Alex Bowman earns NASCAR Cup Playoff berth with strategic Chicago win: On a wet-and-dry day on the streets of Chicago, crew chief Blake Harris made the right call, and driver Alex Bowman promised to wet his whistle after ending an 80-race drought. “The last time we won, we didn’t really get to celebrate—we’re going to drink so much damn bourbon tonight,” said Bowman, who clinched a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with his victory in Sunday’s Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Race.[Read More]
#48-Alex Bowman won the darkness shortened Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course. The win is his 1st win of the year, 1st at the Chicago Street Course and 8th career win.
#45-Tyler Reddick finished 2nd followed by #54-Ty Gibbs, #60-Joey Hand, #34-Michael McDowell, #47-Ricky Stenhouse Jr, #38-Todd Gilliland, #24-William Byron, #8-Kyle Busch, and #12-Ryan Blaney.
Pole sitter #5-Kyle Larson dropped out of the race early after running into the tire barrier on lap 34 and tearing up the front end of the car. He finished 39th.
Like last year, the race was impacted by rain.
The start was delayed by about 20 minutes when light rain begun just as engines were fired. Teams were allowed to change to wet weather tires for the start.
It was then red flagged for more than an hour on lap 26 after heavy rain moved in and the spray was too much for the cars to run in.
On lap 18 NASCAR announced that if the race was had not run the full distance by 9:20pm/et it would end due to darkness. Once the race restarted after the red flag, teams knew they would not be able to run the full distance.
During the stage 2 caution break, the top 12 drivers stayed out on wet tires. #48-Bowman restarted the final stage in second, but was able to move past #60-Hand on lap 50 to take the lead and never relinquished it before time expired and the race ended after 58 of the 75 scheduled laps
Stage 1 was won by #16-Shane Van Gisbergen. Stage 2 was won by #60-Joey Hand.
There were 9 lead changes among 6 drivers and 5 cautions for 19 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 54.921mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – Chicago:
Alex Bowman won the Grant Park 165, his eighth victory in 309 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2024.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in two races at Chicago Street Race.
Tyler Reddick (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Chicago Street Race. It is his 13th top-10 finish in 2024.
Ty Gibbs (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Chicago Street Race.
Zane Smith (17th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kyle Larson leads the point standings by 11 points over Chase Elliott
(NASCAR)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after Chicago:
Race 20 of 26 in the regular season
1) #5-Kyle Larson [3 wins], 671 [points leader]
2) #11-Denny Hamlin [3 wins], 629
3) #24-William Byron [3 wins], 599
4) #20-Christopher Bell [3 wins], 586
5) #9-Chase Elliott [1 win], 660
6) #45-Tyler Reddick [1 win], 648
7) #12-Ryan Blaney [1 win], 587
8) #6-Brad Keselowski [1 win], 558
9) #48-Alex Bowman [1 win], 553
10) #22-Joey Logano [1 win], 484
11) #99-Daniel Suarez [1 win], 410
12) #2-Austin Cindric [1 win], 389
13) #19-Martin Truex, Jr., 601, -70
14) #54-Ty Gibbs, 560, +125 ahead of 17th
15) #1-Ross Chastain, 529, +53 ahead of 17th
16) #17-Chris Buescher, 521, +45 ahead of 17th
Below the cutoff:
17) #23-Bubba Wallace, 476, -45 behind 16th
18) #14-Chase Briscoe, 433, -88 behind 16th
19) #8-Kyle Busch, 423, -98 behind 16th
20) #38-Todd Gilliland, 400, -121 behind 16th
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
Checkered flag – #48-Alex Bowman wins the darkness shortened race at Chicago. #45-Reddick finishes second, then #54-Gibbs, #60-Hand, #34-McDowell, #47-Stenhouse, #38-Gilliland, #24-Byron, #8-Busch, and #12-Blaney.
Lap 58 – White flag for #48-Bowman. #45-Reddick has moved to second.
Lap 57 – #48-Bowman leads and time has expired. The race will end in two laps.
Lap 56 – #48-Bowman has pulled out to a a 1.8 second lead. #11-Hamlin and #33-Hill into the barriers, but continue on.
Lap 55 – #42-Nemechek into the wall in turn 12. No caution. Later, #20-Bell and #77-Hocevar get together but continue.
