Bowman Wins Chicago Street Race / Larson holds P1 Ranking after P39 Finish

7 July 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

CHICAGO, IL — Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports/Chevrolet №48) won the Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series race on the streets of Chicago, breaking an 80-race winless streak and earning a playoff birth. Bowman’s victory was the 8th of his career now secures all 4 Hendrick Motorsports cars a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Alex Bowman, driver of the №48 Ally Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course. (Image Credit: Meg Oliphant | Getty Images)

Alex Bowman, driver of the №48 Ally Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course. (Image Credit: James Gilbert | Getty Images)

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

For the second straight year, rain-shortened the NASCAR Cup race at the Chicago Street Race, but the wet weather did little to diminish the festival atmosphere that captivated the Windy City throughout the weekend.

Larson holds lead in GFT Driver Rankings after a tough 39th place finish in the Grant Park 165

Go Full Throttle Top 25 NASCAR AI Driver Rankings following the Grant Park 165 on July 7, 2024 on the Chicago Street Course (Image Credit: GFT Digital)

With the win, Alex Bowman jumps 3 spots to P11. Kyle Larson, who put on a clinic with SVG in Saturday’s Xfinity race, crashed out finishing 39th. However, his points cushion enabled him to maintain the top ranking in our GFT NASCAR Driver Ranking Model again this week.

Go Full Throttle NASCAR Box Scores after Chicago

After 20 Races …
Manufactures Box Score:
Chevrolet = 9
Toyota = 7
Ford = 4

Team Box Score:
Hendrick Motorsports = 8

Driver Box Score:
Kyle Larson, William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin are tied with 3 wins each.

NASCAR CUP SERIES PLAYOFF PICTURE

* After Chicago — Race 20 of 36

Bubble Watch! Three weeks ago, it was Bubba Wallace. Then it was Joey Logano, last week it was Chicago winner Alex Bowman on the bubble. After Chicago, it's Chris Buescher at P16.

GFT AI NASCAR FANTASY LIVE RACE PREDICTION MODELS

The GFT AI prediction models had a strong recovery, scoring 185 including picking the race winner. The Go Full Throttle AI 1 bot now ranks 767 out of 4662 players, just outside the top 15% at 16.45%.

NEXT RACE:

SUNDAY, JUL. 14–2:30 PM ET
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