Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen.
With his win at Sonoma, van Gisbergen progressed to the second round of the million-dollar contest by eliminating RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece.
However, the Trackhouse Racing driver struggled to 25th at Chicagoland while bracket rival Blaney finished seventh in the #12 Team Penske Mustang.
Van Gisbergen qualified 30th and finished Stage 1 in 30th. He improved to 28th in Stage 2 but spent the lion’s share of the race sacrificing track position to make set-up swings.
The team made some improvements as others faded in Stage 3 en route to 25th.
Despite the lacklustre performance, van Gisbergen still sits 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
Van Gisbergen spins Hill in allegedly ‘blatant’ revenge act
The 267-lap race was won by Chase Briscoe in the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry in an enthralling finish.
His teammate Christopher Bell threatened to take the lead in the dying laps but came up short in the #20 Camry.
Bell got to the rear bumper of Briscoe on the last lap at Turn 1, but got stuck in the aerowash at Turn 2 and ploughed through the corner.
Briscoe clinched victory by a meagre 0.276s, lapping every driver up to 17th.
“How about that race? Was that a good race? It felt awesome,” said Briscoe.
“What an unbelievable weekend. I feel so American winning in the Bass Pro Shop red, white and blue car. Fourth of July Weekend, 250 years, and man what an unbelievable race car.
“James (Small) did a great job. Team did a great job. Honestly did not see this coming. I felt like I was struggling in practice and qualifying.
“Man, just so cool to get this paint scheme back in Victory Lane. What a cool weekend to win a NASCAR race.
“I kind of got lucky. Had a lapped car. Honestly worked out. I was struggling pretty bad and Christopher was certainly coming.
“Out of all the people to race against, I knew Christopher was going to be clean with me.
“Just great that JGR ran one-two. Just a really fun race. I felt like that was as good a race as you can get. Just from the cat and mouse game, slipping and sliding around.”
It was a sweet birthday present for crew chief James Small, who Briscoe paid tribute to.
“Me and him are about the two most polar opposite people in the world. He just stays on me, he makes me be perfect, each and every lap,” said Briscoe.
“He does such a great job of keeping me honest. He told me if I win today I can get some chocolate, so I’m pretty fired up about that.”
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 13.
Results: NASCAR Cup Series eero 400, Chicagoland Speedway
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
19
Chase Briscoe
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
267 laps
2
20
Christopher Bell
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
0.276
0.276
3
11
Denny Hamlin
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
3.359
3.083
4
24
William Byron
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
3.988
0.629
5
48
Alex Bowman
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
8.032
4.044
6
23
Bubba Wallace
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
10.983
2.951
7
12
Ryan Blaney
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
12.544
1.561
8
54
Ty Gibbs
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
12.823
0.279
9
67
Corey Heim
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
12.904
0.081
10
35
Riley Herbst
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
15.714
2.810
11
9
Chase Elliott
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
18.932
3.218
12
22
Joey Logano
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
21.485
2.553
13
2
Austin Cindric
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
21.658
0.173
14
7
Daniel Suarez
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
26.265
4.607
15
43
Erik Jones
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
27.634
1.369
16
34
Todd Gilliland
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
30.972
3.338
17
16
AJ Allmendinger
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
18
1
Ross Chastain
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
19
17
Chris Buescher
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
1 lap
20
10
Ty Dillon
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
21
6
Brad Keselowski
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
1 lap
22
77
Carson Hocevar
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
23
42
John Hunter Nemechek
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
1 lap
24
3
Austin Dillon
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
25
97
Shane Van Gisbergen
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
26
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Hyak Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
27
4
Noah Gragson
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
1 lap
28
38
Zane Smith
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
1 lap
29
71
Michael McDowell
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
30
51
Cody Ware
Rick Ware Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
31
41
Cole Custer
Haas Factory Team
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
32
60
Ryan Preece
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
1 lap
33
21
Josh Berry
Wood Brothers Racing
Ford Mustang
2 laps
1 lap
34
5
Kyle Larson
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
2 laps
35
44
JJ Yeley
NY Racing Team
Chevrolet Camaro
11 laps
9 laps
36
45
Tyler Reddick
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
30 laps
19 laps
37
33
Austin Hill
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
220 laps
190 laps
38
88
Connor Zilisch
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
267 laps
47 laps