Lap 55 – #48-Bowman leads #60-Hand by .4 second. Just under 3 minutes remaining.
Lap 54 – #14-Briscoe into the wall in turn 1. He continues. No caution.
Lap 54 – Green flag with just under 5 minutes remaining.
Lap 53 – Going green next time by. The top 10: #48-Bowman, #60-Hand, #6-Keselowski, #19-Truex, #77-Hocevar, #47-Stenhouse, #10-Gragson, #31-Hemric, #20-Bell and #21-Burton.
Lap 53 – Pit road is open. Everyone says out with 8 minutes remaining.
Lap 51 – #48-Bowman takes the lead from #60-Hand. Caution is out for #4-Berry into the tire barriers at turn 2.
Lap 51 – #60-Hand leads #48-Bowman by .28 second. 13 minutes remaining.
Lap 50 – #13-Allmendinger runs into the tires in turn 12. He is able to get going again. No caution.
Lap 49 – Back to green with 16 minutes remaining in the race.
Lap 48 – The top 12 drivers stayed out under caution. They are still on wet weather tires. #20-Bell, in 13th, is the first driver on slick tires.
Lap 47 – Under caution for the end of stage 2, there are 20 minutes left until darkness. At 9:20pm/et, there will be two laps remaining in the race. There are no overtime attempts.
Lap 46 – Caution is out for the end of stage 2. #60-Hand wins in. He’s followed by #48-Bowman, #6-Keselowski, 77-Hocevar, #19-Truex, #10-Gragson, #31-Hemric, #47-Stenhouse, #21-Burton, and #11-Hamlin. Prior to the caution, #1-Chastain, #13-Allmendinger, #51-Haley, #15-Grala, and #17-Buescher pitted while pit road was closed. They will have to restart at the rear of the field.
Lap 44 – #20-Bell pits prior to the pits closing. Also coming down was #54-Gibbs, #38-Gilliland, #42-Nemechek and other drivers near the front. #60-Hand takes the lead.
Lap 43 – A few drivers come to pit road prior to the end of stage 2, including #9-Elliot, #3-Dillon, #34-McDowell, #24-Byron, #8-Busch and others.
Lap 42 – Four laps remaining in stage 2. #20-Bell leads #54 Gibbs by .8 second. Third place #38-Gilliland is 4.4 seconds back.
Lap 41 – #41-Preece has been into the turn 6 tire barriers, but continues.
Lap 38 – #4-Berry into the tire barrier in turn 4. #14-Briscoe also out of shape. They continue. No caution.
Lap 38 – Back to green. 40 minutes of racing remaining. #20-Bell, #54-Gibbs, #45-Reddick, #38-Gilliland, #42-Nemechek are the top 5. Race is halfway and official.
Lap 34 – Caution is out for #5-Larson straight into the turn 6 tire barrier. He’s got heavy damage.
Lap 34 – #20-Bell has pulled out to a 1.8 second lead over #54-Gibbs. Then #5-Larson, #45-Reddick, and #38-Gilliland.
Lap 32 – #20-Bell takes the lead from #54-Gibbs.
Lap 31 – #11-Hamlin and #47-Stenhouse get into the tire barrier in turn 6. No caution.
Lap 31 – Back to green with 15 laps left in stage 2 and 59 minutes of racing remaining before darkness.
Lap 30 – Pit road is open. The leaders stay out.
Lap 29 – Under caution it’s: #54-Gibbs, #20-Bell, #5-Larson, #71-Smith, #45-Reddick, #38-Gilliland, #42-Nemechek, #9-Elliott, #8-Busch, and #1-Chastain.
8:07pmet – The red flag has been lifted and the race is back to yellow. The red flag was 1 hour, 43 minutes.
8:05pm/et – Once again, engines are re-fired.
7:58pm/et – NASCAR says the cars should be rolling in 10 minutes. The rain has moved through. Cars are being uncovered.
7:45pm/et – NASCAR says drivers can turn engines back off as heavier rain has returned and it will take a bit longer to get the track ready.
7:39pm/et – Engines have been re-fired. There is one more smaller cell of heavy rain heading toward the track but it should be clear after that. There’s still 1 hour and 4o minutes until the race would end because of darkness.
