CHICAGO - With all four of the organization's cars forced to start in the back after tough-luck practice and qualifying sessions, Hendrick Motorsports had its work cut out for it on Sunday in the Chicago Street Race.
But a Saturday setback set up quite the Sunday comeback for the race's defending winner.
Alex Bowman maneuvered through crashes and came out on the right side of pit strategy to score an eighth-place finish, advancing past Bubba Wallace in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge as well.
Chase Elliott, also relegated to the back of the field to start Sunday's race, fell one spot short of advancing, coming home 16th, right behind opponent John Hunter Nemechek in 15th. Both Bowman (fourth) and Elliott (seventh) stayed out at the end of stage two, scoring pivotal stage points as well.
Kyle Larson ascended the fastest of any of the Hendrick Motorsports cars, moving up 10 spots from 30th to 20th by the time a massive crash broke out on lap four. He was a fixture in the top 10 before coming away with a 13th-place finish.
The NASCAR Cup Series will return next week with a race at Sonoma Raceway. Green flag is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday and the race will air on TNT Sports.
Who won the NASCAR race today?
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11
- Kyle Busch, No. 8
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
- Ryan Preece, No. 60
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet
- Austin Hill, No. 33
- Ross Chastain, No. 1
- Joey Logano, No. 22
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet
- Zane Smith, No. 38
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet
- Riley Herbst, No. 35
- Chris Buescher, No. 17
- Katherine Legge, No. 78
- Ty Dillon, No. 10
- Josh Bilicki, No. 66
- Justin Haley, No. 7
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19
- Christopher Bell, No. 20
- Erik Jones, No. 43
- Cody Ware, No. 51
- Austin Cindric, No. 2
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99
- Noah Gragson, No. 4
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
- Michael McDowell, No. 71
- Cole Custer, No. 41
- Josh Berry, No. 21
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77
- Austin Dillon, No. 3
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34
- Will Brown, No. 13
- William Byron, No. 24 All-Pro Chevrolet