NASCAR Chicago Winner Shane van Gisbergen Opened the Floodgates

Yesterday, Shane van Gisbergen became the first driver to step into a NASCAR Cup Series car and win on debut since Johnny Rutherford did it in 1963. He also became the first road course specialist to win a race on a schedule oriented around those tracks since Mark Donohue did it for Team Penske in 1973. Those records are relics from an era where the great drivers of the world more freely tried everything available to them and often won in cars nothing like what they ran for championships. Those days are long gone, but van Gisbergen's win suggests that the tools exist for them to come back.

In the past three decades, a driver crossing over between racing disciplines typically had to commit themselves fully to a switch and abandon their original series in the process. Dario Franchitti's NASCAR excursion meant that he would abandon IndyCar at the peak of his abilities. In order to go to IndyCar, Scott McLaughlin left Australian Supercars behind. Juan Pablo Montoya set a record in this department through his long career: he left IndyCar for F1, then F1 for NASCAR, then NASCAR for IndyCar, then IndyCar for a full-time run in sports cars.

Endurance racing has long been an exception, thanks to additional open seats in 24 hour races. At Le Mans, the most notable examples in recent years are winners Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg, who were each able to race in a factory car while also running full-time in F1. While this year's race did not overlap with IndyCar, F1, Formula E, or American sports car racing and saw more factory entries than any race in decades, only Scott Dixon and a small handful of Formula E drivers were able to take advantage of the opportunity to race in a competitive car entered in the event's top class.

The 24 Hours of Daytona has seen a few more notable success stories, thanks in no small part to its January date. Shane van Gisbergen is among the group that was able to race in GT cars at Daytona in various years. Many IndyCar racers appear in the top class in the race every year, and NASCAR Cup Series drivers like Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson have had shots in recent years, too.