7:32pm/et – NASCAR says all restarts will be single file until further notice.
7:30pm/et – Drivers have been called to their cars.
7:22pm/et – NASCAR says drivers need to be back at their cars by 7:30pm/et.
7:16pm/et – Rain is letting up and they should be able to get the race restarted within the next hour with no additional delays.
6:50pm/et – Still heavy rain at the track. There will be more of a delay until the worst of the rain passes through.
Lap 26 – Red flag at 6:25pm/et. Drivers will be able to get out of the cars. #54-Gibbs leads #20-Bell, #5-Larson, #71-Smith, and #45-Reddick.
Lap 26 – NASCAR is going to bring the cars to pit road for a red flag because of the weather. Some of the standing water needs to be blown off the track. Drivers will stay in the cars.
Lap 26 – #16-Van Gisbergen is done for the day after he ran into the outside wall.
Lap 25 – #23-Wallace and #48-Bowman spin in turn two but are able to continue. Later in the lap there is a caution for #14-Briscoe hard in the tire barrier in turn 6. He is able to drive away.
Lap 25 – Back to green for the start of the second stage. The race is official after 38 laps. This stage ends after lap 45.
Lap 22 – Pit road is open and they are competitive pit stops. Off pit road: #20-Bell, #54-Gibbs, #5-Larson, #16-Van Gisbergen, #48-Bowman, #23-Wallace, #14-Briscoe, #45-Reddick. #20-Bell had to check up as he came off pit road and jet dryers were on the track in front of him. Several cars jammed up behind him. #45-Reddick has some minor nose damage but will continue. #71-Smith stayed out and will restart as the leader.
Lap 21 – Stage 1 is now complete. Everyone will hit pit road soon and change to wet weather tires.
Lap 20 – Rain picked up for a bit and put a lot of water on track. It may rain for a while now.
Lap 19 – Stage 1 will end under caution: #16-Van Gisbergen, #20-Bell, #54-Gibbs, #14-Briscoe, #5-Larson, #48-Bowman, #23-Wallace, #38-Gilliland, #45-Reddick, and #99-Saurez.
Lap 18 – NASCAR announces that the race will end at 8:20 CENTRAL TIME if it has not reached the full distance at that time. Once the Race leader crosses the start finish line after this time expires, the next lap will be the white flag followed by the checkered flag (no overtime). As of 5:47pm/et, with the estimated race time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, there is currently plenty of time to run the full distance.
Lap 17 – Caution is out for an accident in turn 5. #7-LaJoie spun around and was facing the wrong way. He gets the car restarted and drives away.
Lap 16 – Five laps remaining in stage 1. #20-Bell takes the lead from #16-Van Gisbergen at the line but Van Gisbergen takes it back.
Lap 13 – #16-Van Gisbergen takes the lead and #20-Bell moves to second as the leaders run through lap traffic. Some heavier rain is coming and could hit the track anytime.
Lap 11 – Halfway through stage 1. #54-Gibbs continues to lead with #16-Van Gisbergen, #20-Bell, #5-Larson, and #14-Briscoe rounding out the top 5.
Lap 9 – #16-Van Gisbergen is now second, less than a second behind #54-Gibbs. #7-LaJoie and #19-Truex have pitted for slick tires.
Lap 7 – Top 8 cars are nose to tail.
Lap 5 – #34-McDowell pits to change to wet weather tires as rain is picking up in some areas of the track.
Lap 5 – #16-Van Gisbergen is up to third place. #54-Gibbs leads #45-Reddick by 1.5 second.
Lap 3 – There are still sprinkles at the track with heavier rain possible in the next 10-15 minutes. However, slick tires are not detrimental to teams yet.
Lap 2 – #54-Gibbs leads at the completion of the first lap. #45-Reddick is second and #5-Larson back to third.
Lap 1 – #54-Gibbs takes the lead at the start.
5:21pm/et – Green flag at Chicago. #5-Larson and #54-Gibbs on the front row. The first stage is 20 laps. There is still some rain in the area. Most teams are on slick tires.
5:09pm/et – A large number of teams are switching back to slick tires. There is some water pooled in a few spots, but teams seem to think the track will dry quickly without additional rain.
5:05pm/et – The pace car is now rolling off. Most teams changed to wet weather tires.
