NASCAR names three drivers up, surprising three down following Chicago Street Race

By way of his victory in Sunday’s Grant Park 165 Chicago Street Race, Alex Bowman not only qualified for the Cup Series playoffs, but solidified himself as the No. 1 driver trending up heading into next Sunday’s race at Pocono, according to Aly McNair of NASCAR.com.

Bowman’s strategy of staying on wet-weather tires rather than pitting for slicks paid off, as he passed Joey Hand on Lap 51 and didn’t look back from there. Though Tyler Reddick made a bid to catch and potentially pass Bowman on the final lap, the Hendrick Motorsports driver held on to secure his eighth career victory, breaking an 80-race winless streak.

He rides into Pocono with some momentum having won at the Tricky Triangle back in 2021.

“Man, let me tell you about how great NASCAR is to us drivers. I got to my hotel room, there’s a little box with my name on it, that had a bottle of bourbon in it, so that’s in my bag. I’m pretty excited about that,” Bowman said after the race. “But I’ve got a couple bottles, that were bought early in 2022, that were like, ‘The next win, we’re going to drink these,’ and they’ve been sitting on the counter way too f—ing long.

“So yeah, everybody that said I couldn’t win and don’t deserve to be at Hendrick Motorsports and all that bulls—, cheers to you.”

Kyle Busch heading in right direction after Chicago Street Race?

McNair’s No. 2 driver trending up is Michael McDowell, who finished P5 at Chicago. McDowell battled back from finishing 37th in Stage 1 and 27th in Stage 2 to secure his sixth top-10 finish of the season. Pocono hasn’t been kind to McDowell, who remains in need of a win to qualify for the playoffs. In 21 starts, he has tallied just two top 10s.

Rounding out the drivers trending up the most is Kyle Busch, something that has seldom been said this season. It had been a nightmare of a 2024 for Busch going into Chicago, with DNFs in four of the last six races. But at Chicago, he steered clear of the chaos and brought home a ninth-place finish, his first top-10 since Kansas back in May. Busch is a four-time winner at Pocono.

“We had a solid finish today at the Chicago Street Race in our zone Chevrolet,” Busch said. “Hopefully, this is the start of some positive momentum for our Richard Childress Racing team. It’s cool to get the finish that we deserve.”

Kyle Larson headlines drivers trending down after Chicago Street Race

As for those trending down, Kyle Larson tops the list. Larson sat on the pole and certainly had a fast No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet but locked his brakes going into Turn 6 on Lap 34, slamming into the tire barriers. He finished a disappointing P39. Larson has yet to win at Pocono.

Perhaps no driver had a more heartbreaking day than Shane van Gisbergen, the defending Chicago Street Race champion. van Gisbergen looked to have arguably the best car on Sunday but was clipped by a sliding Chase Briscoe on Lap 26. The New Zealand native hit the wall and as a result, his day came to a premature end. van Gisbergen’s next Cup Series run is scheduled for Daytona on Aug. 24.

“It looked pretty good and then just got smacked by someone. It’s gutting,” van Gisbergen said. “The No. 16 Wendy’s ‘Saucy Nuggs’ Camaro was really good. We were in the lead for a lot of that race. I felt good taking off in the rain, so that sucks. It’s an unfortunate mistake by [Briscoe]. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. But yeah, when he just clipped me, there wasn’t anything I could do.”

Chase Elliott had a rare down week, finishing a season-worst 21st. Elliott had finished inside the top-20 in each race this season before his run at Chicago. He won at Pocono in 2022 and figures to be back in the mix this coming Sunday.