Nascar takes downtown Chicago with first ever street race – in pictures

Todd Gilliland, driver of the No 38 gener8tor Skills Ford, and Ryan Preece, driver of the No 41 Operating Engineers Ford, race during the Grant Park 220 on Sunday in Chicago.

A general view as cars race along Grant Park during Nascar’s Grant Park 220 on Sunday as viewed from the Nema Chicago building.

Corey LaJoie races along Grant Park during the Grant Park 220.

Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the No 91 Enhance Health Chevrolet, leads during Sunday’s race.

The downtown course included famed areas of Chicago, including Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue and South Columbus Drive, where the start/finish line and pit road was located directly in front of Buckingham Fountain.

The course passed through Grant Park and approached the northern edge of Soldier Field, site of the only other Cup Series race to take place in downtown Chicago back in 1956.

Kyle Busch wrecks along Grant Park during Sunday’s race.

Sunday’s event was the debut race of Nascar’s three-year deal with the city of Chicago.

The race was scheduled for 100 laps and 220 miles, but it was shortened because of fading sunlight after the start was delayed for more 90 minutes because of a historic rainfall that flooded the course.

The weather eventually cleared up, but there were puddles on the course when the race began. Even as it started to dry out – and teams started breaking out their slick tires – water splashed everywhere whenever a driver slid into a tire barrier.

Shane van Gisbergen won his Nascar Cup Series debut on a rainy Sunday in downtown Chicago, chasing down Justin Haley and Chase Elliott in a memorable finish to the series’ first street race.

The 34-year-old Van Gisbergen, a New Zealand native, became the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.

Van Gisbergen became the sixth driver born outside the United States to win a Nascar Cup Series race, joining Marcos Ambrose, Mario Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Earl Ross and Daniel Suárez.