Where did Shane van Gisbergen’s former Supercars teammate Will Brown finish at the Chicago Street Race?

Supercars champion Will Brown logged his career-second start in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 race at the Chicago Street Circuit. However, the driver got caught in a multi-car carnage on Lap 3, which left him settling for a disappointing P39 finish.

The 75-lap event was swept by pole sitter Shane van Gisbergen, also a former Supercars champion. As things stand, Gisbergen, often referred to as SVG, is now qualified for the playoffs alongside his Trackhouse Racing teammate, Ross Chastain. The Auckland native ranks 27th in series standings with 308 points to his name.

Notably, when Gisbergen left Supercars and transitioned to NASCAR, it was Brown who took over his seat at Triple Eight Race Engineering. Brown made his NASCAR debut last year at Sonoma, where SVG spotted for him. At Chicago, the Toowoomba native started from P19.

Reflecting on the crash that was triggered by Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar, Brown radioed to his team,

“I just had nowhere to go, because I had someone on my right. Started braking and just went into them.”

As a result, Brown’s No. 13 Kaulig Racing machine suffered a broken toe link and a punctured radiator. Others to get involved in the mess were Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Suárez, and Cup Series rookie Riley Herbst. Herbst happens to be the only driver to finish the race without getting slammed with a DNF.

While SVG prepares for next week’s race at Sonoma, Will Brown looks forward to resuming his journey in the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship. His next stop is Townsville from July 11 to 13. Fans from all over the world can watch the event live on SuperView.

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Will Brown says losing Shane van Gisbergen to NASCAR was a huge hit for the Australian fans

Shane van Gisbergen left Supercars in 2023, leaving his seat at Triple Eight Race Engineering up for grabs. Will Brown was the one to claim it, but that was an entire year before his contract with Erebus Motorsports was due to expire.

Losing van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion, was indeed a big hit for the sport and its fans. Detailing the same during a recent media availability, Brown said (2:07),

“I think losing Shane from our series was a hit at the time, but there's been a lot of young guys come up through and sort of take that place and be really competitive.”

That being said, the 27-year-old speedster added,

“I think that it's been great for us because it's Monday morning, so a lot of us wake up in the morning and watch Shane (van Gisbergen). Nearly everyone in our team definitely does, and a lot of fans every Monday (are) watching NASCAR.”

Will Brown was second in the Supercars championship standings at the time, next only to his teammate, Brodie Kostecki. Per reports, Kostecki made his Cup Series debut on the Indianapolis road course just the following weekend in a Richard Childress Racing car.