NASCAR: Bowman out duels Reddick to win Chicago Street Race

Hendrick Motorsports Chevy driver Alex Bowman slipped by Joey Hand one lap before the final caution flew when Josh Berry crashed for the umpteenth time and won the Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup crashfest on the streets of Chicago.

Bowman and Hand were two of the drivers who did not pit for slick dry tires and the rain tires were the right choice for the win.

With the race shortened to 58 of 75 laps due to darkness and so many cautions, Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs on dry tires got past Hand for 2nd and 3rd with one lap to go.

Reddick was closing on Bowman who was fighting his worn rain tires, but he tapped the wall on the last lap, lost 2 seconds of time and that it all she wrote.

Q. So close once again, two weeks in a row. Tyler, it looked like you were on the slicks, you were catching the 48 car and you got in the wall in Turn 5. What happened there?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, you pretty much said it. We were catching Alex by a large margin there, and — I don’t know, that puzzles me. I clearly just screwed up. Trying to stay in the dry groove and I had more than enough of dry groove, as I’m seeing right behind you. I cut the wheel a little too hard.

Just not focused enough, I guess. I knew I was going to get to him. I knew the earlier I could get to him the more options I was going to have. It was going to get a little bit more slick off line beyond Turn 8.

Yeah, just didn’t even give ourselves a shot to race him, unfortunately, with that. Hate it. Not what this Jordan Brand Toyota Camry is about, that’s not what this team is about. We’ve got to start capitalizing and getting these wins.

It was Bowman’s first win in 80 races and his first-ever road course win. He is now eligible for the 2024 Cup Playoffs.

Early favorites Shane Van Gisbergen was taken out by one of NASCAR talentless drivers and Kyle Larson crashed out hard when he missed his braking point on the wet track and collided with the barriers head-on.

There were so many spins and crashes all around the track we lost count.

“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.

“It’s going to be a bad deal. I’m probably going to wake up naked on the bathroom floor again. That’s just part of this deal sometimes.”

Driving the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Bowman claimed the eighth victory of his career with a pass of sports car ace Joey Hand on Lap 51—moments before Josh Berry plowed into the tire barrier in Turn 2 of the 2.2-mile, 12-turn course to cause the fifth and final caution.

At that point, the race was on the clock, thanks to a heavy rain that had caused a lengthy stoppage after Lap 25. Facing a deadline of 8:20 p.m., with two laps to follow that point in the race, Bowman held off runner-up Tyler Reddick to win an event shortened from 75 to 58 laps because of the delay.

Harris got his first win as a crew chief by keeping Bowman out on older wet tires after the final caution. Neither Christopher Bell, who arguably had the best car in the race, nor Reddick could catch Bowman over the closing laps.

Bell’s charge to the front was blunted by a five-car melee, and Reddick nicked the wall and lost momentum on the final lap.

“We were catching Alex by a large margin there, and, I don’t know, that puzzles me,” said Reddick, who finished second for the second straight week. “I clearly just screwed up. Trying to stay in the dry groove, and I had more than enough of dry groove… I cut the wheel a little too hard.”

Bowman crossed the finish line with a 3.447-second edge over Reddick to score his first win since March 6, 2022 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Man, I broke my back (in a sprint car accident), had a brain injury, and we’ve kind of sucked ever since,” Bowman said. “I didn’t… you start to second-guess if you’re ever going to get a chance to win a race again.”

Enhancing Bowman’s opportunity on Sunday was the ill fortune that befell the top two contenders.

Halfway through the restart lap for Stage 2 (Lap 25), the complexion of the race changed dramatically. Chase Briscoe, out of control in his No. 14 Ford, slid toward the tire barrier in Turn 6 and clipped the rear of the Chevrolet of defending winner Shane van Gisbergen.

The impact propelled van Gisbergen’s Camaro nose-first into the outside wall at the exit from the corner, and the car came to rest, unable to continue. Van Gisbergen’s exit suddenly raised the stakes for the drivers who trailed him to the finish line in Stage 1.