5:02pm/et – Engines have been re-fired. Drivers will make one lap and then can come back to pit road to change tires if they want. They will keep their starting position regardless of what they decide to do.
4:54pm/et – NASCAR has determined that the track is wet. Teams will be allowed to change to wet weather tires for the start if they want.
4:53pm/et – NASCAR is allowing crews to cover the cars.
4:51pm/et – There are now reports of rain on the track.
4:47pm/et – Start of the race is on hold for a “security incident”. Initially it was thought there was lightning in the area.
4:45pm/et – Engines fired for the Grant Park 165.
4:35pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
4:00pm/et – NBC is now on the air with pre-race coverage. Green flag is one hour away.
3:30pm/et – Rain has been staying north of downtown and isn’t an issue at this time.
1:50pm/et – There are now nine drivers to the rear for the start of the race.
• As of late morning, there are seven drivers going to the rear for the start of the race (listed below). All are for a variety of unapproved adjustments at this point.
• The weather will be drastically better than last year, but there’s still a chance of rain. The National Weather Service calls for a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 3pm and 5pm Central Time. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.
• Today’s race is scheduled for a 5:00pm/et green flag and will be shown on NBC and Peacock.
Race details:
Broadcast: NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 75 laps / 165 miles
Stages: 20 / 45 / 75
Average time of race: 2:45:00
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph
Fuel Window: 40 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
Invocation: 3:37:20 p.m.
America the Beautiful: 3:38: 00 p.m.
National Anthem: 3:40:15 p.m.
Command: 3:45:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 4:00:00 p.m.
Paint Schemes
Cars to the rear: #4-Berry (unapproved adjustments), #6-Keselowski (unapproved adjustments), #7-LaJoie (unapproved adjustments), #12-Blaney (unapproved adjustments), #17-Buescher (unapproved adjustments), #21-Burton (unapproved adjustments), #24-Byron (steering change), #43-Jones (unapproved adjustments), #66-Bilicki (inspection failure)
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course have been made.
Pole winner #5-Kyle Larson chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #54-Ty Gibbs took the 23rd stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Chicago Pit Stall page.
#5-Kyle Larson won the Busch pole for the Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course with a speed of 90.168mph for his 5th pole of the year, 1st at Chicago and 21st of his career.
#54-Ty Gibbs will start second followed by #34-Michael McDowell, #45-Tyler Reddick, #16-Shane Van Gisbergen, #23-Bubba Wallace, #20-Christopher Bell, #48-Alex Bowman, #99-Daniel Suarez, and #6-Brad Keselowski.
See the complete qualifying results and the Grant Park 165 Starting Lineup.
Chicago Street Course – Qualifying Fast Facts:
Kyle Larson won the Pole Award for the Grant Park 165 with a lap of 87.836 seconds, 90.168 mph.
This is his 21st pole in 350 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his fifth pole and 12th top-10 start in 2024.
This is his first pole in two races at Chicago Street Race.
Ty Gibbs (second) posted his 12th top-10 start of 2024 and his first in two races at Chicago Street Race.
Michael McDowell (third) posted his second top-10 start at Chicago Street Race. It is his 10th in 20 races this season.
Carson Hocevar (13th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR)
Qualifying Order
Practice for the Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course is over. The results:
#5-Kyle Larson 89.549
#16-Shane Van Gisbergen 89.434
#54-Ty Gibbs 89.404
#99-Daniel Suarez 88.880
#48-Alex Bowman 88.865
Slowest: #66-Josh Bilicki 82.898
Most laps run: Nine drivers ran 12 laps.
Best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 16 drivers): #48-Alex Bowman 88.373mph
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Grant Park 165 Practice speeds page.
Pre-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage is complete. The No. 66 of Josh Bilicki failed three times (loss of pit selection, crew member ejection, the No. 66 will not be permitted to qualify and must serve a pass through penalty after receiving the green flag to start the race).
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course is posted, 40 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Drivers include: #13-A.J. Allmendinger, #15-Kaz Grala, #16-Shane Van Gisbergen, #33-Austin Hill, #60-Joey Hand, #66-Josh Bilicki.
See the full entry list on the Grant Park 165 Entry List page.
Goodyear Fast Facts — Chicago Street Course
Race rules and information: