'Youre Never Going To Forget That': Grubb Cherishes Victory At Chicago Street Course

Darin Grubb's resume includes a long list of accomplishments as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief, ranging from diamond racing to multiple championships.

Where can a Floyd County native win a Cup Series road race?

"It's definitely the top four or five," Grubb said in a phone interview Monday afternoon.

The 47-year-old Group won his 24th race as Cup Series leader Sunday night as Sean Van Gisbergen beat Justin Haley and Chase Elliott in overtime to win the Grant Park 220 on the streets of Chicago.

The victory meant a lot to Van Gisbergen, who was at the start

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"It was a real honor to work with someone like Shane van Gisbergen in his prime and to be able to pull off such a feat," said Grubb. “The team did a great job getting the car ready for the moment, risking everything and putting it on the show. You'll never forget it. That was our first. We all wanted some keepsakes and things to remember. that's awesome."

The race was shortened from 100 laps to 75 laps. The start of the event was delayed by inclement weather and the Windy City sunset 25 laps were cut from the planned distance.

It didn't matter if Van Gisbergen crossed the field at the end of the race and took the lead from Halle on lap 71.

"Overall it was a good weekend regardless of the weather and the rain. But the city is prepared for it and we can get through it and hopefully there will be events. What a programme," Grubb said.

The opportunity to lead the Gruppe was one that Van Gisbergen did not want to miss. In a post-race press conference, he said he was a big NASCAR fan, especially Tony Stewart when Grubb served as team manager for Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing a decade earlier.

“Working with Darian is special,” said Van Gisbergen.

Grubb, a Virginia Tech graduate, served as crew chief for Trackhouse Racing's Project 91 entry for the third time since the 2022 campaign. Grubb serves as Trackhouse's Director of Performance, supporting the team's full-time staff (Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez) with tech and technical support on race day.

Project 91 from Grub announced that in most weeks of the competition the number of employees with different responsibilities will be surveyed. 91 Chevrolet.

"People have done this before, but in order to brand it and build a team around it, Darian took the lead and went with it," Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said of the third entry. “It's an idea, we want to implement it” and it's really like a department in the company, I mean, to set it up for success, it's so different that it's hard to find the right words for it. ".

Kimi Raikkonen will race Projekt91 in 2022 at Watkins Glen International and Circuit of the Americas. Räikkönen was nearly fourth in COTA when he was thrown off the road late on a restart and dropped to 29th.

"A lot of that goes to Shane and Kim," Grubb said. "They're students, they're learning, they know what questions to ask and the competition is very good at consistency and they know what to do."

Group's victory on Sunday continued to add to his already impressive track record at the front of the pit lane.

In 2006, he made his debut as interim crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports while Chad Knauss was serving a four-race suspension and promptly led Jimmie Johnson to a Daytona 500 victory.

It was the first of four Grab Crown victories.

NASCAR considers four races to be the crown jewels: the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Southern 500 and Brickyard 400.

Casey Mears won the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 with Grubb and Carl Edwards won the 2015 Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 with Grubb.

Grob's career peaked in 2011 while he and Stewart were still involved in soccer. Stewart won five of ten races that season, beating Edwards and winning the championship in Grubbs' final season with Stewart-Haas Racing.

This is the first time an owner/driver has won the Cup Series championship since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.

Winning the Chicago Street Race tops Grab's list of notable achievements.

"I was very lucky to win the Daytona 500, win the championship and win the race there (Homestead-Miami Speedway) with Tony Swart," said Grubb. The comparison is a good thing, but it is definitely a real experience. The Chicago street festival should soon become something to remember because it was such an extraordinary event.

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