Alex Bowman won the rain-shortened Grant Park 165 on the streets of Chicago to snap an 80-race drought as the series heads to rural Pennsylvania to race at Pocono this weekend.
Bowman overtook sports car expert Joey Hand on Lap 51 just before the fifth and final caution to win a race shortened from 75 to 58 laps following a rain delay of more than 100 minutes. Reddick was second as the event finished with a 20-minute clock to beat an 8:20 p.m. CDT cutoff in the twilight.
Bowman qualified for the Cup Series playoff and became the 12th driver to win this season, leaving four remaining postseason spots with six regular season events left.
New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen, who made NASCAR history last year by winning the inaugural event in his Cup debut, was knocked out on lap 25 following contact with Chase Briscoe that heavily damaged his Chevy when he hit a temporary wall. Gisbergen won the Xfinity Series race a day earlier.
Kyle Larson, who won the pole, remains atop the driver standings but is just 11 points clear of Rick Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott. Reddick is 23 points back in third with Hamlin fourth, 42 behind.
Denny Hamlin led the final seven laps after a late restart and earned his milestone 50th Cup win under caution last year at Pocono. He led a 1-2-3 Toyota sweep that included Tyler Reddick — in a ride co-owned by Hamlin and basketball great Michael Jordan — and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. Camrys claimed five of the top six spots in a race that featured 14 lead changes and 11 cautions.
Practice and qualifying is at 11 am on Saturday. Race time is 11:30 am on Sunday.
Shane Van Gisbergen started on the pole and outdueled Kyle Larson to win the first stage before getting past Ty Gibbs late in the final segment to win The Loop 110 on Chicago’s temporary street course in the XFinity Series.
The New Zealander led four times for 14 laps to earn his series-best third win of the season in a Chevy. Gibbs was second and Larson third.
Inaugural Chicago race winner Cole Custer finished 18th following several issues but holds a 38-point lead over Justin Allgaier and 39 over Chandler Smith, who finished last in 38th place.
Austin Hill won in overtime at Pocono last year - surviving a wild restart for his fourth victory of the season. Josh Berry had won the first two stages but wrecked late after a restart. Sam Mayer was second with 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott third.
Chevy has won the past two events after Ford had claimed the previous three. Berry will drive the No. 15 AM Racing Ford Mustang after the team and driver Hailie Deegan parted ways on Monday.
Practice and qualifying is at 9 am on Saturday. Race time is 2 pm Saturday afternoon.
Christian Eckes led every lap to take the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Speedway on June 28 in the Craftrsman Truck Series. The trucks will be in Pocono this weekend.
It was Eckes’ third win this season. Eckes finished ahead of Daniel Dye by more than two seconds.
The race has increased 10 laps and will mark Pocono’s longest in the series. It will also be its first run on a Friday evening. Twelve of the previous 14 Truck races were held on Saturday, the others on Sunday.
Eckes leads the series by 40 points over Heim.
Last year, Kyle Busch’s last-lap pass of Corey Heim in the tunnel turn earned a hard-fought milestone 100th series victory for his KBM team. It marked Busch’s third win at the track and came against a former driver, who led 27 of 60 laps.
Practice and qualifying is this afternoon at 1 pm. Race time is 4:30 pm this evening.
