Why Bubba Wallace vs Alex Bowman will be a key storyline in Chicago

On Sunday, July 6, all eyes will be on Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman. The NASCAR Cup Series will host its 19th race of the season at the Chicago Street Course.

The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, Alex Bowman, is the race's defending winner. He is currently one of the drivers still vying for their maiden win of 2025. But how does Bubba Wallace fit into all of this?

As things stand, Chicago will host Round 2 of NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament. This time around, Bubba Wallace (No. 9 seed) will face Alex Bowman (No. 8 seed). However, the In-Season Tournament is a short-term focus for both drivers; the real challenge is something else.

Both Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace sit directly above the provisional elimination line for the playoffs. The Hendrick Motorsports ace and the 23XI Racing icon sit 39 and 23 points above the cutoff, respectively. But there’s more.

Like Bowman, Wallace is also chasing his first win of the season. 18 races in, the Alabama native owns three top fives and six top-10s, besides 103 laps led. His last win came at Kansas Speedway back in 2022. That was also his first win in 23Xi Racing's No. 45 entry. Wallace is in his eighth full season driving for the Huntersville-based organization.

Bubba Wallace’s spotter backs him following his comments on spotter stand locations

This past weekend in Atlanta, Bubba Wallace voiced his frustration with the way spotter stands are allotted at road courses. The current system limits the spotter’s visibility on street circuits. Calling it “complete bulls**t”, Wallace demanded some change.

Freddie Kraft, his spotter, agreed. In the latest episode of the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast, Kraft stated that several spotter stands during the race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City were deemed useless because of their placement.

“This was a valid point and the point he’s trying to make is when we go to these races — like, we went to Mexico — one of the spotter stands was useless,” Kraft explained. “Completely useless and that was Turn 15. You could literally see the exit to Turn 15 and the entry to pit road.”

“So, unless somebody spun out and was sitting there, that was the only time you were actually going to do anything, and that was the primary location when we got there,” he added.

That being said, will the spotter stand locations change when the series arrives in Chicago? Nobody knows. However, fans can watch the 75-lap event (named The Grant Park 165) on TNT Sports from 2 p.m. ET onwards or listen to live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.