Alex Bowman picked up the eighth win of his Cup Series career at Chicago on Sunday. In doing so, he put an end to his 80-race winless streak and qualified for the 2024 playoffs. The rain-shortened race came to an end after 58 laps of twisting and turning around the 2.2-mile street circuit. By the time the checkered flag waved, Bowman stayed ahead of Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick to collect the win.
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What makes it mean a lot for the #48 Chevrolet Camaro driver are the hurdles that he went through over the past couple of years. He suffered from a head injury in 2022 and then a broken back in 2023. With talks of him losing his seat in 2025 beginning to find ground, he has now broken through all the doubts with strong command.
He said to the press after winning the race, “Man, I broke my back, had a brain injury, and we’ve kind of sucked ever since. You start to second-guess if you’re ever going to get a chance to win a race again.” He continued, “Last one we won [Vegas, 2022], we didn’t really get to celebrate. We’re going to drink so much damn bourbon tonight, it’s going to be a bad deal.”
Team owner Rick Hendrick now finds all four of his cars through to the playoffs. However, Sunday proved to be a day of extremeness for him – courtesy of the performance of Bowman’s teammates.
Driving the #24 Camaro, William Byron managed a top-10 finish. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, the two who were expected to be at their best, wound up far too behind the field than was worthy of them.
Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott disappoint at the Chicago Street Course
Larson had won pole position for the race but was passed by Gibbs on the very first lap. He then got involved in the first accident after the rain stoppage when he slammed his car into the tire barrier in Turn 6.
His car was damaged beyond extent and his day came to an end and ended up with a 39th-place finish. The only other driver who fared worse than him was Shane van Gisbergen who crashed way earlier.
Elliott had not finished outside the top 20 in a single 2024 race until Chicago. He had to settle for 21st place after an issue with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez in the final lap. Had it not been for the last-minute scuffle he could’ve potentially found himself finishing in a top-15 spot.
