Shane van Gisbergen is back in Chicago after his career-altering NASCAR Cup Series win a year ago

CHICAGO (AP) — Shane van Gisbergen prefers the countryside to a big city, so Chicago isn't exactly his type of place.

Except for the Windy City streets. He likes those a lot.

Van Gisbergen is back in Chicago this weekend, the scene of his career-altering victory just over a year ago. The 35-year-old New Zealand native is entered in the Xfinity and Cup Series races on the downtown street course that remains a bit of an enigma for NASCAR drivers.

“It’s cool. It’s special to come back here,” he said Friday.

The last time van Gisbergen raced in Chicago, he was a largely unknown commodity — at least in the United States. A three-time champion in Australia's Supercars, he came over for a Cup Series start as part of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91.

Then everything changed.

Making the most of his extensive street racing experience, van Gisbergen outdueled Justin Haley and Chase Elliott on his way to a historic victory. He became the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.

The impressive performance on the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course — which had been pounded by rain and dried out during the series’ first street race — captured the attention of the rest of the Cup drivers.

“He's just smooth. I think that was the bottom line to what I saw,” said Joey Logano, who won last weekend in Tennessee. “What I think makes Shane good at these tracks, his ability to hit the apexes so tight without giving up entry speed is what makes him fast. To me, that’s pretty clear. And he gets so comfortable in those braking zones to be able to put ... his car where he needs to, it's pretty smooth.”

The victory led to a development deal with Trackhouse that put van Gisbergen in select races in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series this year. He moved to North Carolina in December.

It also put more of a spotlight on the drivers in Australian Supercars. Will Brown and Cam Waters competed in the Cup Series race at Sonoma, with van Gisbergen serving as one of Brown's spotters.

“It’s definitely opened up the door for the V8 Supercar guys," Chase Briscoe said. “I feel like everywhere we go now, there’s always at least one in the field.”

Van Gisbergen's victory in the inaugural Chicago street race also had an effect on this year's edition. Track president Julie Giese said there was a noticeable increase in ticket sales in New Zealand.

Another strong weekend in Chicago could help catapult van Gisbergen into a full-time Cup ride, but he said that's not part of his mindset.

“It would probably certainly help; getting a good result both days and showing I can keep running up front on road courses,” he said. "But I’m not trying to put pressure on myself, you know, saying ‘I have to win to get into Cup next year,’ you know? But certainly a good result will help that, yeah.”

While oval tracks remain a challenge, van Gisbergen has quickly established himself as one of NASCAR's best road racers. He got his first two Xfinity Series wins for Kaulig Racing on road courses at Portland and Sonoma on consecutive weekends last month.

“It’s almost like a holiday on a road race weekend for me,” he said. "I can relax and have some fun.”

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FILE - Shane van Gisbergen gets ready for a practice session for an ARCA Mendards Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Feb. 15, 2024, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

Charles Dean loved living in his South Carolina neighborhood, with its manicured lawns and towering trees. It reminded him of his childhood growing up in a family that has run a lumber business since the early 1900s.

It was one of those giant trees that ended up killing him when Hurricane Helene whipped through Greenville last week and uprooted a red oak that crashed into his apartment.

But rather than discarding the tree, his relatives plan to use some of its wood to craft a beautiful bench, table, or other pieces of furniture and donate them to one of the drug recovery centers where Charles touched many lives, brother Matthew Dean said.

“Charles helped a lot of people who were alcoholics and drug addicts, and if there is something we can get out of this, is that there’s always hope. There is always hope,” he said.

Days of rain saturated the ground, and as the storm reached the Southeast it whipped up strong winds that uprooted trees and utility poles throughout the region.

Dean is among the more than 200 people confirmed dead in one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. Many died crushed by trees that fell on homes or cars. The dead in South Carolina include grandparents found hugging one another after a fallen tree killed them in their home and two firefighters who died when a tree fell on their truck.

As the storm approached on Sept. 27, Charles Dean texted his family to say he could hear trees coming down outside as Helene battered the town.

“In the middle of it now, scary,” he texted his brother Matthew and his sister-in-law, who were checking on him from 300 miles (480 kilometers) away in North Carolina.

“It’s like mom and dad’s old neighborhood trees, all old-growth trees, and they’re going down, frightening,” he added.

A short time later, the red oak, about 70 feet (21 meters) tall and 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, crashed into the second-story apartment, killing him.

“We told him we loved him, and he said that he loved us, and that was the last message we had with him,” Matthew Dean said.

The oldest of five brothers, Charles Dean, 59, loved to travel and visited much of Europe. One of his favorite trips was a safari in Africa, but Spain was among the countries he loved the most.

He was a fan of Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor and kept up with news about the British royal family.

Dean also loved to cook and bake and watch political news, which he called “pure theater.” He often sent text messages to family about the latest political scandal, his brother said.

He moved to Greenville in 2011 and began working as a drug addiction counselor — a recovering alcoholic, he found hope in helping others, according to his brother. On weekends Dean also worked at a home improvement store.

“Never in a million years did we expect to lose Charles,” Matthew Dean said. “He was so healthy and so vibrant and had years to live.”

This undated image provided by the Dean family, shows Charles Dean, who was killed after a tree crashed into his apartment by Hurricane Helene in Greenville, S.C. (Dean Family via AP)

This undated image provided by the Dean family, shows Charles Dean, who was killed after a tree crashed into his apartment by Hurricane Helene in Greenville, S.C. (Dean Family via AP)

This undated family photo shows Charles Dean feeding a giraffe in Africa. (Courtesy Dean family via AP)