“I Thought I Got a Free Kick”- Shane van Gisbergen Cannot Wrap His Head Around NASCAR’s Bizarre Chicago Decision After Logjam Pileup

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Over there, they will be joined by some new faces and some familiar faces on the grid. One of them is V8 Supercars sensation, Shane van Gisbergen, making his second-ever race start. On his NASCAR Cup Series debut, he made a real impression by winning at the Chicago Street Course. Recently, the New Zealand native made an appearance on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast.

The Kiwi opened up about racing at the Indianapolis road course and was looking forwards to the race. Van Gisbergen told the Dale Jr Download, “Watching that race last year was crazy. Even the pileup we had at Chicago was nuts. I was cheering, I thought I made up 10 spots and then they let everyone back through. Didn’t know what was happening. I thought I got a free kick.”

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What NASCAR Cup Series race was Shane van Gisbergen referring to?

The 3-time V8 Supercars champion was referring to the 2022 Indy race that Tyler Reddick won. To be perfectly honest, it was fairly chaotic, with several instances of driver-on-driver contact. The drama kicked off right at the start, with a driver already spinning after getting tagged. Multiple drivers spun during the race, including Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Justin Haley, Brad Keselowski, and many more.

One particularly nasty incident involved Kyle Larson wiping out Ty Dillon. Apparently, Larson had a brake failure and the unsuspecting Dillon was the unwilling brake. Drivers were going 5-wide and even 6-wide into the first corner. Unfortunately, that just resulted in a lot of rubbed fenders and damaged cars.

Will the Trackhouse Racing driver be able to bag a second win?

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To be honest, this is a difficult question to answer. In Chicago, every driver was seeing the track for the first time, and van Gisbergen happened to adapt quicker. However, the Indianapolis Road Course is a track that most are familiar with. As a result, the regular drivers would be able to put up a decent challenge.

It is also worth mentioning that out of the newcomers, only Jenson Button has raced there before. From 2000 until 2007, and skipping the controversial 2005 race, Button has competed at Indianapolis. Even fellow ex-F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi has not raced at Indianapolis. Now, Shane van Gisbergen will be eager to hop back in the car and go racing this weekend.

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