Sunday

At Chicago Street Course

Chicago.

Lap length: 2.20 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (1) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 75 laps, 40 points.

2. (9) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 75, 35.

3. (4) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 75, 51.

4. (40) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 75, 38.

5. (6) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 75, 41.

6. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 75, 31.

7. (7) Ryan Preece, Ford, 75, 36.

8. (11) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 75, 36.

9. (30) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 75, 0.

10. (22) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 75, 32.

11. (12) Joey Logano, Ford, 75, 26.

12. (17) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 75, 35.

13. (14) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 75, 24.

14. (26) Zane Smith, Ford, 75, 26.

15. (25) John H. Nemechek, Toyota, 75, 29.

16. (39) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 75, 25.

17. (21) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 75, 20.

18. (8) Chris Buescher, Ford, 75, 19.

19. (33) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 75, 18.

20. (36) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 75, 17.

21. (31) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 75, 0.

22. (28) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 75, 15.

23. (5) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 75, 30.

24. (13) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 74, 14.

25. (34) Erik Jones, Toyota, 74, 14.

26. (35) Cody Ware, Ford, accident, 73, 11.

27. (27) Austin Cindric, Ford, 72, 10.

28. (37) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 70, 15.

29. (18) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, accident, 69, 8.

30. (24) Noah Gragson, Ford, 68, 8.

31. (32) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, accident, 62, 6.

32. (2) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 53, 15.

33. (23) Cole Custer, Ford, accident, 29, 4.

34. (29) Josh Berry, Ford, accident, 28, 3.

35. (3) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, accident, 2, 2.

36. (10) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, accident, 2, 1.

37. (15) Brad Keselowski, Ford, accident, 2, 1.

38. (20) Todd Gilliland, Ford, accident, 2, 1.

39. (19) Will Brown, Chevrolet, accident, 2, 1.

40. (38) William Byron, Chevrolet, clutch, 1, 1.

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Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 64.719 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 28 minutes, 17 seconds.

Margin of Victory: Under Caution.

Caution Flags: 7 for 15 laps.

Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders: S.Van Gisbergen 0; M.McDowell 1-31; S.Van Gisbergen 32-41; A.Allmendinger 42-43; R.Blaney 44-46; C.Briscoe 47-59; S.Van Gisbergen 60-75

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.McDowell, 1 time for 31 laps; S.Van Gisbergen, 3 times for 26 laps; C.Briscoe, 1 time for 13 laps; R.Blaney, 1 time for 3 laps; A.Allmendinger, 1 time for 2 laps.

Wins: K.Larson, 3; D.Hamlin, 3; C.Bell, 3; S.Van Gisbergen, 2; W.Byron, 1; C.Elliott, 1; R.Blaney, 1; R.Chastain, 1; C.Briscoe, 1; J.Logano, 1; A.Cindric, 1; J.Berry, 1.

Top 16 in Points: 1. W.Byron, 632; 2. C.Elliott, 619; 3. K.Larson, 613; 4. D.Hamlin, 589; 5. T.Reddick, 584; 6. C.Bell, 565; 7. R.Blaney, 539; 8. R.Chastain, 490; 9. C.Briscoe, 482; 10. A.Bowman, 480; 11. C.Buescher, 476; 12. J.Logano, 471; 13. B.Wallace, 443; 14. R.Preece, 441; 15. A.Allmendinger, 400; 16. K.Busch, 397.

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NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.

Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

CHICAGO — (AP) — NASCAR’s first in-season tournament hasn’t made much of an impression on its drivers so far. Ty Gibbs said Sunday he didn’t know who his second-round opponent was until after the Cup Series race.

That might be about to change.

Gibbs is one of eight drivers still in the mix for the $1 million prize that goes to the winner of the five-race, bracket-style competition. While Shane van Gisbergen was closing out his Cup victory in Chicago this weekend, some of the most compelling action on the downtown street course was at least connected to the inaugural In-Season Challenge.

Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace raced each other hard in the final laps after they tangled in Chicago last year. Bowman got the better of the head-to-head matchup, finishing eighth and eliminating Wallace from the tournament.

John Hunter Nemechek was 15th, one spot better than his opponent, Chase Elliott. Gibbs had a strong day and finished second, good enough to beat AJ Allmendinger in sixth. Ty Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Erik Jones also moved on.

The 14th-seeded Smith upset No. 3 seed Chris Buescher by finishing 14th. He is matched up with Gibbs for Sunday’s road race at Sonoma.

“I hate we had to knock another Ford out, but it’s super cool to advance,” Smith said.

With the in-season tournament — part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT — NASCAR is following in the footsteps of the NBA and soccer leagues around the world. After Sonoma this weekend, it concludes with races at Dover and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Bowman said the tournament wasn’t on his mind as he battled with Wallace at the end in Chicago. Whatever the reason for the contact, their head-to-head matchup certainly added a bit of intrigue to the racing behind van Gisbergen’s victory.

With the money involved and the field trimmed to eight drivers, there could be more moments like the duel between Bowman and Wallace in the final weeks of the challenge.

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen or to get raced like that, but we did,” Bowman said. “We just have to move on from it and keep digging.”

It sure sounds as if Dillon is enjoying the competition. Dillon, the No. 32 seed, eliminated Brad Keselowski on Sunday after he upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin at Atlanta on June 28.

There was absolutely no drama in Dillon’s win after Keselowski was collected in an early crash that began with Carson Hocevar hitting the wall and spinning out between Turns 10 and 11. Hocevar was eliminated by Reddick.

“I’m just so proud of Kaulig Racing and our No. 10 team,” Dillon said. “I knew in a basketball city, going up against Brad in a game of knockout, I was going to have a good chance.”

Dillon takes on Bowman and Preece faces Reddick in the next round. But the most interesting contest just might be Nemechek versus Jones in a matchup of Legacy Motor Club teammates.

“I felt like if we could have gotten through the first round, these next two rounds are really good for us,” Preece said. “Our road course program is pretty strong, and we keep making it better. So going into Sonoma, I think we’re up against Tyler Reddick, so he’s really good at road courses as well, but I like being the underdog.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

While Shane van Gisbergen was once again the driver to beat on Sunday, his closest competition never got a fair shot in the end due to some mechanical gremlins.

Michael McDowell started from the outside of the front row at the Chicago Street Course and took the lead from SVG on the opening lap. He went on to win Stage 1 and appeared to be a real threat for the win. The Spire Motorsports driver was also facing a two-year winless streak and hoped to put that behind him on Sunday.

Unfortunately, after leading the most laps (31), a stuck throttle forced him to give up the lead and head to the garage for repairs. He returned to the race over 20 laps down, finishing a disappointing 32nd. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen captured the checkered flag. 

Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

“The throttle cable just broke,” said McDowell. “I don’t know what caused it or how it got to that spot, but that’s what happened. I feel like we had control of the race. I think it would have been a battle, no doubt. I felt like any time I could open a gap on SVG, I could.

“We were just working on our strategy. We knew we were going to one-stop it, so I was taking care of the tires and doing all the things I could. I was behind the pace car and the throttle stuck wide-open. Luckily, I got to the switches fast enough before I ran into something, and then a cable broke after that. It’s just a shame. We had a great No. 71 DePaul Chevrolet. We’ve got some good momentum heading into Sonoma next weekend.”

The good news for McDowell is that NASCAR heads to another road course next weekend with Sonoma, where he finished second just one year ago. 

When Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen won at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez a few weeks ago, it was said that he had “clinched” a spot in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but that could not have been further from the truth.

While the playoff format is widely considered a “win and in” format, the Cup Series entered this past weekend’s Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course with 12 winners in 18 races, leaving eight remaining races on the regular season schedule in which more new winners could emerge.

Regardless of how many winners there are, the playoffs are capped at 16 drivers. Though it hasn’t happened since the introduction of the modern format in 2014, there can absolutely be more than 16 different winners, in which case a winner (or multiple winners) would not actually qualify for the playoffs.

