The weather could not dampen NASCAR’s excitement this weekend as it hosted its first street circuit in Chicago, Illinois.
The Loop 121
On Saturday, The Loop 121 was stopped due to lighting on lap 25 and was postponed until Sunday. However, drenching rain and standing water on the Chicago Street Course forced NASCAR to declare Cole Custer the winner.
The driver of the No. 00 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing led the entire race. He also had a race-high of 9 Fastest Laps and ended with an almost near-perfect Driver Rating of 148.0. He was the only nomination for Driver of the Weekend.
Grant Park 220
After the rain finished, the track dried up and Sunday produced great racing in the Grant Park 220. Initially scheduled for 100 laps, NASCAR moved the finish to 75 laps due to darkness.
This race featured seven different lead changes among five drivers. But at the end of all the chaos, the Project 91 Driver for Trackhouse Racing, Shane van Gisbergen, earned the checkered flag in his cup debut.
Van Gisbergen is in consideration for Driver of the Weekend. He had the No. 91 upfront twice for nine laps, with 12 Fastest Laps and a driver rating of 138.1.
Although Van Gisbergen won the race, Christopher Bell driving the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs, led for a race-high of 37 laps and had the Fastest Laps at 15. Leading that much for the No. 20 was almost 50% of the shortened race. Unfortunately, 18th Place finished left the Joe Gibb driver with a 113.5 Driver Rating.
The last candidate for driver the weekend was the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing, Justin Haley. He only turned three fastest laps but led for 23 laps before being passed by Van Gisbergen for the win late in the race. Haley ended with a driver rating of 93.7 after running the first half of the race outside the top 10.
Driver of the Weekend
After all the data was analyzed, it was evident that Van Gisbergen was the weekend driver. Not only did he win the race, but he also had a race High of 87.5 quality passes and ran all but two laps in the top 15.
Team of the Weekend
The race for team of the weekend was a lot closer. First, Stewart-Haas Racing claimed the NASCAR Xfinity Series win, then Trackhouse got the win in the NASCAR Cup Series, and Joe Gibbs Racing dominated and took the pole for the Cup race.
But, when looking at all the data, the No. 99 of Daniel Suarez and, of course, the No. 91 Van Gisbergen both showed a lot of speed this weekend. Ultimately, that is why Trackhouse Racing claimed the team of the week.
