Bowman broke an 80-race winless streak in what turned out to be a 58-lap, 128-mile race that was dampened by a one-hour and 43-minute rain delay.
“We’re going to drink a lot of bourbon tonight,” Bowman said to NBC Sports.
After Shane van Gisbergen crashed out on lap 24, heavy rain forced NASCAR to delay the race. With darkness quickly encroaching on the track, the sanctioning body was forced to set a timer for the race’s final stint, which ended up favoring Bowman and his worn-out wet-weather tires.
Even with Tyler Reddick chasing Bowman down on slick tires, the driver of the No. 48 stayed calm to collect his eighth career win.
The victory locks Bowman into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and marks the first win for Bowman since Las Vegas in 2022.
Bowman’s teammate Kyle Larson, however, wasn’t so fortunate. Starting on the pole with one of the fastest cars in Chicago, Larson met a similar fate to van Gisbergen, burying his car into the tire barrier and relegating him to a 39th-place finish.
Ty Gibbs finished third in Sunday’s race, with road-course ace Joey Hand finishing fourth and Michael McDowell rounding out the top five.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Todd Gilliland finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with William Byron, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top 10.
Other notable finishers from Sunday’s race include Bubba Wallace in 13th, Chase Elliott in 21st, Denny Hamlin in 30th, Christopher Bell in 37th and AJ Allmendinger in 38th.
Larson and van Gisbergen’s incidents left the two drivers to bring up the rear of the field, finishing 39th and 40th, respectively.
