Supercars Championship is something Yours Truly has been somewhat following for a while. Off the top of his head, he can name several top drivers like Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Cameron Waters, etc.
And of course, Shane van Gisbergen of New Zealand.
In fact, van Gisbergen has been dominating so much like Max Verstappen in Formula 1 that he is probably the only Supercars driver that Yours Truly can pick out from a Police lineup, if there is one.
(Speaking of Verstappen, he and van Gisbergen both drive a car with Red Bull livery and, of course, they both have Dutch heritage.)
Then, Trackhouse Racing in the USA came calling as part of their effort to put international drivers behind the wheel in selected NASCAR races, in particular street and road races. Van Gisbergen took up the offer, and entered the race in Chicago.
The Grant Park 220 to be exact, held in the Chicago Street Course last weekend. Van Gisbergen impressed right away in testing and qualifying, and started the race third on the grid.
He ran in the top ten all day, and challenged leader Justin Haley for the lead late in the race. Van Gisbergen was in such a good form that he overtook Haley not once but twice for the lead, after his first overtaking maneuvre was judged to have taken place just after a yellow flag was shown. He became the first driver to win a NASCAR race on his debut in 60 years, since the legendary Johnny Rutherford’s victory in the qualifying heat race for the Daytona 500 in 1963.
Meanwhile, the top three drivers in the standings before the race, Martin Truex Jr., William Byron and Ross Chastain, finished 32nd, 13th and 22nd respectively.
Now spare a thought for the regular NASCAR drivers, who risk their lives every week trying to outrace and outscore each other in one of the tightest motor-racing series in the world.
Imagine you are one of them, having spent your whole life honing your skills, trying to move up the ladder and beat the other 30-plus drivers every single week. Then someone from literally the other side of the world, whom you will probably never see again for the rest of your life, comes and beats you up the only time he races you.
Duh.
Joey Logano, himself a two-time NASCAR champion who finished 8th in the race, said simply, “He made us look like a bunch of fools. A foreigner came in and kicked our butt today”. (Courtesy of Brett Winningham @NASCAR_BRETT)
And he surely did.
