Today’s race at chicagoland speedway almost didn’t happen. NASCAR’s concern over weather prompted them to start the race earlier than scheduled. Austin Dillon started on the pole, but was quickly passed as Jimmie Johnson found himself in the lead until lap 12 when severe weather forced a red flag.
Heavy rain soaked the track and strong winds cause problems for anything that wasn’t tied down. Luckily the storm passed, and NASCAR successfully dried the track to provide the entertaining event as promised.
Kevin Harvick, the first driver with new tires, quickly drove to the lead where he stayed for most of the first stage. Late stage pit stops began to cycle when multiple drivers began to have tire issues, including Harvick who had to make his way to pit road with his right rear down. It was ultimately Clint Bowyer who spun with a flat tire that brought out a caution and the end of stage one.
Kyle Busch also struggled in the first stage as he got into the wall on lap 26, and was attempting to conserve his car through the end of the stage, but a blown tire brought him to pit road as well.
When the smoke cleared it was Denny Hamlin out front for the stage one win.
The restarts as they have been with this package were very exciting and would continue to provide plenty of action. It was William Byron who started at the rear of the field was able to drive into the lead on lap 99.
Quin Houff brought out a caution on lap 104 as his car had leaked fluid onto the track. Byron struggled on the restart and quickly lost the lead to Harvick before dropping back to 10th.
Harvick would hold on to the lead for the remainder of stage two despite the top five drivers being within a second, and a hard charging Chase Elliot on his bumper.
The restart for stage three was the most chaotic yet as numerous drivers made significant contact with one another battling for every position. Kyle Busch found himself the loser on the restart as contact with Joey Logano led to an unexpected pit stop. Shortly thereafter Harvick found himself in the wall bringing out another caution.
The excitement continued as Alex Bowman led the field followed by fellow HMS driver Johnson. Kyle Larson would make his way to second place, but Bowman continued to out pace his fellow competitors.
Green flag pit stops began with about 50 laps to go, Bowman was able to maintain the lead, but Larson significantly reduced the gap.
Kyle Bush’s bad day got worse as a fire caused the cockpit to fill with smoke and a pit stop offered limited relief for his misfortunes.
Bowman created a large lead over the next thirty laps, but Lason began to creep closer and closer as the laps wound down. It was like watching a replay of last year’s race as Larson closed in on Bowman’s bumper and had to beat him through lapped traffic to take the lead. Bowman gathered it back up and powered back by Larson, but not without contact down the backstretch. Bowman held on for the remaining laps to claim his first career MENCS win.
Top five: Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski
The MENCS is back on Track next week at Daytona on July 6th at 7:30PM ET. for the Coke-Zero Sugar 400.
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