The Cup Series’ second bout on the Chicago Street Course was a rain-and-shine affair on July 7th, 2024. While darkness forced the race to a premature end, the No. 48 NASCAR Chevy team of Alex Bowman powered through to the finish, taking advantage of late race pit strategy to break an 80-race winless streak.
Blake Harris, crew chief for the No. 48 NASCAR Chevy team, elected to keep Bowman’s Camaro ZL1 on older wet tires after the final caution of the race. Despite having older rubber, Bowman was able to get away with the lead in the closing laps, holding of sports car veteran Joey Hand in the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse and a hard-charging Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry.
As the 8:20 p.m. deadline loomed, Bowman outran them all and flashed across the line in first.
“The last time we won, we didn’t really get to celebrate – we’re going to drink so much damn bourbon tonight,” Bowman declared after the 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.”
He added, “Man, I broke my back (in a sprint car accident), had a brain injury, and we’ve kind of sucked ever since. I didn’t… you start to second-guess if you’re ever going to get a chance to win a race again.”
It’s entirely possible that the race might not have fallen Bowman’s way had the dominant Shane van Gisbergen not been taken out in a mid-race incident. Van Gisbergen, driving the No. 16 NASCAR Chevy, led early, but found himself on the wrong end of the No. 14 Mustang of Chase Briscoe, who spun out and collected van Gisbergen. The No. 16 Camaro was junked and he was forced to retire after just 24 laps, finishing dead last.
“Just sort of turned in, looked pretty good and then just got smashed by someone (Briscoe),” said van Gisbergen, who won the Chicago Street Course in 2023. “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.”
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 58 | 8 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 2 | 4 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Jordan Brand Toyota | 58 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 3 | 2 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 58 | 17 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 38 | 60 | * Joey Hand | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 58 | 7 | Ford Mustang |
| 5 | 3 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Chicago White Sox Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 6 | 33 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Mariano's/Colgate Optic White Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 7 | 26 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | gener8tor Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 8 | 27 | 24 | William Byron | Relay Payments Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 19 | 8 | Kyle Busch | zone Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 10 | 17 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Dutch Boy Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 11 | 9 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 12 | 35 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 13 | 6 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald's Toyota | 58 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 14 | 28 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 15 | 21 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Discount Tire Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 16 | 23 | 51 | Justin Haley | Pinnacle Home Improvement Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 30 | 71 | Zane Smith # | Focused Health Chevrolet | 58 | 3 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 18 | 10 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Elk Grove Village Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Get Bioethanol Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 20 | 16 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 18 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 22 | 14 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Busch Light Peach Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 23 | 32 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 13 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 31 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 40 | 15 | Kaz Grala # | Remixers.com/Meat n' Bone Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 20 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Celsius Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 28 | 39 | 66 | * Josh Bilicki(i) | Purekick Hydration Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 29 | 25 | 43 | Erik Jones | AdventHealth Toyota | 58 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 30 | 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota | 58 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 31 | 34 | 33 | * Austin Hill(i) | United Rentals Chevrolet | 58 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 22 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 24 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 58 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 34 | 29 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 58 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 35 | 12 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Dollar Tree Toyota | 57 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 36 | 36 | 4 | Josh Berry # | Overstock.com Ford | 57 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 37 | 7 | 20 | Christopher Bell | CRAFTSMAN Racing For A Miracle Toyota | 55 | 14 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 38 | 37 | 13 | * AJ Allmendinger(i) | Benesch Chevrolet | 48 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 39 | 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Valvoline Chevrolet | 33 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 40 | 5 | 16 | Shane Van Gisbergen(i) | Wendy's Saucy Nuggs Chevrolet | 24 | 9 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comment
Briscoe wrecks the fastest car on the track to help his new team ( Toyota next year for traitor Joe Gibbs ) as Bell and Gibbs Jr were in Toyotas and had track position at the time . Van Gisbergen was going to pass them in a matter of laps . Toyota has 3x more $ than Chevrolet teams and Michael Jordan owner + DEI hire Bubba crybaby Wallace and still the Chevrolets manage to beat them year after year .