• Thursday, July 4th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

On wet pavement or dry, Christopher Bell is a threat in Chicago Street Race

With the vast majority of drivers hoping for sunshine in Chicago, Christopher Bell may be the most notable exception.

Understandably, Bell would be just as happy to race on wet pavement in Sunday’s Grant Park 165 Chicago Street Race (4:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Bell recently demonstrated his comfort level on a wet track in winning the June 23 rain-interrupted NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the final 64 laps on wet-weather tires to score his third victory of the season.

That win, however, didn’t constitute the only successful wet work Bell has done in the Cup Series. In last year’s Chicago Street Race, he led a race-high 37 laps, won the first two stages and at one juncture built a lead of almost nine seconds.

But Bell’s performance was all but lost in the hoopla surrounding New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen’s victory in his NASCAR debut. As the Chicago streets began to dry, the driver known as “SVG” drove like lightning and stole the thunder from the Cup regulars with a late charge from 18th to take the checkered flag.

So don’t blame Bell for hoping for wet conditions on Sunday, despite a forecast that promises mostly sunny skies and a minimal chance of rain throughout the weekend.

“Yeah, I think at this point, I’d probably prefer the rain,” Bell said. “Going into the Chicago Street Race (last year), we had a really good practice, and I was looking forward to a dry race. And then the wet, and when we started the race, we just took off and were really good.

“The track is very, very technical, very high-risk and high-reward. I think it’s Turn 4, which is a very fast section of the race track, gets very tight and you have to push hard there to make some lap time. And I don’t know the turns very well, after we come through that half-circle (Turns 8, 9 and 10) on the backside of the race track, that’s another section that’s super-fast, super-rough.

“Really easy to throw it into the wall there. The race track is filled with a lot of very high-risk, high-reward corners, and if you want to do good, you have to push the car hard and be right on the edge.”

It’s not that Bell hasn’t been fast on both wet and dry tracks this season. He won decisively at Phoenix earlier this season, by 5.465 seconds over runner-up Chris Buescher.

In last Sunday’s Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway, Bell won the first two stages to take a one-point edge over regular-season leader Kyle Larson in Playoff points before spinning out in the final stage.

Joey Logano’s five-overtime victory at Nashville moved the shifted the Playoff bubble to Alex Bowman in the last Playoff-eligible position. Heading for Chicago, Bowman holds a 51-point edge over Bubba Wallace, the first driver below the current cut line.

Bowman hopes to preserve his standing with better luck than he had in last year’s Chicago Street Race.

“Chicago’s honestly pretty fun from the driver’s seat,” said Bowman, who fell out after 40 of 78 laps last year and finished 37th. “We had a failure there last year, so I’m excited to go back there and run that whole race, hopefully, and have a good day, ‘cause we were pretty good there, I felt like.”

Van Gisbergen is a slight favorite over Larson and Bell entering Sunday’s race, but if the Kiwi hopes to repeat his success, he’ll have to do so with a different team. Last year, SVG won in the No. 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing. This year, he’s driving the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Camaro.

• Saturday, July 6th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Kyle Larson edges Ty Gibbs for Chicago Street Race pole

Kyle Larson made the most of his last chance in qualifying on Saturday, edging Ty Gibbs for the pole position for the Grant Park 165 NASCAR Cup Series on the Chicago Street Course (4:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

On his final lap in the final round of time trials on the tight 2.2-mile course, Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet covered the distance in 87.836 seconds (90.168 mph) to outrun Gibbs (90.158 mph) by .010 seconds.

“It wasn’t perfect,” said Larson, who ran a track-record 90.496 mph (87.518 seconds) in the opening round. “It was better than my first lap (in the final round), but I think I had better grip potential on the first lap, so I wish I could have had a couple corners back there.

“Judging by the reaction from my spotter, it had to be pretty close on lap time, so really awesome to get a pole here in Chicago… (We’ve) checked the first box, and hopefully we can keep it going.”

The Busch Light Pole award was Larson’s series-best fifth of the season and the 21st of his career. His three victories this year, however, have come from starting positions of second, fourth and fifth.

Michael McDowell qualified third at 90.141 mph, followed by Tyler Reddick (89.923 mph) and defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen (89.813 mph).

“I was trying to get my Ford Mustang on the pole,” said McDowell, who won last year’s road race on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Course. “We were close, right? So proud of everybody. We made good changes in between Round 1 and 2 because I felt like Larson and SVG (van Gisbergen) sort of had everybody covered there.

“Then we went into that next round and made some gains and got close. You know what it means to get a pole and track position and all that. So we’re starting up front. We’ll have a great shot at it with the White Sox Ford Mustang.”

Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suárez and Brad Keselowski claimed starting positions six through 10, respectively, though Keselowski spun into the wall during his first final-round lap and was off the pace when he finished the circuit.

Denny Hamlin, last year’s pole winner for the Chicago Street Race, narrowly missed the final 10 and will start 11th on Sunday.

William Byron, a three-time winner this season, suffered a power steering failure in the first round, requiring a complete replacement of the steering system. Byron will start from the rear of the field on Sunday after repairs.

Harrison Burton, in his final season in the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford, ended the first round with a spin into a tire barrier, requiring a tow truck to remove the car. Josh Berry, named earlier in the week as Burton’s replacement next year, spun during the opening round and will start 36th in the 40-driver field.

• Grant Park 165
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Kyle Larson
• Age: 31
• Team : No 5 - Valvoline Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
• Kyle Larson won the Pole Award for the Grant Park 165 with a lap of 87836 seconds, 90168 mph
• This is his 21st pole in 350 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his fifth pole and 12th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in two races at Chicago Street Race
• Ty Gibbs (second) posted his 12th top-10 start of 2024 and his first in two races at Chicago Street Race
• Michael McDowell (third) posted his second top-10 start at Chicago Street Race It is his 10th in 20 races this season
• Carson Hocevar (13th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Drivers Entered: 40
• Laps Scheduled: 75
• Laps Actual: 58 - Race Shortened
• Margin of Victory: 02.863 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 18 Minutes 24 Seconds
• Average Speed: 54.921
• Cautions: 5 for 19 laps
• Lead Changes: 5
• Green Flag Passes: 1,386 (35.5 passes per green flag lap)

• Grant Park 165
• Race Winner: Alex Bowman
• Age: 31
• Team : No 48 - Ally Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Blake Harris
• Alex Bowman won the Grant Park 165, his eighth victory in 309 Cup Series races
• This is his first victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in two races at Chicago Street Race
• Tyler Reddick (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Chicago Street Race It is his 13th top-10 finish in 2024
• Ty Gibbs (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Chicago Street Race
• Zane Smith (17th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Kyle Larson leads the point standings by 11 points over Chase Elliott