Tag: PROJECT91

Sunday morning, you had to look back 60 years to Johnny Rutherford at Daytona in 1963 to find the most recent driver to win on their NASCAR debut. You had to go back 50 years, to Mark Donohue’s 1973 Riverside win, for the last victory by a NASCAR ringer. And on the day when NASCAR’s Cup Series raced on a street course for the first time, both of those clocks were reset after three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen claimed the win on the streets of Chicago.

In a race that started late due to historic levels of rainfall flooding the track, was cut short by 25 laps due to fading light, and then forced into overtime by a late caution, the New Zealander nailed the final restart and kept the pursuing Justin Haley at bay to seal the win.

“You always dream about it,” he said after he climbed from Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 Chevrolet. “What an experience. This was so cool. This is what you dream of. Hopefully I can come to do more. The racing was really good, everyone was respectful. It was tough, but really fun.”

Van Gisbergen had been among the lead pack for most of the first part of the race, but the big turning point came during a caution on lap 42 when a large group of cars that were running toward the back decided to gamble on the race ending early and made their stops.

They didn’t have to wait long for that gamble to pay off: on the very next caution a few laps later the series announced that the race would be cut 25 laps short, and all of the leaders found themselves buried in the pack after they made their own stops.

That strategy call vaulted Haley – who’d started last after a crash in practice sidelined him from qualifying – into first place with Chase Elliott leading the pursuit.

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, was stuck in 17th, but he made good progress through the traffic and with 10 laps to go he was running fifth – and 0.5s per lap quicker than the cars ahead. On lap 67 he got around Elliott for third, but his pursuit of Haley was stunted by the eighth of the race’s nine cautions, triggered in this case by Martin Truex Jr finding the tires.

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NASCAR mandated single-file restarts through the entire race due to the slippery conditions which meant the Kiwi couldn’t attack Haley immediately at the restart… so he waited until Turn 2 instead. He got the spot, and then had to defend an immediate counterattack from Haley before using the crossover to put the No. 31 Kaulig car into his mirrors at Turn 4. From there it was just a matter of not making any mistakes.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN TO THE LEAD!

IT'S HIS FIRST NASCAR RACE! pic.twitter.com/Vm1q6FAop6

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 3, 2023

Haley held off a lurking Elliott for second, although the latter will be happy with third after struggling through Saturday and then a spin on cold tires after pitting to change from wets to slicks. Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five. That represented a particularly good salvage job for Busch, who triggered the very first caution when he overshot Turn 6 and buried himself up to his windshield in the tire barrier.

To find the two drivers who dominated most of the afternoon, you need to look down to 18th and 28th. Christopher Bell got around Tyler Reddick to take the lead on lap nine and went on to lead a race-high 37 laps, winning Stage 1 and Stage 2 along the way. He was one of the early frontrunners who dropped back through the pitstop sequence, and was running 11th when he spun at Turn 1 and fell to 32nd.

Reddick, meanwhile, had also dropped back during the stops but was on a van Gisbergen-esque charge back through the field until he went into the tires at Turn 6 on lap 57.

Despite the potentially volatile mix of bad conditions, a tight, unforgiving track and a grid full of drivers unaccustomed to having walls on both sides of the car, the race was surprisingly low-attrition. The only retirement was Alex Bowman, whose No. 48 Hendrick Chevrolet stopped at Turn 5 with a mechanical problem, and while there were frequent interactions between cars and walls – Noah Gragson had a particular thing for Turn 6 – most hits did no damage other than to the driver in question’s track position.

Even the inevitable multi-car incident was relatively benign: William Byron spun on lap 48 and left a pack of cars behind him with nowhere to go. Corey LaJoie tapped Kevin Harvick into a spin while trying to avoid Byron, but for the most part everyone just parked up until the road was clear.

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Shane van Gisbergen will let others decide for themselves if his speed Saturday on the streets of Chicago in a NASCAR Cup Series car was a surprise.

The three-time Supercars champion admitted he’s “surprised” after he was fastest in practice in the Trackhouse Racing PROJECT91 car before qualifying third. He was knocked from the provisional pole in the waning moments of qualifying by Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick.

“No,” van Gisbergen did not expect to be that quick. “I felt comfortable and prep’s been good this week — done a lot of simulator and data study, watching on boards. I’ve done as much prep as I can. But yeah, the track was crazy. I’ve never driven a street track so bumpy, and it was pretty tough.”

