WATCH: Shane van Gisbergen shows Kyle Larson the thumbs up as a sign of respect at the Chicago Xfinity Series race

Shane van Gisbergen won Saturday's Xfinity Series race at the Chicago Street Course, making it his third victory of the season. At one point during the race, the Australian Supercar icon gave a thumbs-up to Kyle Larson, with whom he traded the lead for most of the first half of the 50-lap event.

Kyle Larson, who drove the number 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, was one of the five Cup Series drivers slated to perform double duty this weekend by running both races on Saturday and Sunday. Although not a Cup Series regular, Shane van Gisbergen, too, had the same errand to run.

Here is a video of the three-time Bathurst 1000 winner giving a thumbs-up to Larson, who was behind him at the time:

Gisbergen started the race from the pole, and passed Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love with three laps to go en route to the victory. It was Gisbergen's third straight road course win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which tied him with the series record, jointly held by NASCAR legend Terry Labonte and AJ Allmendinger.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs pulled up behind Gisbergen's #97 machine, followed by Kyle Larson, Parker Kligerman, and Love.

Shane van Gisbergen, also known as SVG, won the last two races at the 12-turn, 2.2-mile racetrack in Chicago, Illinois. Last year, SVG won his debut Cup start here, which makes him the defending winner of the Grant Park 165. Kyle Larson won the pole for the 75-lap race this year, which will air live on NBC Sports and Peacock from 4:30 pm ET onwards.

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Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Larson reflect on learning from each other

Both drivers spoke to the reporters after the race, explaining that they had learned a lot from each other. Kyle Larson knew he would probably not have the chance to race against the three-time Australian Supercar champion as often. The Loop 110 was Larson's last Xfinity race this year and SVG has just two more Cup Series races in his schedule (Watkins Glen and Las Vegas Motor Speedway).

Speaking of which, the 2021 Cup Series champion said:

"Obviously, I wanted to win, but I wanted to learn more than anything. I wanted to get to battle with him because he’s just really good at creating shapes and angles passing. That was an objective of mine. The first opportunity I got, I wanted to get racing because I just didn’t know if I would have another opportunity to race with him."

However, Shane van Gisbergen was particularly impressed with how Kyle Larson made the turns around the corners, hitting the brakes, while maintaining the grip on the car.

"Some of his techniques and lines and car placement was very, very different to mine," SVG said of Larson. "I adapted a bit to him, especially Turn 6, how he would brake and turn was amazing how he got the car to rotate. I thought my car doesn’t have enough front grip. Then when I adapted to what he was doing, my car was fixed. So I learned a lot as well."

The duo will meet again tomorrow, and then at Watkins Glen International on September 16. Both Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Larson have three victories each in their respective series. Furthermore, both are in their respective playoff rumbles for the current season.