Shane van Gisbergen described being taken out of Sunday’s race in Chicago early in the second stage as “gutting.”
The defending winner on the Chicago street course was a collected victim of Chase Briscoe spinning into Turn 6 on lap 25. The contact sent van Gisbergen through the corner and into the outside wall, damaging the right side of his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.
“I just kind of turned in, looked pretty good, and then just got smashed by someone,” van Gisbergen said. “Gutting. Wendy’s Saucy Nuggs Camaro was really good; we were in the lead for a lot of that race, and it felt good taking off in the rain. So that sucks.
“It’s an unfortunate mistake by him. I’m sure he didn’t mean it, but when he just clipped me, [there was] nothing I could do.”
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Kaulig’s road course master led nine laps and won the first stage. He took the lead for the first time on lap 12 and swapped the top spot with Ty Gibbs over the following few laps.
The race went green in the second stage on lap 25. When the incident occurred, van Gisbergen was running fifth. Briscoe, who was running seventh, lost control in the braking zone coming to Turn 6 and clipped van Gisbergen as he slid toward the corner and began to spin.
“Of course, I’m disappointed,” van Gisbergen said. “We had a really amazing Camaro there. Kaulig Racing and Trackhouse — they gave us a great car, and we were able to lead and I felt like I was driving well within myself. It’s a shame to be out so early and a shame we couldn’t have a proper crack at it at the end.”
Unfortunatelt for van Gisbergen, he was the first driver knocked out of the race and will finish 40th.