After leaving the infield care center, van Gisbergen watched a replay of the incident.

“Just sort of turned in, looked pretty good and then just got smashed by someone (Briscoe),” the New Zealander said. “Just gutting. The car was really good. We were in the lead for a lot of that race and, you know, felt good taking off in the rain. That sucks—an unfortunate mistake by him, but I’m sure he didn’t mean it.

“But, yeah, when he just clipped me, there was nothing I could do. Of course I’m disappointed. We had a pretty amazing Camaro there… I felt like I was driving well within myself. It’s a shame to be out so early and a shame we couldn’t have a proper crack at it at the end.”

By the time Briscoe delivered the coup de grâce to the No. 16 Chevy, Gibbs had wrested the lead from Zane Smith, who stayed out on older wet tires, and Bell, who was first off pit road during the stage break.

The field didn’t complete Lap 25 before NASCAR called the second caution of the race for heavy rain. After a red-flag period of 1 hour, 43 minutes, one second, the race resumed and went green on Lap 31, with Bell retaking the lead from Gibbs before completion of that circuit.

On Lap 34, pole winner Kyle Larson, in pursuit of Gibbs, hydroplaned into the Turn 6 tire barrier, damaging his No. 5 Chevrolet beyond repair.

In a race where late strategic calls scrambled the field, Gibbs led a race-high 17 laps and came home third, followed by Hand and Michael McDowell. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10.

Bell led 14 circuits, but he, Gibbs and Reddick pitted for slick tires on Lap 43 and couldn’t get back to the front.

For the second straight year, rain shortened the NASCAR Cup race at the Chicago Street Race, but the wet weather did little to diminish the festival atmosphere that captivated the Windy City throughout the weekend.

“I’ve raced about every street course in the country and a lot around the world, and you won’t find a backdrop like this,” said Hand, who led seven laps on wet tires before Bowman led the final eight.

Grant Park 165 Chicago Street Race Results

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	BEHIND	LAPS
1	48	Alex Bowman		—	58
2	45	Tyler Reddick		2.863	58
3	54	Ty Gibbs		2.930	58
4	60	* Joey Hand		8.513	58
5	34	Michael McDowell		8.584	58
6	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		12.411	58
7	38	Todd Gilliland		13.212	58
8	24	William Byron		13.607	58
9	8	Kyle Busch		14.757	58
10	12	Ryan Blaney		16.041	58
11	99	Daniel Suarez		19.301	58
12	31	Daniel Hemric		19.557	58
13	23	Bubba Wallace		20.637	58
14	10	Noah Gragson		22.513	58
15	2	Austin Cindric		22.672	58
16	51	Justin Haley		22.910	58
17	71	Zane Smith #		23.294	58
18	6	Brad Keselowski		23.320	58
19	3	Austin Dillon		23.553	58
20	17	Chris Buescher		24.047	58
21	9	Chase Elliott		27.289	58
22	1	Ross Chastain		27.691	58
23	22	Joey Logano		29.559	58
24	77	Carson Hocevar #		29.576	58
25	21	Harrison Burton		30.725	58
26	15	Kaz Grala #		32.215	58
27	66	* Josh Bilicki(i)		31.871	57
28	43	Erik Jones		33.565	57
29	7	Corey LaJoie		34.099	57
30	11	Denny Hamlin		35.560	57
31	41	Ryan Preece		41.035	57
32	33	* Austin Hill(i)		41.817	57
33	14	Chase Briscoe		43.069	57
34	19	Martin Truex Jr.		49.451	57
35	42	John Hunter Nemechek		-1	57
36	4	Josh Berry #		-2	56
37	20	Christopher Bell		-3	55
38	13	* AJ Allmendinger(i)		-10	48
39	5	Kyle Larson		-25	33
40	16	Shane Van Gisbergen(i)		-34	24

# DENOTES ROOKIE
(i) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME