Who Won the Grant Park 165? Full Results and Winner of NASCAR’s Second Trip to Chicago

hit the꧅ streets of Chicago for the second straigಞht season this past weekend and wouldn’t ya know it, Mother Nature played a major role in the race. The Grant Park 165 wound up being even shorter than last year’s race and presented yet another first for the sport. Let’s dive into the Grant Park 165 results and quickly review all the Cup Series happenings from the Windy City.

Grant Park 165 Results

The weekend in Chicago got off to a fantastic start. The weather was beautiful and fans were treated 💜to an incredible battle between Shane Van Gisbergen and Kyle Larson in the Xfinity Series’ Loop 101 on Saturday. Practice and Qualifying for the Cup Series’ Grant Park 165 went off wit♎hout a hitch as well.

Mother Nature Hates NASCAR in Chicago

Unfortunately, in what has become far too common recently, Mother Nature had her eyesꦐ set on appearing during Sunday’s action. In fact, right after drivers were given the “start your engines” command, it started raining. This put teams in a precarious posit♛ion as NASCAR allowed them to start on slicks or wet-weather tires.

After completing the first warm-up🅺 lap, most drivers opted for slicks with just a handful of teams sticking to the wets. The track dried rather quickly and it was clear that those on slick tires made the right decision and we got to see the type of racing we all wanted at the fꦯront. From the drop of the green flag, it looked like the field would be chasing SVG all day as he quickly made his way to the front and won Stage One.

Stage two was when the skies opened up and chaos ensued after that. With the track becoming increasingly wet, the stage two green flag lap looked like cars were driving through a car wash with visibility and grip at extreme lows. As a result, the Grant Park 165 odds favorite SVG was taken out of the race when Chase Briscoe went too hard into turn 6 clippin🧔g the left rear of the 16. This sent him into the exit wall and e🉐nded his bid to sweep the weekend and repeat as NASCAR Cup Series Chicago champ.

Another First for NASCAR at the Grant Park 165

Before cars got back on track to complete the race it was announced that the day had a hard stop time of 8:20✤ PM local. Meaning, that no matter what lap or under what condition the race was in, when the leader crossed the start/finish line after that time, there would be two laps remaining. For the first time ever, NASCAR was racingꦅ the clock, not the laps.

The race resumed with about an hour of race time left which made the aggression ramp up. Shortly after restarting, the second race favorite Kyle Larson hydroplaned attempting to brake entering turn 6, and ended his day. This brought out yet another caution, with♑ 10 laps remaining in stage two and the clock continuing to wind down.

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We went back green with a little over 45 minutes remaining on the clock an🅘d 7-laps from completing stage two. Things got really interesting on lap 42 when a large group of cars were the first to come down pit road for slick tires, causing all the leaders to do the same the following lap with the track continuing to dry out. This propelled Joey Hand, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselows🌺ki to the front as they all opted to stay out on the wets.

Tires Finally Mattered!

After completing the second stage, which was amazingly won by Joey Hand, we had a couple of green flag laps 𝐆before another caution came out on lap 51. We went back racing on Lap 54, with just over 4 minutes remaining on the clock and Alex Bowman, still on wets, continuing to lead. There were approximately 3 to 4 laps left in the Grant Park 165 based on the clock setting up one of the most dramatic finishes to a Cup race I’ve seen.

The previous lea🏅ders on dry tires, Christopher Bell in particular, were beginning to make up huge chunks of time on race leader Alex Bowman. But on lap 55, with maybe one more lap before the clock expired, marking 2 to go, Bell was spun when he and JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. got togeth🐻er coming out of turn 2. This allowed both Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick to jump ahead, becoming the top two cars on the faster slick tires.

Bowman would cross the start/finish line on lap 56 with the clock at zero meaning we had exactly 2 laps left in the Grant Park 165. Reddick, who passed Gibbs because of Ty’s contact with Brad Keselowski, became the highest-running car on slicks, with just two laps to go. He passed th🔯e second-place car Joey Hand very quickly and set his sights on Bowmဣan and the race win.

Lengthy Win Drought Ends

When the 48 of Bowman took the white flag, it seemed inevitable that the Michael Jordan schemed 45 of Reddick 🦩would pass him at some point during the final lap. However, when Red Dog, who has been a bridesmaid too many times to count this year, had gotten within a second or so of the leader, he clipped the wall in turn 5, ending his bid for the win. Alex Bowman set sail from that point on and took the checkered flag from Chicago as the Grant Park 165 victor. His first Cup Series win in over 80 attempts.

Much like the Chicago Street Course itself, the Grant Park 165 was full of twists and turns that made for some incredible racing and a very entertaining day. Hopefully, we return to the Windy City next season wh♍ere your boy will definitely be i🏅n attendance. Check out the Grant Park 165 Finishing order below.

Next NASCAR Cup Series Race

NASCAR heads to Pocono Raceway for The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VisitPA.com this upcoming Sunday, July 14th at 2:30 PM ET. Race coverage can be found on USA Network with audio coverage provided by MRN (Motor Racing Network) and SiriusXM NASCAR. Check out fuboTV, which provides most of the same channels found via Cab🌺le or satellite, includin🌜g those that broadcast NASCAR races, but at a fraction of the cost.