By David Morgan, Associate Editor
CHICAGO — Headed back to the Streets of Chicago
Fourth of July weekend on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule means its once again time to go street racing, with downtown Chicago being the focus in year No. 3 of NASCAR’s street course experiment with Sunday’s running of the Grant Park 165.
The 2.2-mile, 12-turn course that comprises the layout for the race will once again wind its way around Grant Park on the shores of Lake Michigan as the series hopes to continue capture the imagination of a whole new sector of the fan base as the Next Gen car thunders down the Windy City streets.
First imagined during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, the course was designed and raced virtually on iRacing before it was transformed into the reality being built before our very eyes.
With the series having persevered through Biblical rains in the first year having to play in the rain once again last year, all involved are hoping Mother Nature plays nice this time around to allow everyone to get the full NASCAR experience.
Sunday’s race could also be pivotal in the final stretch toward the end of the regular season, with only four Playoff spots still up for grabs and eight races remaining in the regular season to set the field for the postseason.
Among those still looking to punch their ticket are drivers that have captured wins at road courses in the past including last year’s winner at Chicago, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick, and others.
But for any of them to be able to win their way into the Playoffs they’ll have to get past Shane van Gisbergen, who put on a clinic in Mexico City, winning by 16.5 seconds and having won the inaugural Chicago Street Course race two years ago.
In this race last year, it was looking to be another SVG win before getting swept up in a crash midway through the race.
By the Numbers
What: Grant Park 165, NASCAR Cup Series race No. 19 of 36
Where: Streets of Chicago – Grant Park – Chicago, Illinois
TV/Radio: TNT/Max, 2:00 pm ET / MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
Track Size: 12-turn, 2.2-mile street course
Race Length: 75 laps (165 miles)
Stage Lengths: 20 laps (Stage 1), 25 laps (Stage 2), 30 laps (Final stage)
2024 Race Winner: Alex Bowman – No. 48 Chevrolet (Started eighth, eight laps led)
Track Qualifying Record: Kyle Larson – One minute, 27.836 seconds (90.168 mph) – July 2024
Top-10 Highest Driver Ratings at Chicago:
- Ty Gibbs – No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 112.0
- Shane van Gisbergen – No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet – 110.8
- Tyler Reddick – No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – 104.5
- Christopher Bell – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 102.5
- Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 101.4
- Justin Haley – No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – 85.3
- Alex Bowman – No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 83.6
- Michael McDowell – No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – 81.9
- Daniel Suarez – No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet – 81.8
- Kyle Busch – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – 80.7
From the Driver’s Seat
“You know what, road racing is road racing in general, but street racing is its own animal,” said Chris Buescher.
“There are things that you can certainly take about it. I’m hoping you’re not asking me for betting advice right now (laughing). I got the refresher. I know you did, but I think that the street course does present its own challenges in that sense, that you have to be a little bit more disciplined there.
“There are drivers that are very fast and maybe a little bit out of control in a lot of road courses. Most all road courses give you the ability to be a little out of control at times and not pay a penalty, so you have to be right on your marks here and that is a massive challenge of it. I think that’s why we saw SVG come in the first race and take everybody to school. Nobody had that experience to figure it out and then Mexico City happens, so I’m not sure what to make of it.
“Ultimately, there’s a lot of things that tell me we’re gonna be very competitive as we come into the Chicago Street Course and a lot of things that will line up based on just general road racing.”
Last Time at Chicago
It had been a long road for Alex Bowman since he last visited Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he had to wait no more after winning last year’s running of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race to break a winless streak dating back some 80 races.
Since that win in March 2022 at Las Vegas, the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet had been through a lot, including a concussion that sidelined him for a number of races that same year, as well as a sprint car crash the following spring. Since then, Bowman had been striving to equal his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, but had fallen short.
Until that race one year ago.
With the oddity of a one hour, 43-minute red flag for rain that transformed what was scheduled to be a 75-lap race around Grant Park in Chicago to a timed event with a deadline of 8:20 pm local time, Bowman and his team used a strategy play to get them in position to strike and Bowman did the rest.
At the end of the second stage, there was a decision to be made – stay on the wet weather tires for the final run to the finish or pit for slicks and hope you can make up the ground against those that stay out.
Leaders at the time, Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell, elected to go with the former, while Joey Hand and Bowman stayed out on the wets through the end of the stage.
When the final stage restarted with approximately 15 minutes to go, Hand, the sports car ace, held the lead, but Bowman was hungry for a win, filling his mirror in each turn as they worked their way around the course, clicking away laps and the time clock counting down to the deadline.
On Lap 51 and approximately 12 minutes remaining, Bowman made his move, diving low on Hand in Turn 4 to secure the lead.
But it wasn’t over yet.
Shortly thereafter, the caution flag flew for Josh Berry in Turn 2, setting up one final restart with less than five minutes to go on the countdown clock.
Once the green flag flew for the final time, Bowman pulled out to a secure lead over Hand and seemed to have the race in the bag as long as he was able to run out the remaining laps in one piece.
Despite cars spinning every which way in seemingly every corner, the race stayed green, but a new challenger emerged in Tyler Reddick, who was one of the drivers that decided to pit for slicks at the end of Stage 2.
Reddick was chewing up the distance between himself and Bowman lap after lap, climbing from outside the top-10 up to second place. It appeared to only be a matter of time before he would be at Bowman’s bumper and the two would have to battle it out for the win.
However, Bowman caught a break when Reddick got into the wall on the final lap as he was chasing Bowman down, eventually falling some three seconds back.
From there on out, Bowman was able to get back around to the flag, securing the win and lifting a huge weight off his back.
The pass that ended the drought. #NASCARChicago pic.twitter.com/WMlPdcVHg0
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 8, 2024
“Anytime you go to the racetrack with Hendrick Motorsports, you’ve got a shot,” Bowman said.
“We have a trophy to take home, and know it means a lot to this team. They put me in position to win the race.
“Man, I broke my back, had a brain injury, and we’ve kind of sucked ever since, and I didn’t — you start to second-guess if you’re ever going to get a chance to win a race again.
“Last one we won, 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. I’m probably going to wake up naked on the bathroom floor again. That’s just part of this deal sometimes.
“Just thanks to Ally and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, everybody that makes this deal go round.”
Reddick would come home in second-place, followed by Ty Gibbs in third, Joey Hand in fourth, and Michael McDowell in fifth.
Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)
Saturday, July 5
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice (1:00 pm – Tru TV)
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (2:10 pm – Tru TV)
Sunday, July 6
- Grant Park 165 on the Streets of Chicago (2:00 pm – 75 laps, 165 miles – TNT/Max)
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