Prior to Sunday’s Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course, Joey Hand had never finished better than 20th in his seven NASCAR Cup Series starts.
However, his road and street course prowess showed through as he raced to a fourth-place finish, which was the best of any Ford driver.
Hand started 38th, however, climbed his way to the front despite ever changing track conditions and rain.
In fact, the driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford won Stage Two and led seven laps around the temporary 2.2-mile street course before falling to eventual winner Alex Bowman on lap 51, seven laps shy of the checkered flag in the race that was cut short because of darkness.
“It was a great day. I am all grins,” Hand said. “That was a lot of fun. It is fun when you have a car that is going forward. RFK, this Stage 60 car and this group of guys and gals was awesome.
“We had such a good time together. We didn’t qualify well but I told them that we were way better than that. I laid in bed last night and dreamt about driving to the front. It was a lot of fun. I love those conditions where everyone has to find a different way and it isn’t set in stone what you are going to do.”
His day job, piloting Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Ford Mustang GT3 in IMSA GTD PRO competition, helped build Hand’s confidence during a rain-filled race.
For Hand, the unknowns of strategy through the rain and how to handle wet versus slick tires were firmly in his wheelhouse.
“I have won a lot of races like that in my life,” Hand said. “I thought there was a chance I was going to win another one which was going to be huge. To run fourth, starting 38th, with this car, it was a ton of fun. BuildSubmarines.com has a ton of people here and we were in a Ford Mustang.
“What can you say? We went to the front and I am happy about it.”
Hand heads back to IMSA this upcoming weekend to contest the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Ontario’s Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.