Top Dog: Joey Hand
“Raindrops keep falling on my head”
“But that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red”
B.J. Thomas’ song Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head could be the perfect setting for the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago street course (July 7).
A year after NASCAR’s debut on the street course experienced a biblical-style flood, the forecast was looking much more promising for its second rendition — until it wasn’t.
A quick but heavy shower bombarded the track just before the green flag waved, and after a brief delay, it set up the theme of the race: choosing between slick tires or wet tires.
When the checkered flag finally flew shortly before 8:30 p.m. CDT, albeit because of a timer due to darkness, the wet tires won out. Leading the underdog pack was Joey Hand in fourth, driving RFK Racing’s No. 60 Ford.
Hand was initially set to start on the wets but quickly changed to slicks before the race started.
Starting in the trunk of the field in 38th, Hand’s road course expertise was on full display. Driving by the cars with worn, wet tires, Hand entered the top 20 within the first 10 laps, finishing stage one in 18th.
Shortly after stage two commenced, the skies opened again, halting the race for nearly two hours.
Once the race resumed, Hand looked to be sailing on the water. He worked his way from just outside the top 15 up to 11th before a caution flew. Then, as soon as the green flag waved, the 45-year-old jumped into the top 10.
As stage two began to wind down and Hand inched his way towards the top five, several cars pitted for slick tires, forcing the leaders to mitigate the strategy by pitting themselves. That allowed Hand to take the lead and win stage two.
Hand’s “submarine” launched from the lead to kick off the final stage. However, the time clock had come into play, with 16 minutes remaining before the white flag would be displayed.
The Sacramento, Calif. fought tooth and nail to hold off Alex Bowman, but he eventually succumbed to the No. 48 before another caution flew with 12 minutes remaining.
Hand gave Bowman a lot to think about when the final restart occurred with five minutes remaining. However, Bowman eventually drove away to the win, while the slick tires finally gained an advantage with the track drying. Still, Hand was able to finish strong and grab a top five for RFK’s Stage 60 team.
While all eyes were glued on defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen entering the weekend, Hand should have been considered a dark horse from the moment RFK announced him to the ride for Chicago.
Though it was just his eighth NASCAR Cup Series start, the accomplished road racer proved what he can do with good equipment, and it nearly netted another surprise win in Chi-Town.
Notable Underdog Runs
Road courses have generally not been kind to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. over his career, as he only had logged one top 10 in 38 starts. However, that top 10 came last year at Circuit of the Americas, and Stenhouse’s improvement on the rights and lefts earned him his career-best road course finish with a sixth-place run at Chicago.
That route to the top 10 was anything but smooth, however. After starting 33rd, Stenhouse drove into the top 15 before getting loose in turn 1 and making contact with the tire barrier. Fortunately, he suffered no underlying damage and finished stage one in 15th.
In stage two, Stenhouse was plowed by Denny Hamlin on lap 31, sending both into the tire barrier.
A lap 35 caution saw Stenhouse restart in 37th, but the mixed strategies allowed him to grab three stage points in eighth. In the final laps, Stenhouse had one more slight hiccup when he made contact with Martin Truex Jr., turning Truex into a hard-charging Christopher Bell, who then spun into Carson Hocevar, ruining both drivers’ days.
Stenhouse ultimately held on to secure the top 10, his fifth of the season and third in the past four weeks. It was the cherry on top for a driver who experienced a big win in life this past week.
Behind Stenhouse in seventh was the new Mr. Consistency, Todd Gilliland. For a while, it looked like Gilliland, who is a sneaky good road racer, could play spoiler on the playoff field. After finishing eighth in stage one, Gilliland entered the top five after the race resumed following the rain delay.
Gilliland was running in third for several laps before pitting prior to the end of stage, trying to set himself up for an advantage when the track dried. But that opportunity never came, as the slick tires never had time to drive through the field. While he missed out on the win, Gilliland’s well-documented top 20 streak we have been following reached nine races in a row, now the longest active top 20 streak with Chase Elliott finishing 21st.
