2024 Grant Park 165

The 2024 Grant Park 165 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 7, 2024, at the Chicago Street Course in Chicago, Illinois. Originally scheduled for 75 laps, the race was shortened to 58 laps due to darkness, on the 2.2 mile street course, it was the 20th race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. Alex Bowman won the race, his 8th career win, breaking an 80 race win drought. Tyler Reddick finished 2nd, and Ty Gibbs finished 3rd. Joey Hand and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, William Byron, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top ten.

Background
The Chicago Street Course is a 2.2 mi street circuit located in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series. The track was initially a conceptual track on iRacing made for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series in 2021.

The track for the race ended up being the exact same layout as the version used in 2021 for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. The start/finish line is located on South Columbus Drive in front of Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. The cars will go south and then turn left onto East Balbo Drive and then right onto South Lake Shore Drive (also part of U.S. Route 41), which is alongside Lake Michigan. The cars will then turn right onto East Roosevelt Road and then make another right, which gets them back onto South Columbus Drive where they are going north. They will then reach the intersection of South Columbus Drive and East Balbo Drive again and will make a left turn. When they are back on East Balbo Drive, they will cross a bridge over the Metra Electric District tracks. Next, the cars will turn right onto South Michigan Avenue and go north, go onto East Congress Plaza Drive and back onto South Michigan Ave. Lastly, they will make a right turn onto East Jackson Drive, go back across the Metra Electric tracks, and right back onto South Columbus Drive to the start/finish line.

On October 20, 2023, NASCAR announced that the 2024 Cup Series Chicago Street Race would be shortened from 220 miles (354.056 km) and 100 laps to 165 miles (265.542) and 75 laps.

Entry list

 * (R) denotes rookie driver.
 * (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice
Kyle Larson was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 1:28.443 seconds and a speed of 89.549 mph.

Qualifying
Kyle Larson scored the pole for the race with a time of 1:27.836 and a speed of 90.168 mph.

Race
As it rained after the five-minute signal before engines started, NASCAR delayed the start as is required since it was sunny during practice and qualifying. As a result, on Lap 15, at 4:58 p.m. CDT, NASCAR sent a bulletin to teams announcing the time-certain finish rule was set for 8:20 p.m. CDT, meaning 75 laps or one lap after the set time. This rule is similar to most motorsport series that have time-certain finishes. Under the new curfew rule, there would be no overtime, and once the leader crosses the finish line upon the expiration of time, the final lap begins.

On Lap 42, with a dry line potentially forming and expecting it to happen, a group of cars led by Austin Dillon, Austin Hill, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron pitted to switch to slicks. This causes leaders Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland, John Hunter Nemechek, and Tyler Reddick among the leaders (primarily Toyotas) to pit for slicks on Lap 43. Once the leader starts Lap 44, pit lane is closed with two laps remaining in Stage 2, with 30 minutes remaining in the race.

New leaders Joey Hand and Alex Bowman stay out on rain tires, and finish first and second at the end of Lap 45, the second points-paying lap. The leaders stay on rain tires for the Lap 49 restart, hoping the delta for rain and slick tire performance is sufficient. Bell, who led before pit stops, restarts 13th on Lap 49, with approximately ten laps remaining in the race if there are no incidents. On Lap 51, with 14 minutes remaining in the race, Bowman passes Hand on Lake Shore Drive where it joins East Roosevelt Road (Turn 4), and with 12 minutes remaining, Josh Berry crashes into the tire barriers on Lake Shore Drive to bring out the safety car. The delta between rain and slick tires has changed in favour of the slicks, and the Bell team asks that double-file restarts be used, which NASCAR declines. The restart occurs on Lap 54, with approximately four laps remaining (4:30). The Toyotas on slicks were faster, but with a minute and a half remaining, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. collides with Martin Truex, Jr. (both on rain tires), making contact with Christopher Bell on Balbo Drive. Tyler Reddick is now third, best among the cars with slicks. With time expired and the race in the final two laps, Reddick passes Hand easily and stalks Bowman. At 8:21 p.m., Bowman takes the signal for the final lap, with Reddick fast closing. Reddick slips and runs into the wet sections and makes contact with the wall at Roosevelt Road (Turn 4) and again exiting Turn 5 to Columbus Drive.

Bowman successfully stays on the rain tires and ended an 80-race losing streak (last win in March 2022 at Las Vegas) in the process.

Stage results
Stage One Laps: 20

Stage Two Laps: 25

Final Stage results
Stage Three Laps: 30

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 9 among 6 different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 5 for 19 laps
 * Red flags: 1 for 1 hour, 43 minutes and 1 second
 * Time of race: 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 24 seconds
 * Average speed: 54.921 mph

Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side, as part of a radio style broadcast for the race. Rick Allen and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. MRN broadcaster Mike Bagley called the race from Turns 1–2 and 6–10 on South Columbus Drive and East Balbo Drive, Dillon Welch had the call from Turn 4 on DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Roosevelt Road, and Jeff Burton had the call on Turn 11 on South Michigan Avenue and East Jackson Drive. Dave Burns, Kim Coon, Parker Kligerman and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio
Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by Motor Racing Network (MRN) and was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Manufacturers' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
 * . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.