Shane van Gisbergen seeks second consecutive win in Chicago Street Race

In the nation's Second City this weekend, standout road racer Shane van Gisbergen will be seeking his own second - another NASCAR Cup Series win.

When the Grant Park 165 takes the green flag Sunday for the second running of the Chicago Street Race, all eyes will be on the New Zealander's return engagement in the Windy City.

The Trackhouse Motorsports driver shocked the NASCAR world one year ago when he won the inaugural Chicago race, locking down the victory as street lamps came to life and darkness descended on the freeways traversing the city.

Nicknamed SVG for brevity's sake, the Project 91 Chevrolet road-racing specialist worked his way past Justin Haley to win the race, which was shortened by 25 laps due to impending darkness.

The Auckland, New Zealand, native became the first driver to win his debut in NASCAR's top series in 60 years. Johnny Rutherford won in 1963 at Daytona in a qualifying race, then considered a points event.

van Gisbergen, 35, is only driving a handful of races in Cup this season, but he has already left an indelible mark on the Xfinity Series, where he races the No. 97 Chevrolet full time for Kaulig Racing alongside teammate AJ Allmendinger.

In the first Xfinity Series race of June at Portland Raceway, he beat Justin Allgaier on a restart with four laps to go. The three-time Australian Supercars champion then repeated the following weekend at Sonoma Raceway with another victory, leading 32 of 79 circuits and beating Sheldon Creed for his second career series triumph.

Kaulig team president Chris Rice has been impressed with van Gisbergen and said his style is different from that of Allmendinger, a road-racing ringer.

"It's a different special," Rice said. "AJ came into our place and has been one of the