Alex Bowman wins chaotic, daylight-shortened Chicago Street Race

In a wild, wet, and once again, daylight-shortened event, Alex Bowman came out P1 in the Chicago Street Race. It is his first NASCAR Cup Series victory since 2022.

This race was not ideal. It felt like a repeat of last year’s rainy event. Although the rain didn’t flood the track, it did enough to delay it for almost two hours at one point.

Alex Bowman is the 12th individual winner in the Cup Series this season. He locks himself into the NASCAR Playoffs with the win. He stayed out on wet weather tires and it ended up paying off for him.

A little burnout fail for Bowman to cap it off.

ALEX BOWMAN WINS!

and then SPINS on the streets of Chicago. 😆 pic.twitter.com/ZEYQ36wb8E

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 8, 2024

This one took a long time to get there, but we eventually did it. After all of the twists and turns, who would have thought Alex Bowman would be the driver to finish on top?

Stage 1 showed what NASCAR in Chicago can be

Even with the rain right before the green flag, this race started off with fantastic action. Shane van Gisbergen moved up quickly from his starting position. Then it was a fight to keep up with him.

We even got to see the field drive through lapped traffic. Some drivers were on wet weather tires, hoping to find speed on the damp track, or waiting for the rain to fall during the race.

The Chicago Street Race has now been interrupted by rain two years in a row. It is unfortunate, but seeing this race in the first stage made it all worth it in my mind. Let’s not act like the Xfinity Series didn’t put on an instant classic on Saturday, either.

SVG won the opening stage, Christopher Bell hung around. Then, things got nasty.

Rain pours, SVG gets wrecked out

With the rain coming down harder with each turn, NASCAR put these drivers in a tough position. There was a mistake coming off of pit road to start Stage 2. It wasn’t the last mishap, either.

Soon after the green flag came out, Bubba Wallace was booted to the side. He got a little loose and then Alex Bowman shipped him to the wall. Shortly after, Shane van Gisbergen was bumped by Chase Briscoe who was out of control.

SVG hit the outside wall exiting Turn 6. His car was killed at that point and he climbed out to finish as a DNF. From winner to last place, all within a year.

Soon after, NASCAR threw the red flag and put an end to the mess. It was starting to get embarrassing. The one-hour and forty-three-minute wait under the red flag was bad enough. Just when we thought we would see the full potential of this event.

Before the end of Stage 2, Kyle Larson found himself in the Turn 6 tire barrier. A DNF for Larson to join SVG in the garage. Tough day for those two great racers.

Alex Bowman outlasts Tyler Reddick, wets versus slicks

Once it became clear this would be a race to 8:20 PM local time in Chicago, it was chaos. Drivers came down pit road before the end of Stage 2 to switch to slicks in the hopes that the track would be dry enough to outrun the drivers on wet weather tires.

Alex Bowman battled Joey Hand as they were both on wet weather tires. Slowly but surely, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and Tyler Reddick began to make moves on slick tires. With only about 5 minutes left before the white flag was thrown at 8:20, the race had its final restart.

As the time and laps ticked away, those on slicks were gaining on the leaders. Then, Bell spun out, wrecked and hit Carson Hocevar on the way. No caution flag, as both cars kept racing.

The door opened for Reddick. He was running ap times two to almost three seconds quicker than Bowman. Then he hit the wall on the final lap. It gave Bowman just enough time to pull away and win the Chicago Street Race.

This race had plenty of issues and we can get into that later. But through it all, Alex Bowman prevailed. He is now locked into the playoffs and all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won at least one race this season.