Shane van Gisbergen restored his dominance on road courses Sunday and reinforced the fact that he is the greatest NASCAR road racer ever, but the stakes increase for the New Zealander during the second half of 2026.

It’s 18 races down, 18 to go this season and, to the Trackhouse Racing driver’s chagrin, there are no more curvy layouts to conquer.

While NASCAR returns to the Chicago area this weekend, drivers will not be found again on Michigan Avenue. That’s a bummer for van Gisburgen because he won two of the three races held on the Chicago Street Course.

Instead, NASCAR returns to the 1.52-mile Chicagoland Speedway, a tri-oval in southwest suburban Joliet, Ill., that has not hosted an event since Alex Bowman earned his first career victory there in 2019.

Sunday’s eero 400, a 267-lapper that breaks the stretch of consecutive road races, will be the 20th NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Three active drivers have wins there: Brad Keselowski owns two while Denny Hamlin and Bowman have one apiece.

Keselowski’s pair came with different manufacturers: Dodge in 2012 while racing for then-Penske Racing and in Ford for Team Penske two years later.

Now 42, Keselowski took the 2012 Cup title in the season he first won in Chicago, becoming the first Dodge driver to notch a title since 1975 when it was done by Richard Petty, who turned 89 on Thursday.

Currently in his 19th Cup season and fifth as part-owner of RFK Racing, the Michigan native fended off rumors that his group will become Dodge’s flagship team as the manufacturer returns to Cup in 2027.

“For those asking — RFK racing has multi-year agreement with @fordracing and a commitment from their leadership to return the program to a championship contender,” Keselowski wrote June 25 on social media. “Any speculation else-wise makes for great internet talk but, it is not based on anything real.”

The number one comes up frequently regarding Ford, the Joliet speedway and the 2012 champ.

Ford is a disappointing 1-for-18 in 2026, while the blue oval has only a lone checkered flag in 19 Chicagoland races.

Keselowski himself has just one victory in 164 RFK starts, a 2024 Darlington win.

To use a football term, he and the manufacturer will be going for two on Sunday.

In a similar vein, van Gisbergen will be going for two on Sunday. While all his eight official NASCAR wins have come on road courses, he won on an oval last July in the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

He recognizes he’ll need more success on ovals to get where he wants to go.

Last season in 30 races on tracks that were not road courses, van Gisbergen posted an average finish of 24.8. Through 14 races on similar configurations this season, he has bumped it up to 20.9 — an improvement but certainly numbers that will not make him a viable title contender.

On May 31, he scored his first top-five showing by finishing fifth in Nashville. He will have to improve markedly to create more top fives.

He opens the eero 400 in 14th place, which at least puts him into Chase playoff contention.

“It certainly helps us,” the No. 97 Chevrolet driver said Sunday of his win at Sonoma, “but this is an oval championship.”

–Field Level Media

PHILADELPHIA — Paraguay manager Gustavo Alfaro suggested the extreme heat predicted for Saturday’s round of 16 match against heavily favored France could help his side, but only so much.

High temperatures around 100 Fahrenheit with significant humidity are forecast for the Mid-Atlantic city, with the highs coming an hour or two before the 5 p.m. ET scheduled kickoff.

Paraguay play their home qualifiers in the capital of Asuncion, where average summer highs rise into the 90s.

“We are used to the heat. Yes, we are,” Alfaro said on Friday via an interpreter. “However, you suffer the heat. What knockout match do you have in Paraguay at five in the afternoon? None. Maybe it happened once and there was a defeat. You don’t play at that time.”

He also noted it wouldn’t be the same as Mexico’s advantage playing at high altitude, conditions that Mexico have trained in for weeks.

“Even though you might have this memory, physical memory of understanding what happens with high altitude (or) what happens with heat, it’s different from what happens when you’re there,” he said.

“But the heat will affect both teams. And high altitude affects both teams, yes. But those that have a slight advantage are the ones that were able to prepare in that situation.”

Paraguay pulled off their round of 32 shock over Germany without center back Omar Alderete, who picked up a knee injury in the Albirroja’s group finale against Australia.

Alfaro said Alderete has not yet returned to full team training, but did not rule him out.

“Omar worked well yesterday, but he didn’t do anything on the field,” Alfaro said. “He did tough physical work. He responded well to the work. We’ll see today at our training to see how he responds. … “

“Let’s see if he can start or if he can come in later. He wants to be there. He’s told me, ‘Coach, I don’t want to miss this game.'”

Even though Monday’s triumph over Germany was celebrated with a national holiday, veteran Paraguay defender Junior Alonso insisted there would be no letdown in preparations to face Les Bleus.

“We have worked so hard, we have made so many sacrifices at the professional level, at the personal level, because our dream was to have Paraguay in a World Cup,” he said.

“So whether we have lost or not against Germany, it wouldn’t have meant a defeat to us because we did everything humanly possible to obtain that result and we were able to achieve that. And in this case, in the match against France, it won’t be different because we have the same mindset.

“We know what we are capable of. And the only thing that we could promise to the Paraguayan people is that we are going to give it all. Hopefully, God will be on our side and we will get the result that we want. But if that is not the case, we would have peace of mind anyway because we got prepared for this every day after getting so tired playing with Germany.”

–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media

After holding discussions regarding a change for the start time of the World Cup round of 16 match between England and host Mexico on Sunday, the match will remain at its scheduled time, multiple media outlets reported on Friday.

FIFA reportedly spoke with the Mexican and English football federations about altering the kickoff time in an attempt to avoid inclement weather.

According to the BBC, worries about the players’ readiness and travel logistics involving spectators prompted the decision to leave the game time unchanged.

The kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. local time in Mexico City, 1 a.m. in the United Kingdom. FIFA discussed moving up the kickoff six hours to noon at Azteca Stadium, which would be 7 p.m. in the UK and 2 p.m. Eastern time, per the reports.

Mexico’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador in the round of 32 on Tuesday in Mexico City was delayed due to rain.

France’s group-stage match with Iraq on June 22 was paused under tournament safety rules when lightning strikes are detected within eight miles of the stadium, resulting in an automatic 30-minute delay to play.

England defeated the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2-1 on Wednesday in Atlanta to advance to the round of 16.

Fans of the Three Lions in Great Britain probably would have preferred the earlier start time. Licensing laws were relaxed to allow pubs in the United Kingdom to stay open until 5 a.m. local time.

Had FIFA moved up the England-Mexico match, it reportedly might also have moved the kickoff time for Brazil’s round of 16 match with Norway from 4 p.m. Eastern on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., to avoid a potential overlap with the contest in Mexico City.

–Field Level Media