Alex Bowman Snaps Winless Streak, Earns Marquee Win at Chicago

It has been since March 2022 when Alex Bowman last won a NASCAR Cup Series race, that all changed after Alex Bowman crossed the start-finish line to take the checkered flag to win the second NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course.

Bowman was on an 80-race winless streak as well as dealing with a couple of injuries since his previous win. Bowman, however, was able to persevere and prove he belongs at Hendrick Motorsports with a marquee win. Especially in a race that dealt with a delay that caused the race to expire on time, as it had to end at 8:20 pm CT/9:20 pm EST. 

“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 the win.

“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.” 

Bowman would collect the eighth win of his Cup Series career after passing decorated sports car racer, Joey Hand, on lap 51. Bowman stuck with the wet tires and felt like he could win the race with the track being so wet after the delay. The reason for the weather delay was for standing water that needed to be cleared out by the Air Titans. However, Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing was the one to stand out among the drivers who took slick tires towards the end. With the slick tires, it is shown that you are faster on them than the wet tires, of course, the slicks aren’t made to race in wet conditions. Reddick was quickly catching Bowman on the final laps, but he slapped the inside wall at one point, causing him to lose momentum. Reddick would come up short for a second week in a row.

Christopher Bell was also on the move but would be slowed up by a five-car melee in the closing laps.

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

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

Shane van Gisbergen had a strong car and looked like he was well on his way to winning this race again, even winning stage 1. However, shortly into stage two and right before the delay for weather, Chase Briscoe lost control and slid towards the tire barrier in turn six, just clipping SVG’s car enough to send him into the wall, damaging his No. 16 Chevrolet and taking him out of contention.

“Just sort of turned in, looked pretty good, and then just got smashed by someone (Briscoe),” SVG said after checking out of the infield care center. “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.”

After the race stopped on lap 25 for a 1 hour, 43 minute delay, the race restarted on lap 31. Kyle Larson also had a fast car until he hydroplaned into the Turn 6 tire barrier, damaging his car beyond repair.

Ty Gibbs finished third, Joey Hand finished fourth, and Michael McDowell finished fifth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, William Byron, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney round out the top ten.

The Cup Series head next to Pocono Raceway on Sunday at 2:30 pm EST.