The plan was for van Gisbergen to work his way up to speed and aggression level when cars got on track for the first time. Those plans changed when he found himself surrounded by series regulars who paid no mind to the newcomer.

“I thought I would take it easy, but everyone was just flat out,” van Gisbergen said. “I had Austin Dillon, I think it is, just bomb me early on, and it was like a full race, so I tried to find my own piece of track and build up on my own pace.

“Everyone was wild. It was pretty cool. If that’s anything like the race is going to be like, it’s going to be full on.”

It was still an “awesome” Saturday, finally getting on track. Van Gisbergen arrived at the Trackhouse Racing shop in Concord, North Carolina, before the race last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway to begin his preparation for his debut.

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In addition to getting fitted and going through the necessary steps at the race shop, the Kiwi had time on the simulator and attended the Nashville race with Trackhouse to take in how NASCAR races play out and learn team dynamics. Earlier this week, he got a short test on the Charlotte Roval.

“It’s been a lot of anticipation and then anticipation for everyone,” van Gisbergen said. “Nobody knew what it was going to be like. It was cool to finally see it all happen. The crowd will be big tomorrow; I think it’s really cool.”

Although the Next Gen car has been compared to a sports car and even close to a Australian Supercar, van Gisbergen said they are “very different.”

“You feel the weight of the car a lot when it slides; it really lets go,” he said. “I had a few moments and it’s difficult here. I was losing a lot of time (under braking) on the data. It’s so intimidating here because there’s no runoff, there’s just a wall in front of you.

“I didn’t really have confidence to make up the time on the brakes, so I need to keep building up to that tomorrow. And just speaking with Daniel (Suarez), my teammate, he changed the bias a bit different to me. Yeah, I got a bit to learn. I was learning every lap trying to push, and it was a lot of fun.”

Entering the weekend, van Gisbergen shared he had no expectations for his debut but wanted to race with respect and felt optimistic about a good day given the work put in to get there. Now after seeing the speed in his car, he still isn’t changing his approach.

“Well, I think people were getting quicker and quicker, and the track was ramping up,” he said. “Every run was so much faster, so we just got to make sure we keep doing that and make sure our car is still good (when the track is) fully gripped tomorrow.”

Chicago delivered a couple of firsts for the NASCAR Cup Series on Saturday when cars turned their first-ever laps on a street circuit – and a driver participating in his first-ever NASCAR session took the top spot.

Three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen may have little experience in Cup cars, but he has done a lot of miles in heavy tin-tops on tight street courses, and that came to the fore when he put Trackhouse Racing’s part-time Project 91 car on top with a 1m29.419s trip around the tight 2.2-mile layout.

The Kiwi’s fastest lap was his final one, but he’d been among the top order for most of the 50 minute session, and went to P1 30 minutes in with a 1m30.312s. The entire field continued to get quicker in the final 20 minutes, but van Gisbergen was never knocked off the top spot.

“There was a lot to take in; the intensity of practice,” he said. “The car was good, the guys have done a great job, my preparation has been good. Hopefully we can replicate it in qualifying.

“We do a lot of street courses (in Supercars) but nothing like this, with the cracks in the road and the violence of the braking markers. But it’s the same for everyone. Just have to find the fine line. And the track will get better, too.”

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It was very nearly a NASCAR tourist 1-2 until Denny Hamlin popped up late to go second-fastest a 1m29.732s, meaning Jenson Button – making his second Cup start in Rick Ware Racing’s No. 15 Ford – had to settle for third.

Martin Truex Jr led the session in the opening minutes but ultimately had to settle for fourth-fastest at 1m29.845, leaving Christopher Bell to round out the top five at 1m30.067s.

Early feedback from drivers was that the surface in some sections was rougher than expected, and also more grippy. The latter came into play early on when the higher than expected grip levels on the approach to Turn 4 tempted drivers to carry more and more speed into the corner. Eventually William Byron went in a little too hot, caught the outside wall, and limped back to the pits with a broken left-rear toe-link.

Austin Cindric looped his car at the same corner a few minutes later but appeared to keep it out of the barriers. Justin Haley’s turn came next, and like Byron, his incident ended with a slow trip back to the pits for repairs.

While Haley was having his incident at Turn 4, Ricky Stenhouse Jr was simultaneously running into trouble at the fast Turn 8. Stenhouse tagged the inside wall while turning in, spitting the No. 47 Chevy across to the other side of the track and hard into the outside barriers. The car will not be repaired in time for qualifying.

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