny Hamlin
3 Wins

3. Christopher Bell
3 Wins

4. Shane van Gisbergen
2 Wins

5. William Byron
1 Win

6. Ryan Blaney
1 Win

7. Austin Cindric
1 Win

8. Joey Logano
1 Win

9. Chase Briscoe
1 Win

10. Josh Berry
1 Win

11. Chase Elliott
1 Win

12. Ross Chastain
1 Win

13. Tyler Reddick
+142

14. Alex Bowman
+39

15. Chris Buescher
+35

16. Bubba Wallace
+3

— Playoff Cutline —

17. Ryan Preece
-3

18. AJ Allmendinger
-44

19. Kyle Busch
-47

20. Erik Jones
-51

In-Season Challenge
Bracket (Chicago Results)

Bracket winners in bold

Ty Dillon (Seed 32)
vs
Brad Keselowski (Seed 17)

Alex Bowman (Seed 8)
vs
Bubba Wallace (Seed 9)

John Hunter Nemechek (Seed 12)
vs
Chase Elliott (Seed 5)

Erik Jones (Seed 20)
vs
Ricky Stenhouse Jr (Seed 28)

Noah Gragson (Seed 31)
vs
Ryan Preece (Seed 15)

Carson Hocevar (Seed 26)
vs
Tyler Reddick (Seed 23)

AJ Allmendinger (Seed 22)
vs
Ty Gibbs (Seed 6)

Zane Smith (Seed 14)
vs
Chris Buescher (Seed 3)

Chicago Street Race
Video Highlights

Links

NASCAR Chicago | NASCAR

Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s Cup race on the streets of Chicago.

Shane van Gisbergen — Winner: “What an amazing weekend for me. Lucky guy to drive some great cars. I thank Trackhouse, WeatherTech Chevy and all these guys and girls here, what an amazing weekend. … There were some really fast cars, and we just seemed to get it right and make no mistakes, be smooth every lap. Really cool. … It was very hot this weekend. The track was very slick and the times were a lot slower and the margin for error was very tiny.”

Ty Gibbs — Finished 2nd: “My team called a great strategy and got me in position to get me up front to compete for the win. It worked out for us today, so I’m glad to have a good finish, but we wish we could have gone for the win.”

Tyler Reddick — Finished 3rd: “Each year we’ve been here, the situation has kind of been the same. We’ve had some sort of tire advantage all three years and just come up a little bit short. The first year obviously we came up big short because I just drove it in the tire barrier into 6. But this time around, the last five, six laps were really good. We just on that second to last restart, the 8 got — I think it was the 8. A couple cars got turned around and we were in the wrong lane and had to check up quite a bit. Cars that were on our similar strategy got ahead of us, so I had to — took me a few laps to get by those cars on equal tires before we could start chewing through those cars on older tires. Had to be aggressive. A lot of those cars on older tires weren’t wanting to give up the spot, but when you’re on those newer tires you’ve got to go because you’re hoping you’re able to run the leader down. It’s truly hard to say how much the 88 was coasting there, but we were catching him at a pretty good pace, and I think with two or three to go he picked it up a little bit, and we were still faster. But obviously he had a 3-second gap there with two to go, so comfortably in front. But it was nice to be able to restart 18th or so and even with the issues we had and the damage we got on the car, be able to drive back to third there. All in all, it was another really solid day for us here in Chicago.”

Denny Hamlin — Finished 4th: “Just a good job by the team. I had some pace and really the whole Progressive Toyota team did a great job. I’ve got to thank the whole team for working hard to kind of get us back to where we were running there. Truthfully, that’s where we were at on pace. It wasn’t a crazy strategy or anything like that. Just thought the car was really, really good. I would’ve loved to not have to save fuel with the No. 54 (Ty Gibbs) and the No. 88 (Shane van Gisbergen) there just to see how far off I am and how much I stack up. I’m really happy overall with the day. I was really saving (fuel) the entire run and was running good lap times. Truthfully, I felt pretty good all day. We marched forward all day long. The car had pace in it and that’s the key to getting a good finish, but beyond that once I was able to get towards the front I could save and take it easy on my tires. I would’ve loved to have been on equal tires just to see how far off I am from the front two guys. It just didn’t seem like that much.”

Kyle Busch — Finished 5th: “Our day started out pretty good. We got a good jump on the initial start there and was able to roll forward and get to third. We tried to go long on that first set of tires, and with those couple of cautions, it didn’t fall into our favor. That put us on old tires and I spun out getting into (turn) seven. We just didn’t have any left-rear grip. That’s something we’ve struggled with on this car, and it just bit me there. The No. 8 Slurpee Chevrolet team rallied and we were able to rebound. We pitted a couple of times there at the end and had some fresh tires late for some of the melee that was going on in front of us and made up some spots. Our Chevrolet was definitely a top-two or three car, but it’s good to come home with a top-five finish.”

Ryan Preece — Finished 7th: “We had a really, really good car. We took stage points there and it was really, really tough to pass, even tires held on really well. Ultimately, a really good car. I’m excited for Sonoma. I’m excited for road racing. If there wasn’t such a jumble up sometimes with how you have to play for points or stages, I feel like we had a really good car.”

Alex Bowman — Finished 8th: “I passed him (Bubba Wallace) clean, or what I thought was clean. I just followed when the No. 45 passed him. Then he shipped us into (Turn) 12; ran us into the fence in (Turn) 1 and ran us into the fence off of (Turn) 2. And then we just sort of pin-balled off of each other and he ended up on the worse side of it, but we’re just trying to go straight off the corner. I don’t know why we did that. … I wasn’t expecting that to happen or to get raced like that, but we did. We just have to move on from it and keep digging. I don’t really know what I could have done much different. I just got into the fence there and you’re kind of along for the ride. It’s just frustrating.”

Austin Hill — Finished 9th: “Massive day for our United Rentals Chevrolet. The Cup Series isn’t easy. To only have five races with the No. 33 team and leave with a top-10 finish is huge for our group. We started 30th, drove up a little ways and played some strategy to gain even more ground. I feel like I won the race honestly. I was upset with finishing fourth yesterday in the Xfinity Series race, but to finish ninth in a Cup race feels like I won it. Hats off to RCR, ECR and everyone on this team. We put our heads together, called a great race, took tires when we needed to, and stayed out when we needed to. At the end, it was good enough to get up there and battle with the guys to finish inside the top 10.”

Ryan Blaney — Finished 12th: “I thought overall it was a pretty decent day. It was nice to win that stage. I knew we were gonna lose track position, but we were fine. We made up really good ground on the restart in the third stage and then I hit the inside wall in 11 and popped the right-front tire. We had to work our way back from there, but, overall, it was a decent recovery.”

Zane Smith — Finished 14th: “I hate we had to knock another Ford out, but it’s super cool to advance (in the In-Season Challenge). I know going up against Chris (Buescher) the odds were stacked against me with how good he is on road courses. I did everything I could to not advance today. We had a really good car to start and then I got blind behind the 12 and then nicked the wall and got a pretty good amount of damage that put me back there in the hornet’s nest. I just kept getting hit and it was chaos, but, fortunately, I was able to escape some of that chaos and get aggressive towards the end and get a top 15 and some stage points and advance in the bracket, so I’m very happy about this.”

Ty Dillon — Finished 20th: “We survived and advanced! This No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team is just a tough team – we never quit. We don’t even know how to. I’m just so proud of Kaulig Racing and our No. 10 team. … This race was tough on us. I felt like halfway through the race, we were rolling pretty good and we could have had a chance at a top-15. I clipped the wall again and knocked the toe out and kind of bent the ball joint pretty bad. I was just kind of hanging on and hoping we could get everything we could there at the end. We’re just going to keep working hard; put pressure on who we’re facing next and see if we can keep it rolling.”

Cody Ware — Finished 26th: “We had a solid top-15 day going. Team did a really good job making adjustments. From start to finish, it was just a constant march forward. Unfortunately, during one of those restarts, the ‘7’ car got into our left front, picked up a vibration from there and it just progressively got worse and worse until finally, the rotor exploded. Just frustrating. We’ll focus forward at Sonoma and finish what we started here in Chicago.”

Michael McDowell — Finished 32nd: “The throttle cable just broke. I don’t know what caused it or how it got to that spot, but that’s what happened. I feel like we had control of the race. I think it would have been a battle, no doubt. I felt like any time I could open a gap on SVG, I could. We were just working on our strategy. We knew we were going to one-stop it, so I was taking care of the tires and doing all the things I could. I was behind the pace car and the throttle stuck wide-open. Luckily I got to the switches fast enough before I ran into something, and then a cable broke after that. It’s just a shame. We had a great No. 71 DePaul Chevrolet. We’ve got some good momentum heading into Sonoma next weekend.”

Cole Custer — Finished 33rd: “Overall, it was a really hard fought day, and our guys worked extremely hard to get us back out there,” Custer said. “We definitely got our car better throughout the weekend, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do at Sonoma.”

Josh Berry — Finished 34th: “Without seeing a replay, I feel like the 43 just kind of overcooked the corner and got us there. It’s just disappointing. We were having a really solid day and made our way forward. We were running well, so we’ll just keep on going and trying to get better and go on to Sonoma.”

Austin Dillon — Finished 36th: “Disappointing day in the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE Chevrolet at the Chicago Street Race. Crew chief Richard Boswell and everyone on the RCR team brought a really fast Chevrolet to the streets of Chicago. We qualified 10th and thought we would be a contender today in the race. A car spun in front of us on the first lap and it ended our day before we could even get it started. It’s a shame and I’m just at a loss for words at this point. We’ll just keep bringing cars like this and hope our luck turns around for us at some point.”

Brad Keselowski — Finished 37th: “I didn’t see it until the last second. I slowed down and I actually felt I was gonna get stopped and then I just kind of got ran over from behind. It’s just a narrow street course and sometimes there’s nowhere to go.”