Pit Stops : Chicago Street Race

Grant Park 220

Sunday, July 2nd, 2023

Chicago Street Race , Chicago, IL

Chicago Street Race logo
  • 17
  • 14
  • 6

  • Chicago Street Race
  • Grant Park 220
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Denny Hamlin
  • Age: 42
  • Team : No. 11 - Yahoo! Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Christopher Gabehart
  • Denny Hamlin won the Pole Award for the Grant Park 220 with a lap of 88.435 seconds, 89.557 mph.
  • This is his 39th pole in 632 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his third pole and ninth top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his first pole in one races at Chicago Street Race.
  • Tyler Reddick (second) posted his 11th top-10 start of 2023 and his first in one race at Chicago Street Race.
  • Shane Van Gisbergen (third) posted his first top-10 start at Chicago Street Race. It is his first in one race this season.
  • Ty Gibbs (12th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Sunday, July 2nd, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen wins Chicago Street Race in NASCAR debut

When the Grant Park 220 turned topsy-turvy at the 49-lap mark, the change didn’t slow New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, the first driver to win a race in his first NASCAR Cup Series start since Johnny Rutherford accomplished the feat 60 years ago.

Driving the No. 91 Chevrolet under the aegis of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 program, the three-time Supercars champion charged from eighth on a Lap 61 restart to the front of the field and won the series’ first-ever street race on the Chicago Street Course in overtime.

Asked whether he thought victory was possible in his NASCAR debut, Van Gisbergen chuckled.

“No, of course not, but you always dream of it,” he said. “Thank you so much to the Trackhouse team and (sponsor) Enhance Health, Project91. What an experience in the crowd out here. This was so cool. This is what you dream of. Hopefully, I can come and do more.”

What changed the tenor of the race dramatically was NASCAR’s decision near the midpoint of the event to shorten the race from the scheduled 100 laps to 75, putting a large group of cars that had pitted on Lap 43 inside their fuel window.

After the previously dominant cars of Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick pitted with others for tires and fuel on Lap 47—Van Gisbergen among them—Justin Haley, Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott led the field to green on a single-file restart on Lap 49. At the time Van Gisbergen was 18th, but not for long.

“Wow, when we had that back strategy back to 18th, I started to worry a bit, but the racing was really good,” said Van Gisbergen. “Everyone was respectful. It was tough, but a lot of fun.”

The Kiwi passed Haley for the lead on Lap 71 and beat him to the finish line by 1.259 seconds, after the sliding car of Bubba Wallace knocked Ricky Stenhouse’s Chevrolet into the Turn 1 tire barrier to cause the ninth caution on Lap 74 and force overtime.

The decision to shorten the race was a saving grace for Elliott, who had crashed his No. 9 Chevrolet during qualifying and started from the rear of the field in a backup car. Elliott held third after the final restart and finished ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch, who were fourth and fifth, respectively.

“Once they changed that race distance, we got pretty fortunate to end up being able to make it on gas,” Elliott said. “We kind of inadvertently flipped the strategy.”

Haley, who started 36th after crashing in practice on Saturday, said he was beaten by a world-class driver on 16-lap better tires.

“Yeah, it was tough,” Haley said. “I put it in the tire barrier yesterday and we stayed up all night. I stayed with the guys through the rain and rewrapped this thing, put a new body on it…

“Obviously congrats to Project91. It sucks, obviously, where we are right now we don’t have a… we aren’t in position to win every week, so coming that close obviously is not what you want.

“But just really proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing and what an awesome event. Can’t wait to come back next year.”

Shortening the race wasn’t what Bell wanted or needed. He had overtaken Reddick for the lead on Lap 9 and won the first 20-lap stage by a comfortable margin. After a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Bell held an advantage of nearly nine seconds before Noah Gragson’s third adventure into the Turn 6 tire barrier caused the third caution on Lap 29.

By then, drivers had transitioned from wet tires at the start of the event to slicks as the racing line dried out.

Bell survived two subsequent cautions and won Stage 2 under yellow after Alex Bowman stopped on the track at the exit from Turn 5 because of engine issues. By then, Larson had worked his way into the second position and was hounding Bell before the caution.

After the field flipped, Bell finished 18th, thanks to a late spin into a tire barrier.

Delayed for nearly 75 minutes by rain, the historic race was eventful from the start. As soon as the green flag waved, Reddick pulled even with pole winner Denny Hamlin. The drivers raced side-by-side until Reddick cleared Hamlin through Turn 5.

Aric Almirola spun near Turn 6 on the opening lap. Erik Jones drove too deep into Turn 6 and collected Brad Keselowski and Gragson. All three drivers extricated themselves from the tire barrier and continued.

On Lap 2, Hamlin slid sideways into the tire barrier on the outside of Turn 2 and lost 11 positions. A lap later, Busch lost control while making a move off the racing line and plowed nose-first into the tire barrier, causing the race’s first caution.

After a safety crew pulled Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet from the barrier with a tether, Busch rejoined the field without losing a lap. On Lap 13, Gragson buried the nose of his No. 42 Chevy into the barrier in Turn 6, which proved an early trouble spot on the wet street course.

Hamlin never recovered from his accident and finished 11th. Busch, on the other hand, took advantage of his early pit stop to come home fifth.

Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

  • Drivers Entered: 37
  • Laps Scheduled: 75
  • Laps Actual: 78 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
  • Margin of Victory: 01.259 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 50 Minutes 48 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 60.281
  • Cautions: 9 for 21 laps
  • Lead Changes: 7
  • Green Flag Passes: 1,201 (21.1 passes per green flag lap)

  • Chicago Street Race
  • Grant Park 220
  • Race Winner: Shane van Gisbergen
  • Age: 34
  • Team : No. 91 - Enhance Health Chevrolet
  • Owner: Justin Marks
  • Crew Chief: Darian Grubb
  • Shane van Gisbergen won the Grant Park 220, his first victory in one Cup Series races.
  • This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in one race at Chicago Street Race.
  • Justin Haley (second) posted his first top-10 finish in one race at Chicago Street Race. It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Chase Elliott (third) posted his first top-10 finish in one races at Chicago Street Race.
  • Ty Gibbs (ninth) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Martin Truex Jr. leads the point standings by 9 points over William Byron.
  • Van Gisbergen becomes the sixth driver born outside the United States to win a NASCAR Cup Series race joining Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Mario Andretti (Italy) Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia), Earl Ross (Canada), and Daniel Suarez (Mexico).
  • The last time a Cup driver won his first career start was Johnny Rutherford at Daytona in 1963. It was a points paying qualifying race.
Cup Series pit stops at Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida - February 8, 2020 : Cup Series pit stops at Daytona International Speedway
Brian LawdermilkGetty Images

Pit Stop Summary Report

Aggregate of each driver's pit stops during the race.

 
DRIVER
START
FINISH
STATUS
# STOPS
DRIVER / PIT CREW
FASTEST
SLOWEST
AVG TIME
RANK
DRIVER
AVG TIME
RANK
PIT CREW
AVG TIME
RANK

Christopher Bell
4
18
Running
2
13.369
42.966
28.168
1
15.139
1
13.028
5
Kyle Larson
7
4
Running
2
43.692
44.554
44.123
2
31.324
8
12.799
3
Alex Bowman
13
37
Accident
1
44.408
44.408
44.408
3
31.062
3
13.346
9
Daniel Suarez
5
27
Running
2
44.249
45.587
44.918
4
31.773
14
13.146
7
Kyle Busch
18
5
Running
2
44.169
45.685
44.927
5
31.091
4
13.835
14
Ty Gibbs
12
9
Running
2
44.261
46.076
45.169
6
32.139
21
13.030
6
Tyler Reddick
2
28
Running
1
45.300
45.300
45.300
7
31.180
7
14.120
17
Chase Elliott
26
3
Running
1
45.359
45.359
45.359
8
33.482
34
11.877
1
Michael McDowell
6
7
Running
2
45.182
45.571
45.377
9
31.476
11
13.900
15
Chris Buescher
15
10
Running
2
45.292
45.561
45.426
10
31.446
10
13.980
16
Justin Haley
37
2
Running
3
43.821
47.552
45.585
11
32.038
18
13.548
11
William Byron
22
13
Running
2
44.889
46.419
45.654
12
30.879
2
14.775
23
Martin Truex Jr
11
32
Running
2
44.048
47.471
45.760
13
31.112
6
14.648
22
Aric Almirola
24
12
Running
2
45.130
46.621
45.876
14
32.978
28
12.897
4
AJ Allmendinger
10
17
Running
1
45.892
45.892
45.892
15
32.646
27
13.246
8
Kevin Harvick
35
29
Running
4
43.901
47.710
46.010
16
32.582
26
13.428
10
Joey Logano
9
8
Running
1
46.013
46.013
46.013
17
31.419
9
14.594
20
Austin Cindric
31
6
Running
2
45.088
47.257
46.172
18
31.875
17
14.297
18
Brad Keselowski
20
24
Running
3
45.356
47.328
46.413
19
32.100
19
14.313
19
Austin Dillon
29
36
Accident
2
44.417
48.517
46.467
20
31.840
16
14.627
21

Pit Stop Detailed Report

Each 2- and 4-wheel pit stop during the race.

DRIVER
LEADER LAP
DRIVER LAP
DRIVER TIME
CREW TIME
TOTAL
TYPE

AJ Allmendinger
46
46
32.646
13.246
45.892
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Andy Lally
24
23
32.228
15.214
47.442
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Andy Lally
46
46
32.347
15.438
47.785
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Aric Almirola
42
41
32.618
12.512
45.130
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Aric Almirola
23
22
33.339
13.282
46.621
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
47
46
31.978
13.378
45.356
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
24
23
32.375
14.180
46.555
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Brad Keselowski
14
13
31.947
15.381
47.328
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Denny Hamlin
23
22
31.510
13.344
44.854
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Denny Hamlin
46
46
30.684
18.583
49.267
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Joey Logano
22
21
31.419
14.594
46.013
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Kevin Harvick
42
41
31.555
12.346
43.901
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Kevin Harvick
28
27
31.760
13.348
45.108
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Kevin Harvick
69
68
33.808
13.513
47.321
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Kevin Harvick
14
13
33.206
14.504
47.710
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Kyle Busch
42
41
30.689
13.480
44.169
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Kyle Busch
24
23
31.494
14.191
45.685
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Martin Truex Jr
24
23
31.201
12.847
44.048
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Martin Truex Jr
46
46
31.023
16.448
47.471
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE
Michael McDowell
46
46
30.828
14.354
45.182
FOUR WHEEL CHANGE