Kaulig Racing brought out the heavy hitters this weekend, with van Gisbergen in the No. 16 and fellow road course ace AJ Allmendinger piloting a third entry. However, van Gisbergen, who won stage one, crashed out shortly into stage two while Allmendinger had a late crash that also forced him out of the race.
That left Daniel Hemric as the last man standing from Kaulig, scoring a stout 12th-place finish. Hemric, whose best road course finish was 15th entering Chicago, cracked the top 20 soon after the second stage started and worked his way forward from there. The Kannapolis, N.C. native stayed out after finishing stage two in seventh, holding tough and looking poised for a top 10. Yet drivers on slick tires caught up with him at the end, relegating him a couple of positions. Following a top 10 last week at Nashville Superspeedway, Hemric grabbed his fourth top 15 of the year.
Returning to the site where he nearly scored a massive upset a year ago, and on the fifth anniversary of his lone Cup win at Daytona International Speedway, Justin Haley came home in 16th. Once again, Haley looked like the little engine that could by threatening to finish in the top 10, but the late strategy shuffle just kept him out. It is the 25-year-old’s sixth top 20 in the past nine races.
Fresh off a near-win at Nashville, Zane Smith backed it up with a 17th-place finish. Smith was aggressive from the start, making a couple of three-wide moves in the opening laps to advance from his 30th-place starting spot. Smith assumed the lead to begin stage two after staying out after the conclusion of stage one, and the three laps he led were his first of the season. The Spire Motorsports driver was fourth when the red flag flew for rain.
After the race resumed, strategy and the beating and banging of the mid-pack eventually caught up to Smith, but it didn’t stop him from scoring a top 20. It was his fourth top 20 in the last six events.
What They’re Saying
Hand (fourth):
Stenhouse (sixth): I didn’t think it was quite ready to go to dry tires that early. Obviously it was there at the end, so my guys made a good call to keep us out on the wets and get Stage points. Then they told me, ‘hey, those guys are going to catch you with three or four laps to go, but that is the best shot at having a good finish’. So, all-in-all, it was really cool to come out of Chicago this year with a good finish. That is what our car was capable of, so that was fun.”
Hemric (12th): “What a challenge. Incredible strategy once again by my crew chief, Trent Owens, to continue to run on rain tires. If the race ended about two laps earlier, we would have had a solid top 10, but we finally fell back to a couple guys with new tires. All in all, we maximized our day, and I appreciate the fight from our Kaulig Racing team.”
Van Gisbergen (40th):
Who’s Really the Top Dog
Hand earns the coveted spot atop the podium this week. Stenhouse, who has earned seven medals between gold and bronze, lands a silver for the first time, while Hemric earned bronze for the first time to earn each medal this season.
Gold: Stenhouse Jr. (4x), Erik Jones (3x), Carson Hocevar (3x), John Hunter Nemechek (2x), Allmendinger (2x), Corey LaJoie, Hemric, Haley, Gilliland, Smith, Hand
Silver: Gilliland (6x), Haley (2x), Allmendinger (2x), Hemric (2x), Nemechek (2x), Harrison Burton, Hocevar, Smith, Ty Dillon, Anthony Alfredo, Stenhouse
Bronze: Nemechek (3x), Stenhouse (3x), LaJoie (3x), Gilliland (3x), Jones (2x), Kaz Grala, van Gisbergen, Hocevar, Haley, Allmendinger, Hemric
Small Team Scheme of the Week
With several great schemes on hand, Stenhouse’s No. 47 had a bit of a classic look to it for the streets of the Windy City. Colgate and Mariano’s partnered with JTG-Daugherty Racing for the week, featuring a red base and white deck area that combined for a simple dressed fit for the city.
About the author
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.
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You guys over looked McDowell! I believe he was in the 30s on slicks when they all pitted before the stage 2 end, and ran it all the way up to P5.