2024 NASCAR Chicago Street Race: Live updates as race weekend wraps up in Grant Park

Kyle Larson has won the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series street race in downtown Chicago, beating Ty Gibbs by a hundredth of a second.

Larson posted a fast lap of 1 minute, 27.836 seconds in the second round of qualifying on the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course Saturday, recording a top speed of 90.168 mph. Gibbs was next at 1:27.846 seconds and 90.158 mph.

Larson is going for his fourth win of the season in his 350th career Cup Series start. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has five poles this year and 21 for his career.

"This year qualifying, I mean racing, too, has been a strong suit, but qualifying, we've been able to execute and get five poles to this point," said Larson, who leads the Cup Series driver standings going into Sunday's Grant Park 165. "That's special. So yeah, hopefully, we can keep that up and keep our speed up in the races as well."

Michael McDowell (90.141 mph) qualified third, followed by Tyler Reddick (89.923) in fourth. Shane van Gisbergen (89.813) rounded out the top five after he won the race last year.

"We're in for a battle tomorrow," McDowell said, "and we've got a fast car and a good opportunity to try to execute and put ourselves in position to win."

Larson also had the fastest car in practice. He finished fourth in the inaugural race a year ago.

Larson prepared for the Cup Series start on the tricky, unfamiliar course with a third-place finish in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Van Gisbergen got the win, and Ty Gibbs was second.

Larson and van Gisbergen dueled throughout the first stage of the Xfinity Series race in a possible preview for Sunday.

"My Cup car feels much more, I think, like competitively equal, I would say, to be able to battle him in more corners or hopefully hold him off better," Larson said after the Xfinity Series race. "But like I said, it's not just him. There's going to be a lot of other guys that are really good tomorrow."

Shane van Gisbergen raced to his third Xfinity Series victory of the season Saturday, making a successful return to the NASCAR street course in downtown Chicago.

Van Gisbergen started on the pole before dropping back after a pit stop. He then made his way through the field before pulling away for the victory.

"What a great race," he said. "It was pretty wild there at the end."

The 35-year-old New Zealand native got his first two Xfinity wins for Kaulig Racing on road courses at Portland and Sonoma on consecutive weekends last month. Just like he did after those victories, he celebrated by autographing a rugby ball and kicking it into the stands in Chicago.

Ty Gibbs was second, followed by Kyle Larson, Parker Kligerman and Jesse Love. Larson is on the pole for the Cup Series race Sunday.

A three-time champion in Australia's Supercars, van Gisbergen was a largely unknown commodity in the U.S. before he won last summer in NASCAR's rainy inaugural weekend on the downtown Chicago course. He became the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.

The festivities will continue in downtown Chicago Saturday after the XFinity Series race.

Shane van Gisbergen started to trail behind the pack in The Loop 110 XFinity Series race Saturday after a hot start earlier in race.

The New Zealand driver seemed to dominate the race in stage one.

With 16 laps left in the third and final stage of the race, the reigning Chicago Cup Series champion van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson and other challengers will continue battle for the top spot in stage three.

Van Gisbergen started the final pit lap in 8th place, but he had 11 points on the day so far, only trailing behind Adam Hill and Jesse Love, who had 13 and 12 points respectively.

Part of the experience of a NASCAR race is hearing the engine roar, the rumble of each car's approach and the zip when it whizzes past at more than 150 mph.

NASCAR unveiled its first electric racecar Saturday in downtown Chicago, but it doesn't thunder when the grand marshal says "drivers, start your engines." It hums.

The Associated Press got a first look at the $1.5 million prototype. The only person who has driven it so far is semi-retired NASCAR driver David Ragan. The plan is to put the car on the Chicago street course for some fast laps on Sunday morning.

It accelerates almost twice as fast as top gas-powered racecars and can stop almost immediately. But its lap time at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia was two-tenths of a second slower because it takes the corners slower due to being heavier.

Burning gas pollutes the air and produces carbon dioxide, which warms the atmosphere and leads to more extreme weather. Burning one gallon produces about 19 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Racing events consume thousands of gallons in a weekend.

The event would certainly be quieter with more electric cars, though many fans love the roar of engines when the green flag drops.

If NASCAR pursues electric racing, John Probst, NASCAR senior vice president and chief racing development officer said he thinks they could reinvent the fan experience. One option could be a DJ.

"It's our goal to entertain our fans," he said. "If our fans tell us this is what they want to see, we know how to create a racing series around pretty much anything."

McDermott reported from Providence, R.I. AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer contributed to this report.