SVG: Racing King of Chicago

Shane Van Gisbergen heads to victory lane after winning The Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday afternoon. (Photo: Daniel Bartel/Imagn Images)

The Grant Park 165:

Shane Van Gisbergen picked up his second win of the 2025 campaign by taking the checkered flag in The Grant Park 165 Sunday afternoon at the Chicago Street Course. The win was also SVG's second Cup win on the streets of Chicago, and he swept the weekend in perfect fashion by winning the pole and race for both the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series. It also brings his win total to 4 wins in the 6 total races around the streets of Chicago, and makes him the winningest foreign born driver in the NASCAR Cup Series history.

Once again the Chicago Street race delivered and this year we did it without any weather impacting the events of the weekend. Something this race has deserved from the beginning, and shoutout to Mother Nature for waiting around until the checkered flag fell on Sunday. I was entertained essentially from lap 1. McDowell got the jump and took the lead, and then we immediately had a cluster on lap 2 when Hocevar parked it, blocking the track and taking out several drivers with him early in the race. Then we were entertained with a tense battle for the top spot between McDowell and SVG until Stage 1 concluded with McDowell taking the green and white checkered. Stage 2 was slightly calmer with one caution and that being from the junked Josh Berry, and then it was pit strategy implementation from there until Ryan Blaney picked up the stage win. This set up stage 3 to be a fierce battle for the win and who's pit strategy on race execution would pay off after 75 laps. This action alongside drivers going absolutely berserk at times (see Ross Chastain v. Logano and Wallace v. Bowman) for track position made for a compelling stage 3. And as no shock, SVG had great pit strategy and flawless execution on track to overtake Chase Briscoe for the lead with 15 laps to go. He then survive the aforementioned chaos and battles on two restarts and set sail towards the checkered flag. A questionably late caution (after SVG took the white flag) allowed the 88 car to coast around and capture his second win on the streets of Chicago, the second win for him in 2025, and thus dub him, in my world, the Racing King of Chicago.

Next up the Xfinity Series and Cup Series head to Wine Country in Northern California at the Sonoma Raceway. The Truck Series once again has a weekend with no racing. The Xfinity Series leads off the weekend with the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at 4:30 p.m. EST on The CW. The Cup Series caps off the weekend with the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at 3:30 p.m. EST on TNT.

Sonoma Picks: Trucks = OFF

Xfinity = SVG

Cup = Kyle Larson