Tyler Reddick's slide continues other NASCAR Chicagoland race winners, losers

Briscoe is getting to the front regularly as he did last season. Briscoe finally got his first win of the season at Chicagoland one week after a second place finish at Sonoma.

Briscoe held off teammate Christopher Bell to win the eero 400 the first Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile track since 2019.

NASCAR Chicagoland winners and losers:

NASCAR Chicagoland winners and losers as Toyota keeps winning

Winner: Toyota domination.

Toyota’s year continued at Chicagoland with teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell fighting for the win in the final laps.

Briscoe had just enough of an advantage to hold off Bell’s one real shot at making a move on the final lap to get his first victory of the season.

Seven of the top 10 finishers were Toyotas, with Briscoe, Bell, Denny Hamlin (third), Bubba Wallace (sixth), Ty Gibbs (seventh), Corey Heim (ninth) and Riley Herbst (10th) all getting on the board.

Toyota has been the undisputed kings of the sport in 2026, aside from SVG’s road-course brilliance, a couple wins by Spire Motorsports and two Chase Elliott wins. Hendrick Motorsports has tried to close the gap, but with mixed results against Joe Gibbs Racing and the sheer numbers of 23XI Racing out front.

Tyler Reddick has struggled of late, so cynics can’t blame Toyota’s success on him alone. If Hamlin, Bell, Reddick, Briscoe and Gibbs all contend for a title, no surprise, and Wallace is also due some good luck and a run of consistency. Those six will likely comprise 37.5% of the Chase field.

Good luck to the rest of you.

Alex Bowman wins.

The last winner of a Cup Series race at Chicagoland was Alex Bowman, who got his first career victory in the 2019 race, the last Cup race at the 1.5-mile track before this one seven years later.

The Cup car looks much different than it did in 2019, but Bowman found plenty of success in what has continued to be a trying season.

The No. 48 charged into the top 10 with 100 laps remaining and held on to finish fifth, even with the long-run speed of the Toyotas around him.

Bowman has two straight top-10s and is a solid player on the summer schedule.

Whatever expectations may be internally for Bowman over the final four months of the season at Hendrick, the No. 48 should be competitive on a consistent basis. Chicagoland served as a good reminder that Bowman can be that.

Loser Tyler Reddick.

Tyler Reddick has had a rough patch lately, with a radiator issue while running inside the top-10 midway through the race at Chicagoland.

Reddick’s radiator was punctured and a stream of fluid poured from the No. 45 Toyota onto the race and all over the right side of the race car.

The No. 45 team was permitted to change the radiator, but Reddick rejoined the race in 36th, 29 laps down.

Reddick departed Chicagoland in 36th place, 44 points behind Denny Hamlin. Reddick still has time to make a charge at Hamlin but the No. 11 has been good overall. Don't expect to ever see Hamlin back on the field. Many would have said the same thing about Reddick six weeks ago, sure.

The loser: Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson had a top-five car at Chicagoland, but his winless streak continued for the 43rd race.

Larson qualified second and was fast enough to run in the top five for most of the first 93 laps before spinning on his own from 3rd off of turn 4.

Larson spun in the wet grass on the frontstretch and was left with flat tires. Larson was helped out of the grass and then dragged the underbody a full lap around on flat tires before stopping.

The No.5 suffered damage to its diffuser and underbody and lost two laps in the process.

Larson didn’t get those two laps back before the end of the race, finishing 34th.

Larson is in good shape points-wise, sitting inside the top six, but he’s going to have to get a win at some point this season to defend his Cup title.