NASCAR Chicago Street Race hits the gas for 2nd day, Shane van Gisbergen wins again in Cup Series

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago’s third annual NASCAR Street Race hit the gas Sunday, charging full speed into a second day.

Fans were back in and around Grant Park for another high-octane day of professional racing.

As Sunday’s events ended, some of the cleanup was already underway here as Chicagoans got ready for the city to reopen some closed downtown streets over the next few days.

And as year three of the NASCAR event in Chicago come to a close, everyone ABC7 talked to thought it was a success.

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The NASCAR Cup Series – Grant Park 165 – took off Sunday afternoon with Chicago Bulls legend Derrick Rose as the grand marshal.

Drivers took on 75 laps of a 2.2 mile, 12 turn race track that takes them through Grant Park and along DuSable Lakeshore Drive with the city skyline setting the stage for unforgettable races.

New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen swept the weekend after winning on Sunday.

The Xfinity Series race was the main event on Saturday, and they got some beautiful weather. The New Zealand native also took home the win Saturday. It was van Gisbergen’s second straight time finishing first in Chicago for the Xfinity Series.

“It’s loud, it’s fast and I’m here for it,” Chicago resident Kashif Charania said.

Festivities have also been in full force across NASCAR village during the weekend.

“It’s awesome. I mean I’m not from here, so I don’t have to deal with the traffic on a regular basis, but it’s been very fun and very cool to be here,” said Sophia Winkelblech, who was visiting from Michigan.

Fans poured into Grant Park from across the city and around the country on Saturday.

“You get to go view it from anyway you want,” said George Peters, who was visiting from St. Louis. There’s so much versatility seeing different zone of the race track, and it’s just something you’ll never see anywhere else.”

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“I think it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, to see the city right behind the track is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Elmwood Park residentLarson Wood said.

This now marks an end to the final year of the NASCAR contract in Chicago, but there are options included to possibly extend the race to 2026 and 2027.

After seeing changes in the traffic impacts this year, some Chicago residents said they’d love to see NASCAR return.

“It’s worth it, absolutely,” Charania said. “I love being in Chicago for all of these tips of events… just the culture… everything is great.”

The northbound lanes of Dusable Lake Shore Drive are expected to reopen at 6 a.m. Monday.

As NASCAR ripped through Chicago’s Grant Park on Sunday, a high-speed, an all-electric challenger entered the race.

“There’s no engine in this car,” Chris Shigas with ABB said. “It has three electric motors in it and 1360 horsepower. That’s an impressive machine.”

NASCAR, along with electrical engineering company, ABB, Chevrolet and Ford, unveiled a first-of-its-kind electric vehicle showcase to fans at the Chicago Street Race.

READ MORE: 3rd NASCAR Chicago Street Race takes off in Grant Park, Shane van Gisbergen wins Xfinity Series race on Saturday

The three supercharged prototypes taking on the track were a Ford Mustang Mach-E NASCAR EV, an ABB-NASCAR EV and a Chevy Blazer EV-R NASCAR prototype.

“We’re looking at NASCAR tracks across the nation and seeing how we can help them run more sustainably and energy efficient,” Shigas said.

“It felt pretty much like a normal race car with the weight and everything for the most part,” driver Rajah Caruth said.

Caruth spent time behind the wheel of the Chevy Blazer EV-R. Caruth said the EVs handle just a bit differently than the traditional gas-powered race cars, but when it comes to the acceleration…

“It’s literally like Mario Kart, getting the star or bullet boost, putting a rocket on top of the wing. That’s how I would describe it,” he said.

The screech of the high-powered EVs reverberated throughout the park, taking on tight turns and open straightaways with the picturesque Chicago skyline setting the stage. ABC7 crews even had the chance to wave the checkered flag at the end of the run.

“This is two years in the process just from getting the car on the track to where we are today,” NASCAR engineer CJ Tobin said.

“We’re excited about the technology,” Tobin said. “We want to see what we can do as an organization with a different powertrain… We want to be in the driver’s seat knowing where we’re going, not in the passenger seat looking back like, ‘where are we now?'”