NASCAR headed to the prestigious Indianapolis Motor Speedway, for what could be the final time on the road course layout. Michael McDowell took home the checkered flag, collecting his second career win, and first of the season. The #34 team raises the bar to thirteen drivers locked into the playoffs with two races remaining in the regular season.
In what was a nail-biting finish, the duel in the final stage was between McDowell, and Chase Elliott. After qualifying 4th, collecting 19 stage points, and winning stage one, the 38-year-old was the class of the field all weekend.
With no stage cautions, executing on pit road, and being mistake-free in all aspects of the Indy circuit was the name of the game. Only one caution flew, meaning if you made a mistake, that’s essentially your race.
By simply staying out front, victory found the #34 team. McDowell clinched the first career road course win of his Cup career, in addition to locking himself into the playoffs for the first time since his 2021 Daytona 500 win two years ago.
While dominance can be engraved in the prestigious Indianapolis bricks, the #34 team stayed out front for 54 out of 82 laps, accounting for 65 percent of the race.
Meanwhile, a bigger shake-up occurred for the rest of the field.
Chase Elliott, behind McDowell, was the biggest cutline gainer on the day. After a dreadful Michigan race, the lone expectation of winning was the only goal for the #9 team. Elliott fought hard but was just short of collecting a badly warranted victory.
Overall the 27-year-old came into Sunday 21st in points, but is now 19th (-80), going to statistically his best track next weekend.
With McDowell jumping up to 12th in the points, this shuffled everyone at the cut line bubble.
Bubba Wallace was mistake free, but as is documented throughout his entire Cup career, road courses are his weakness, by finishing 18th.
With Cup Series household names in road racing behind the #23 team in points, the 54- point advantage, vanished to only 28 points to the good, 16th overall. In his current situation, this will force the #23 team to put together a career weekend at Watkins Glen next week, or at least float, and not sink until Daytona. Missing the playoffs could become a reality, as Wallace will have to find a way to be competitive, essentially almost out of wiggle room.
Daniel Suarez collected his first career pole on Saturday and ran inside the top-5 for the majority of the day, and finished third. If not for a slow pit stop, due to an air hose that got caught under the right front tire, he could’ve possibly won.
Although he lost nearly ten seconds on track to the top-2 of McDowell and Elliott, Suarez gained the most from the mishap in the standings. The #99 team is currently 17th (-28), but will need another solid weekend.
After winning the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, rookie Ty Gibbs ran well on what was a persevering day. Gibbs was spun by Shane Van Gisbergen in the first stage, but salvaged, and climbed his way back up to 12th. The 20-year-old is 18th in points (-49), but is still on the outside looking in.
In 20th, now (-80) is Alex Bowman. In what looks like a must-win situation for anyone 16th and below, the #48 team ran well, and finished fifth. In reality, a win is what needs to unfold for Bowman to make the playoffs, if not, Bowman could miss the cut for the first time in five years.
The #48 team is making strides forward, digging a little deeper will help in order to find the victory lane.
Leaving Indianapolis behind, a tough discussion will have to be made by NASCAR. Do you bring back the oval after the way the next-gen car has performed on intermediates, or do you ride the momentum the road course has brought in now year three of the event?
It’s a deal that will need to be sorted ahead of the highly anticipated schedule release, likely in September.
For a track that’s been stapled as a circus for two consecutive years, it finally delivered with a moved restart zone to turn 12, and no stage cautions.
It should be interesting to see what layout will be run the next time the series returns, but we can say Indy this afternoon showcased what the event can truly be.
As the cutline has shifted, it’s time to look forward to Watkins Glen International. Two races remain, as realistically anyone can win.
Could this be finally Chase Elliott’s breakthrough? Or could Daniel Suarez capture a win on a road course to lock himself in the playoffs in consecutive years? Can Bubba Wallace run well enough to position himself to not have to win at Daytona for the first time in his career? Or, could someone like Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Justin Haley, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, or A.J. Allmendinger steal the show?
We’ll see what wildcards are dealt, as pins could fall while Bowling at The Glen in Upstate New York next weekend.
Follow Justin on Twitter for more Nascar content.
The Slow Restart 