To Shane van Gisbergen's chagrin, NASCAR returns to Chicagoland Speedway
Shane van Gisbergen restored his dominance on road courses Sunday and reinforced the fact that he is the greatest NASCAR road racer ever, but the stakes increase for the New Zealander during the second half of 2026.
It’s 18 races down, 18 to go this season and, to the Trackhouse Racing driver’s chagrin, there are no more curvy layouts to conquer.
While NASCAR returns to the Chicago area this weekend, drivers will not be found again on Michigan Avenue. That’s a bummer for van Gisbergen because he won two of the three races held on the Chicago Street Course.
Instead, NASCAR returns to the 1.52-mile Chicagoland Speedway, a tri-oval in southwest suburban Joliet, Ill., that has not hosted an event since Alex Bowman earned his first career victory there in 2019.
Sunday’s eero 400, a 267-lapper that breaks the stretch of consecutive road races, will be the 20th NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
One weekend after taking the points lead from his driver, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin enjoyed Saturday by posting his first career pole-winning lap at Chicagoland.
Hamlin, the winner of the 2015 race, traveled the speedway in 30.296 seconds (178.241 mph) for his third straight pole on an oval track, fourth of 2026 and No. 52 of his career.
The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota edged Kyle Larson by one-thousandth of a second in earning the top starting spot for the season’s 19th race.
The RFK Racing Fords of Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski occupy Row 2, while Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 JGR Toyota completes the top five.
Three active drivers have wins there: Keselowski owns two, while Hamlin and Bowman have one apiece.
Keselowski’s pair came with different manufacturers: Dodge in 2012 while racing for then-Penske Racing and in Ford for Team Penske two years later.
Now 42, Keselowski took the 2012 Cup title in the season he first won in Chicago, becoming the first Dodge driver to notch a title since 1975 when it was done by Richard Petty, who turned 89 on Thursday.
Currently in his 19th Cup season and fifth as part-owner of RFK Racing, the Michigan native fended off rumors that his group will become Dodge’s flagship team as the manufacturer returns to Cup in 2027.
“For those asking -- RFK racing has multi-year agreement with @fordracing and a commitment from their leadership to return the program to a championship contender,” Keselowski wrote June 25 on social media. “Any speculation else-wise makes for great internet talk but, it is not based on anything real.”
The number one comes up frequently regarding Ford, the Joliet speedway and the 2012 champ.
Ford is a disappointing 1-for-18 in 2026, while the blue oval has only a lone checkered flag in 19 Chicagoland races.
Keselowski himself has just one victory in 162 RFK starts, a 2024 Darlington win.
To use a football term, he and the manufacturer will be going for two on Sunday.
In a similar vein, van Gisbergen will be going for two on Sunday. While all his eight official NASCAR wins have come on road courses, he won on an oval last July in the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
He recognizes he’ll need more success on ovals to get where he wants to go.
Last season in 30 races on tracks that were not road courses, van Gisbergen posted an average finish of 24.8. Through 14 races on similar configurations this season, he has bumped it up to 20.9 -- an improvement but certainly numbers that will not make him a viable title contender.
On May 31, he scored his first top-five showing by finishing fifth in Nashville. He will have to improve markedly to create more top-fives.
He opens the eero 400 in 14th place, which at least puts him into Chase playoff contention.
“It certainly helps us,” the No. 97 Chevrolet driver said Sunday of his win at Sonoma, “but this is an oval championship.”
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This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 5:29 PM.