NASCAR's first race at Chicagoland Speedway since 2019 was an exciting event on track, as Chase Briscoe took advantage of a late strategy call and held off a much quicker Christopher Bell in the closing laps for his first win of the season to lead a 1-2-3 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The win was Toyota's 12th in the 19 races so far and marked the first time the manufacturer has ever had seven top 10 finishers in a Cup race. While that level of domination has been noticeable almost every week, one driver flying under the radar over the past two weekends has been Alex Bowman.
Bowman was fifth in Sunday's race and advanced his way to the quarterfinals of the In-Season Challenge after outrunning second-round opponent Austin Cindric, who finished a respectable 13th. That came one week after a 10th-place finish was enough to eliminate No. 1 seed Tyler Reddick, who finished last (36th) after dealing with power steering issues.
Sure, Reddick's unfortunate circumstances at Sonoma and a favorable second-round matchup against Cindric, as Team Penske continues to struggle to consistently find pace, has made for an easier path for Bowman, but that should not take away from his current In-Season Challenge run. And he may not be finished yet.
Alex Bowman finally putting some consistent results together
While teammate Kyle Larson and seven other drivers were eliminated from the tournament at Chicagoland, Bowman kept his nose clean and picked up his first top-five finish since his third place result at Texas Motor Speedway in May.
It's also just the second time all season that Bowman has put together back-to-back top 10 finishes, which has been long overdue for a driver whose season never got started on the right foot.
After vertigo symptoms forced him to get out of the No. 48 Chevrolet late in the race at Circuit of the Americas in early March, he would go on to miss each of the next four races before finally returning in April at Bristol Motor Speedway. It marked the third season since 2022 that Bowman has missed multiple races.
With Bowman's Hendrick Motorsports contract set to expire at the end of the 2026 season, it is fair to wonder if he can salvage his ride for 2027 or if enough damage has already been done. Although Bowman denied that he feels like he is racing for his job prior to the Chicagoland race, per NASCAR.com's Zach Sturniolo, the writing could on the wall with zero wins since the July 2024 Chicago Street Race and HMS O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Corey Day waiting in the wings.
That definitely makes Bowman's future uncertain at the moment, but his recent stretch should not be ignored, either. One season after Ty Dillon shockingly went all the way to the In-Season Challenge championship round as the No. 32 seed, Bowman is not far from doing the same, with another favorable matchup lined up against No. 25 seed Todd Gilliland at the unpredictable EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.
Bowman has a pair of top five finishes in his four most recent starts at EchoPark Speedway and should have a decent shot of advancing if he can escape the carnage that is sure to present itself with the track's drafting-style racing. Should Bowman advance, he would either face No. 12 seed Briscoe or No. 4 seed Chase Elliott in the series' first points race at North Wilkesboro Speedway since 1996.
Sure, Bowman is still 29th in points and well out of contention for a Chase spot. With that said, this is exactly the type of run he needs to get his season pointed in the right direction and at least remind everyone that he is still capable of running up front and stringing good results together.
Bowman's future may or may not already be decided, regardless of what happens the rest of the 2026 season, but his In-Season Challenge performance so far has quietly flown under the radar and could be the start of a much-needed turnaround to what has been another injury-plagued season.
