Shane van Gisbergen stays near-unstoppable on the streets of Chicago. In 5 begins between the Xfinity and Cup Collection, he has received 4 of them. The one race he tried however did not handle to win was the Cup race in 2024, and that is as a result of he bought wrecked out of the occasion.
Along with his newest victory, he joins Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell as the one drivers with a number of Cup wins this 12 months. Meaning he’s additionally the winningest driver at Trackhouse this season, as Ross Chastain has one win (the Coke 600) whereas Daniel Suarez has none up to now.
However this victory was additionally historic in a number of different significant methods. Here is a have a look at a few of the historical past the New Zealander is making as he dominates the street and road course scene in NASCAR:
The winningest foreign-born driver … ever
Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Picture by: Chris Graythen – Getty Photos
SVG received on debut at Chicago in 2023. Since then, he additionally received the inaugural Cup race in Mexico Metropolis earlier this 12 months and now Chicago as soon as once more. With these three Cup wins, he has change into the winningest foreign-born driver within the historical past of the NASCAR Cup Collection. Juan Pablo Montoya, Daniel Suarez and fellow Supercars ace Marcos Ambrose all have two wins every.
Most wins by a rookie in practically 20 years
SVG is a rookie within the NASCAR Cup Collection and can seemingly gather Rookie of the 12 months honors. However along with his two wins this season, he joins uncommon firm. It is essentially the most wins by a Cup driver of their rookie season since Denny Hamlin in 2006. That 12 months, Hamlin received two races, and with three extra street programs on the 2025 schedule, SVG might completely beat that. The final time a Cup rookie received three races of their rookie season? That will be Tony Stewart again in 1999.
Successful at a tempo not seen since Jimmie Johnson’s debut

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Picture by: James Gilbert / Getty Photos
Whereas SVG continues to slowly enhance on ovals, his street course talents have already put him in a class with seven-time NASCAR Cup Collection champion Jimmie Johnson. Van Gisbergen has reached three Cup wins in simply 33 profession begins. That hasn’t been seen since Johnson received three races in his first 16 Cup begins through the 2002 season. For a extra direct comparability, SVG’s win tempo matches what Stewart did in 1999, who additionally received three races in his first 33 begins.
A really uncommon form of weekend sweep
Sweeping a NASCAR weekend is tough sufficient, however to earn pole place AND win each races is one other stage of domination. SVG did simply that this previous weekend, successful from pole in Saturday’s Xfinity race earlier than doing it once more in Sunday’s Cup race. The final driver to do this was Kyle Busch at Indianapolis in 2016. Busch and SVG at the moment are the one two drivers to have ever completed this feat.
On this article
Nick DeGroot
NASCAR Cup
Shane van Gisbergen
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