Road course “animal” Shane van Gisbergen goes into this weekend’s Chicago street race as stand-out favorite following last year’s stunning triumph
Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain believes this weekend’s NASCAR Cup race at the Chicago Street Course allows him “another crack” at battling road-course standout colleague Shane van Gisbergen.
Van Gisbergen won last year’s rain-impacted inaugural event on the streets of Chicago following an amazing charge to the front in the last stint, establishing fastest lap by 0.85s in Trackhouse’s Project 91 entry to win by 1.25s over Justin Haley in overtime.
Now a full-timer in the second-tier Xfinity Series, Trackhouse-contracted van Gisbergen is also competing a partial Cup Series program with Kaulig Racing and will pilot its No. 16 entry as NASCAR returns to Chicago this weekend.
Chastain – who has yet to win a Cup race this season but has four career triumphs to his name – finished just 22nd 12 months ago and has spent time with SVG studying how to enhance his skills on NASCAR’s only street circuit.
“He’s just such a great guy and he’s got little tidbits here and there,” added Chastain. “He is an animal when it comes to road courses and we’ve seen that with his two Xfinity wins already this season. He’s that excellent.
“It’s intentionally placing the car where he wanted to place it, and I was trying to place it kind of between the walls and he was placing it at the wall, maximizing left and right.
“It's easy to say it, but really hard to do it.”
Chastain has learned that van Gisbergen’s strategy to optimizing his time in the Chevrolet simulator was a crucial element of his success, and reveals he’s put more effort into that aspect ahead of this year’s race.
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“Well, he’s a machine when it comes to preparation,” Chastain remarked. “I would say he’s kind of leading the charge for us in the simulator and getting it how he thinks it will be.
“But the streets up there will have changed and we’re all honest with each other that the simulator is a tool. At least I’ll have that to go off on, though.
“Last year, I’ll be honest, that I didn’t put enough stock in his simulator prep but this year I definitely have.”
When asked what he was most looking forward to at Chicago, Chastain replied: “Getting another crack at it, as SVG would say!
“Definitely not the result I wanted last year. Didn’t feel comfortable, didn’t make a lot of speed, couldn’t pass and really battled. It was a concrete canyon sensation and the walls were fairly near to the left and right of the racing line.
“Looking forward to getting another shot and seeing if I can do better.”