The regular season champion is locked in, as are all drivers who win more than once (since there can be no more than 13 of them in 26 races). The tiebreaker, if applicable, to see which single-race winners get in and which don’t becomes points.

Likewise, if there aren’t enough winners to fill the postseason field, points determine which non-winners get in and which don’t. This is what it usually comes down to, but again, it’s not guaranteed that there won’t end up being more winners than playoff spots.

Van Gisbergen was in a bad spot on points.

While the other 11 winners were inside the top 20 in the standings, he found himself down in 31st place. He was all but a lock to finish the regular season as the lowest winner in the point standings, meaning that had the regular season produced (and it still might) 17 or 18 winners, he’d be in a precarious situation.

Not anymore.

By winning twice, van Gisbergen is locked into the playoffs. He could finish last in the point standings and still qualify, even if the regular season ends with seven more new winners to give it 19 in total.

Some might argue that it’s one of the flaws of the modern format, while some might use it to reinforce the idea that it’s not really a “win and in” format like we’re supposed to believe. While winning once may not seal the deal, winning twice certainly does, regardless of points.

Now van Gisbergen doesn’t have to worry about losing his playoff spot.

CHICAGO – NASCAR’s first in-season tournament hasn’t made much of an impression on its drivers so far. Ty Gibbs said Sunday he didn’t know who his second-round opponent was until after the Cup Series race.

That might be about to change.

Gibbs is one of eight drivers still in the mix for the $1 million prize that goes to the winner of the five-race, bracket-style competition. While Shane van Gisbergen was closing out his Cup victory in Chicago this weekend, some of the most compelling action on the downtown street course was at least connected to the inaugural In-Season Challenge.

Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace raced each other hard in the final laps after they tangled in Chicago last year. Bowman got the better of the head-to-head matchup, finishing eighth and eliminating Wallace from the tournament.

John Hunter Nemechek was 15th, one spot better than his opponent, Chase Elliott. Gibbs had a strong day and finished second, good enough to beat AJ Allmendinger in sixth. Ty Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Erik Jones also moved on.

The 14th-seeded Smith upset No. 3 seed Chris Buescher by finishing 14th. He is matched up with Gibbs for Sunday’s road race at Sonoma.

“I hate we had to knock another Ford out, but it’s super cool to advance,” Smith said.

With the in-season tournament — part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT — NASCAR is following in the footsteps of the NBA and soccer leagues around the world. After Sonoma this weekend, it concludes with races at Dover and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Bowman said the tournament wasn’t on his mind as he battled with Wallace at the end in Chicago. Whatever the reason for the contact, their head-to-head matchup certainly added a bit of intrigue to the racing behind van Gisbergen’s victory.

With the money involved and the field trimmed to eight drivers, there could be more moments like the duel between Bowman and Wallace in the final weeks of the challenge.

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen or to get raced like that, but we did,” Bowman said. “We just have to move on from it and keep digging.”

It sure sounds as if Dillon is enjoying the competition. Dillon, the No. 32 seed, eliminated Brad Keselowski on Sunday after he upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin at Atlanta on June 28.

There was absolutely no drama in Dillon’s win after Keselowski was collected in an early crash that began with Carson Hocevar hitting the wall and spinning out between Turns 10 and 11. Hocevar was eliminated by Reddick.

“I’m just so proud of Kaulig Racing and our No. 10 team,” Dillon said. “I knew in a basketball city, going up against Brad in a game of knockout, I was going to have a good chance.”

Dillon takes on Bowman and Preece faces Reddick in the next round. But the most interesting contest just might be Nemechek versus Jones in a matchup of Legacy Motor Club teammates.

“I felt like if we could have gotten through the first round, these next two rounds are really good for us,” Preece said. “Our road course program is pretty strong, and we keep making it better. So going into Sonoma, I think we’re up against Tyler Reddick, so he’s really good at road courses as well, but I like being the underdog.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing