Two years on from his loud debut in the NASCAR world, Shane van Gisbergen proved once again that no one has an answer for him on a street course. In all three years of the Chicago Street Race, van Gisbergen has been the best on pace and was only denied a clean sweep from 2023-2025 due to a wreck that wasn't his fault. Rain avoided the track this year, but plenty of chaos unfolded from start to finish.
McDowell loses out on challenging for the win
Michael McDowell pushed past van Gisbergen at the start of the race and was doing a good job holding him at bay. But fans were denied a true fight to the finish.
Trouble for stage one winner Michael McDowell? pic.twitter.com/FcGALDcNQ9
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) July 6, 2025
With 31 led laps in his pocket, a throttle issue took McDowell out of the race. From then on, no one was really able to hang with SVG at the front. McDowell went from a chance for a playoff berth (or at least a good result to stay near the bubble) to a 32nd place finish. He only has two top 10s on the season so far.
Reddick runs out of time yet again
Another road course pro in Tyler Reddick came into today desperate to finally get a win on 2025. In 2024, Reddick chased down, caught, but could not pass Alex Bowman for the win.
In 2025, Reddick had the freshest tires and ran some of the day's fastest laps in its dying moments, but once again he ran out of time, ultimately getting stuck behind Ty Gibbs. Reddick, at least, notched back-to-back top 5s. Coming into last week at Atlanta, he only had one over the previous 14 races.
Chaos in the streets
A narrow street course lends itself to big pile-ups and tempers. The day led off with Carson Hocevar smacking into two walls, causing a rush hour-type crash behind him.
A replay of the incident on Lap 4. pic.twitter.com/4aWkPLGi8U
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 6, 2025
Later, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman, who aren't fond of each other already, came to blows with a very physical fight for position toward the end of the race.
It's getting physical in this In-Season Challenge matchup between @BubbaWallace and @Alex_Bowman! 💥 pic.twitter.com/fQb9EpTKD9
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 6, 2025
Wallace didn't give comment immediately after the race, but Bowman said "I thought we had squashed our beef, but apparently not."
Bowman still kept a top 10, while Wallace ended up in 28th.
2025 NASCAR Cup Series Chicago Street Race results
Position | Driver | |
|---|---|---|
1 | Shane van Gisbergen | |
2 | Ty Gibbs | |
3 | Tyler Reddick | |
4 | Denny Hamlin | |
5 | Kyle Busch | |
6 | AJ Allmendinger | |
7 | Ryan Preece | |
8 | Alex Bowman | |
9 | Austin Hill | |
10 | Ross Chastain | |
11 | Joey Logano | |
12 | Ryan Preece | |
13 | Kyle Larson | |
14 | Zane Smith | |
15 | John Hunter Nemechek | |
16 | Chase Elliott | |
17 | Riley Herbst | |
18 | Chris Buescher | |
19 | Katherine Legge | |
20 | Ty Dillon | |
21 | Josh Bilicki | |
22 | Justin Haley | |
23 | Chase Briscoe | |
24 | Christopher Bell | -1 lap |
25 | Erik Jones | -1 lap |
26 | Cody Ware | -2 laps |
27 | Austin Cindric | -3 laps |
28 | Bubba Wallace | -5 laps |
29 | Daniel Suarez | -6 laps (DNF) |
30 | Noah Gragson | -7 laps |
31 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -13 laps (DNF) |
32 | Michael McDowell | -22 laps |
33 | Cole Custer | -46 laps (DNF) |
34 | Josh Berry | -47 laps (DNF) |
35 | Carson Hocevar | -73 laps (DNF) |
36 | Austin Dillon | -73 laps (DNF) |
37 | Brad Keselowski | -73 laps (DNF) |
38 | Todd Gilliland | -73 laps (DNF) |
39 | Will Brown | -73 laps (DNF) |
40 | William Byron | -73 laps (DNF) |
Next up: More road course action
Can SVG keep his momentum going on another track that suits his driving style?
NASCAR heads west to Sonoma Raceway in California. The Cup race is Sunday, July 13 at 3:30 p.m. on TNT. The Xfinity Series is Saturday, July 12 at 4:30 p.m., also from Sonoma. The Xfinity race airs on The CW.