Alex Bowman has won his first road course race and snapped an 80-race winless streak after he and his team took a big gamble on the streets of Chicago.
Tyler Reddick crossed the finish line second. Ty Gibbs, Joey Hand, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five.
Bowman and crew chief Blake Harris decided to stay out at the end of stage 2 and try to finish the darkness-shortened race on wet-weather tires. The majority of drivers decided to go to racing slicks after the rain stopped.
MORE: Bowman wins, full Chicago results
This move paid off for Bowman, who passed leader Joey Hand on Lap 50. From that point on, he just needed to hold off the drivers with fresher tires. This included Reddick, who cut the lead to just over one second on the final lap.
The situation changed for Reddick, however, as he clipped the wall. This dropped him to nearly four seconds behind Bowman and erased any opportunity to contend for the win.
ALEX BOWMAN WINS!
and then SPINS on the streets of Chicago. 😆 pic.twitter.com/ZEYQ36wb8E
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 8, 2024
This win is significant for Bowman, who has not won since the spring race at Las Vegas in 2022. He has since changed crew chiefs, sustained a concussion, and recovered from a fractured back. Now he is back in the playoffs after missing out last season.
"We're gonna drink so much d*** bourbon tonight," Bowman told NBC Sports. "It's gonna be a bad deal. I'm probably going to wake up naked on the bathroom floor again, but that's just part of this deal sometimes."
Notable: Sunday's Cup race featured a red flag delay lasting one hour and 43 minutes due to heavy rainfall. This pushed NASCAR up against the clock and forced the sanctioning body to set a hard stop time of 8:20 p.m. CT.
According to the NASCAR Rule Book Section 8.5.7.6.C, "NASCAR may determine that it is impractical to complete the advertised Race distance. In this occurrence, NASCAR, in its sole discretion, will determine when the Race concludes and will communicate a predetermined time to the competitors.
"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)."
Stage 1: Corey LaJoie crashed with four laps remaining in the first stage. Shane van Gisbergen was in the lead, so he won the first stage under caution. Christopher Bell, Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Bowman, Bubba Wallace, Todd Gilliland, Reddick, and Daniel Suarez all finished top 10.
Stage 2: The majority of leaders stopped before the end of stage 2 to put on slicks. Hand stayed out and won stage 2. Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, Martin Truex Jr., Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton, and Denny Hamlin all finished top 10.
Now Larson gets into the tire barrier! #NASCARChicago pic.twitter.com/9jhMTLFNZq
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 8, 2024
Van Gisbergen, the favorite entering the weekend, crashed during the second stage after Briscoe lost control and hit him from behind. Van Gisbergen's No. 16 Chevrolet made hard contact with the Turn 6 wall and could not continue in the race. He finished 40th.
Larson, the other favorite, destroyed the front of his No. 5 Chevrolet on Lap 35. He slammed nose-first into the tire barrier in Turn 6 and then slammed into the concrete barrier behind the tires. He finished 39th.
Next: Cup Series teams head to Pocono Raceway for a race on Sunday, July 14. USA Network will provide coverage for the race at 2:30 p.m. ET.