Shane van Gisbergen matches milestone of two-time NASCAR champion after the Chicago Street Race sweep

Shane Van Gisbergen made history at the Chicago Street Course as the second driver ever to do a weekend sweep of NASCAR's top two divisions from pole. The record mirrored the Indianapolis sweep by two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch back in July 2016.

Van Gisbergen yet again proved his road course mastery at the Grant Park 160 on Sunday, July 6, following up his second straight Xfinity Series win on Saturday. The Kiwi initially faced stiff competition from Spire Motorsports' Michael McDowell, who went on to win Stage 1, but a stuck throttle played spoilsport for his chances and cleared the way for SVG.

After capturing the lead with 16 laps to go, the Trackhouse Racing driver ripped through the Windy City. His final laps were met with a potential overtime finish after Cody Ware's wreck, but he avoided the ordeal by crossing the start/finish line before the caution was deployed.

Speaking to the media post-race, Van Gisbergen relayed his thoughts on a dominant weekend.

"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. Thanks everyone for coming out, and I hope we put on a good show,” he said via NASCAR.

"I guess we made no mistakes. There were some really fast cars, and we just seemed to get it right. Make no mistakes, be smooth every lap and really cool ... It was just so hot this weekend. The track was very slick, the times were a lot slower, and the margin for error was very tiny. Just had to get it right," he added.

Shane Van Gisbergen had one of the best cars during last year's Chicago race but got wrecked. Nonetheless, Sunday's win cemented his place as a road course ace, after previously winning the Mexico City race last month.

The result bumped him five spots in the driver's standings to land at 27th. Kyle Busch, meanwhile, matched his season-best finish with a strong run to fifth.

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Shane Van Gisbergen reflects on aggressive moves that led to his Xfinity win at Chicago

Shane Van Gisbergen's Xfinity Series win in The Loop 110 wasn't without controversy. With two laps left, the New Zealander was battling his JR Motorsports teammate Connor Zilisch and ran him wide over turn 1. Unable to hold on, Zilisch tagged the wall and surrendered the lead.

SVG seized the moment and pulled away to a convincing victory on Saturday, July 5. Speaking to CW Sports, he got candid about his incident with Zilisch.

“Yeah, he’s a great young driver… I thought that was my opportunity and took it, and yeah. It was an awesome 1-2 for the team,” he said. [0:51 onwards]

After Daniel Suarez's exit from Trackhouse Racing, the team's development driver, Connor Zilisch, is widely believed to replace him in 2026, potentially becoming Shane Van Gisbergen's teammate.