The Post Race Inspection - 2025 Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course

Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images

By Adam Carabine & Logan Morris

Logan Morris: Hey, Adam! We’re back after taking it to the streets in sweet home Chicago. SVG got his third career win and his second in Chicago. What did you think of the race?

Adam Carabine: What a fun little race! I thought it was pretty fun despite some early carnage, and a fairly dominant performance by Shane Van Gisbergen.  Is he the new King of the Road?  I’m happy that we finally got a race at the Chicago Street Course with no rain - it only took three years!  The course itself is a lot of fun and I think the drivers enjoy the challenge.  What did you think?

LM: I enjoyed it. Like you, I’m thankful the weather held out. At the tail end of the race, it looked like it might play a factor, but thankfully, it didn't.  Shane Van Gisbergen continues to prove he is the class of the field on road courses in this era. His prowess is something to marvel at. Could he make it back-to-back wins this weekend at Sonoma? How about the Wallace and Bowman drama? Bubba had a great day lined up, and then it all came crumbling. 

AC: Not only did SVG dominate the Cup Series race, but he also ducked down to the Xfinity Series again and won down there.  Amazing stuff.  It’s fun to watch him make his way around the lefts and rights.

By some magical happenstance, the in-season bracket lined up to have long-time rivals Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman up against each other this week.  Whether that played a factor in their aggressive racing or not doesn’t really matter, but they were going hard.  It ended in some heartbreak for Wallace in the end, but boy what a fun battle it was.

Also, can we take a moment to shout-out Bubba Wallace and his road course prowess lately?  He used to be hot garbage on these types of tracks, and he and his 23 team have come a long way.  It’s nice to see people be able to grow and get better.

Speaking of the in-season tournament, we have a few big matchups to look forward to this upcoming weekend - anything catch your eye?

LM: Wallace has come a long way on the left and rights, there’s no question about that. He’ll get even more reps this weekend in wine country. He’s still currently in the playoffs, but he needs a good showing. The in-season tournament has been a breath of fresh air. I was very skeptical of it at first. But, it’s giving drivers airtime and attention that typically don’t get much in that department. As far as this weekend, Preece vs Reddick should be must-see TV. Preece has had a breakout campaign, and Reddick feels like the flagship 23XI driver. I could see it going either way.    

AC: Yeah, I think of the four matchups, that is the one to watch.  Reddick has shown he’s got a ton of talent on road courses, but Preece has somehow defied the odds (and expectations) and shown that he’s never to be counted out - at least recently.  I’d give Reddick the slight edge, but Sonoma is a big challenge.  You never know.  More on Sonoma later - back to Chicago!

Did you catch any clips of that Cody Ware crash on the last lap?

LM: I did, and that was flat nasty. NASCAR has to be in a better position to call that caution quicker. It’s inexcusable. They were way too slow a few times on Sunday. I don’t know why or what the explanation is, but it needs fixing in a hurry. 

AC: From what I saw, NASCAR says they didn’t see the actual impact.  For those that might have missed it, Ware blew a brake rotor on the last lap and essentially had no brakes - he barrelled into the tire barrier at close to full speed - it was ugly.  The spotters that NASCAR uses to watch for these things only announce where the incident is, not exactly what happened.  They assumed he missed the corner and floated into the tires, and they waited to see if he could get it fired back up and get it going.  

I understand that at road courses, they’re a little slower to call the cautions because often drivers can get things back rolling and it’s not worth a caution.  However, this was a mistake by NASCAR, and it’s completely insane that they waited as long as they did when Cody Ware could have been in real medical trouble.  He’s lucky to have walked away from that crash, and by all accounts it sounds like he’s okay, though a little sore.

LM: I couldn’t agree with you more. If they can’t be somewhere in a position to see every possible angle of impact, that’s a serious safety risk. 

AC: Speaking of accidents, how about Carson Hocevar off the start of this race? A fairly honest mistake results in a gigantic parking lot - so much so they had to throw the red flag just to get the cars out of the way.

LM: That felt like something you’d see on a superspeedway. It was one of those head-scratching moments. It felt like a bumper car pile-up. Hocevar continues to make headlines one way or the other. That was one of the strangest sequences I’ve ever seen on a road course. 

AC: What I don’t understand is why the cars just KEPT coming and piling on top of the stalled out group ahead of them.  I know they have a tougher time with spotters at road courses, because it’s hard to see everything everywhere, but it was borderline comical how they just kept smashing into each other!  

LM: How about the caution to let the ambulance get across the track? Talk about strange. 

AC: Oh right! I suppose that’s possible at some of the other tracks where there’s no tunnel to get to the infield, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.  Maybe next time they’re at North Wilkesboro, they’ll have to throw a caution to let Ricky Stenhouse Jr. out before he throws hands at Kyle Busch!

LM: What an odd turn of events. What do you say we get to our weekly awards?

AC: Let’s do it!

Best Performer

LM: My best performer has to be Denny Hamlin. He started dead last and finished fourth. That’s impressive at any track, but especially a road course. Credit to him.  

AC: Absolutely solid shout.  I’m going to go with a different Joe Gibbs Racing driver - Ty Gibbs.  He started this year seemingly in a bit of a slump, but things have been getting better, and his P2 at the Chicago Street Course was gritty and impressive.  (This is, of course, my choice other than the obvious - SVG)

Biggest Move of the Race

LM: I’m going to go way outside the box here, Adam, and say the biggest move of the race was NASCAR not calling the caution for Cody Ware. Had they called it before SVG took the white flag, we could be talking about a different winner. Rain could have been a factor—lots of what-ifs. 

AC: It certainly was a big moment, though I’m not sure anyone could really have challenged SVG in a two-lap Green, White, Checkered shootout.  Maybe Tyler Reddick on his newer tires?  But SVG was clearly the best of the best.  

I’m going to actually go with the call from Reddick’s crew chief, Billy Scott, calling Reddick down to get fresh tires.  At the time it seemed like it might be a big risk to give up track position, but Reddick was able to drive his way back up to P3.  He probably would have passed Ty Gibbs for P2 if the race stayed green until the end too.  Gutsy call, and it worked out in the end.

Biggest Disappointment

LM: My biggest disappointment goes to last week’s winner, Chase Elliott. It wasn’t too long ago that he was the road course king. He has yet to truly master this next-gen car in the same fashion. He was an absolute non-factor a week after what should have been a momentum-building W. 

AC: Honourable mention to William Byron for completing a single lap and just having to retire with major car troubles - but I was more upset for Michael McDowell.  He led the entire first stage, had a great looking car, and even out-dueled SVG on the initial start of the race to take the lead.  But a faulty cable in his throttle forced him out of the race.  McDowell’s chances of earning a playoff spot are disappearing faster and faster before his eyes.  

What to Watch for Next Weekend

LM: We’re heading to wine country! Sonoma is next, so you have to wonder if SVG can go back-to-back. But, Sonoma is a place where everyone has far more experience than SVG. Does someone dethrone him on Sunday? I say yes. 

AC: Elevation change is the name of the game in Sonoma.  TV doesn’t do it justice - that place is basically built on a cliff face.  Okay, maybe not quite, but it’s really quite hilly.  Last year was the first year on a new surface, as Sonoma was repaved.  I’m interested to see how the surface has degraded over the last year, and how that impacts the drivers.  I’m high on SVG right now, I think he gets it done!

LM: We shall see, as the classic song says - there is a season turn, turn, turn.