Bowman captures first Cup victory

Alex Bowman held off Kyle Larson for his first career NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series victory, leading a terrific performance for Hendrick Motorsports at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

Bowman had one of the fastest cars during practice, and the strength of his No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet showed after the race was delayed by a storm. Bowman, 26, had just six topfive finishes in 133 starts on NASCAR’s top series before his banner day on the bumpy 1½-mile oval.

Larson put together another memorable run a year after he lost an epic last-lap duel with Kyle Busch on the same track. Larson passed Bowman with about seven laps left, but Bowman quickly regained the lead and smartly navigated his way to the victory.

Joey Logano, who entered with a one-point lead over Kyle Busch for the top spot in the series standings, finished third. Jimmie Johnson was fourth, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.

In other news:

• Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg for a second consecutive year as Red Bull ended Mercedes’ unbeaten streak this season. The Dutchman recovered from a poor start to work his way up to the front of the pack from eighth place and overtook leader Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari with just two laps to go. Starting from pole position for the second time in his career, Leclerc almost led the race from start to finish but ended up just missing his first career win. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas completed the podium, ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who started fourth and lost time to replace the front wing of his Mercedes after 31 laps and finished fifth.