Alex Bowman snapped an 80-race winless streak to win the NASCAR Cup Series race on the streets of Chicago, which was cut short by darkness for the second consecutive season.
With a nearly two-hour rain delay in the second stage, NASCAR had set 8:20 p.m. local time hard end to Sunday’s originally scheduled 75-lap race.
After surviving contact with Bubba Wallace's 23XI Toyota in wet conditions, Hendrick Chevrolet driver Bowman was among a handful of cars that elected not to pit before the start of the final stage and remained on wet weather tyres.
After battling for several laps with sportscar star Joey Hand's RFK Ford, who had claimed the Stage 2 win and was also on aged wets, Bowman moved into the lead on lap 51 just before a caution was displayed for Josh Berry smashing into the tyre barriers.
When the race resumed on lap 54, about four minutes remained on the clock. Bowman got a good jump on the restart, then held off a fast-approaching Tyler Reddick – on new slick tyres – by 2.863 seconds to earn his first win of 2024 and lock himself into the playoffs.
His first win since March 2022 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, after missing races later that year to a head injury and a back injury in 2023, means all four Hendrick drivers have now qualified for the 16-driver playoff field.
Bowman admitted he "just messed up" in the tangle with Wallace, when he was distracted "trying to get my windshield wiper on, missed a corner and ruined their day".
"I hate that, I'm still embarrassed about it, but we have a trophy to take home, and know it means a lot to this team," he said. "They put me in position to win the race.
Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, Ally Chevrolet Camaro
Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images
Ty Gibbs finished third, Hand was fourth and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five.
Completing the top-10 were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney.
Two of the top contenders for the win on Sunday saw their days end early.
Last year's winner Shane van Gisbergen took Stage 1 but was clipped by an out-of-control Chase Briscoe on lap 25 and hit the wall hard enough to end his race, while polesitter Kyle Larson wrecked out on lap 34.
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Source: Autosport