We’ve predicted a lot of races would be wild cards over the years; the Chicago Street Race turned out to be one in all kinds of ways including the winner.
We’ve seen plenty of road course ringers show up in the Cup Series and fall short of Victory Lane. Often because they were saddled with third-tier cars and crews that would cost them spots on pit road. Despite his experience on street courses, I don’t think any of us expected anything different from Shane Van Ginsbergen. Boy, were we wrong.
Maybe it was just a confluence of all the right things at the right time. The fact that the nuances of street course racing are different enough from road course racing; the fact it was the first time and then, throw in the weather.
Whatever, it turned out to be an incredible story that we’ll talk about for years.
But, don’t miss what Justin Marks accomplished with the Project 91 program. This was still, not a full-time team and crew. And, yet, they delivered a win in the Cup Series that was not a fluke. Just another layer to an amazing story.