Now there are three—three races remaining, that is, to determine the last four contestants in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
With two road courses and Daytona International Speedway left on the regular-season schedule, the permutations are perhaps more numerous than they otherwise might be.
The next chapter in the race for the Playoffs is Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The action fans will see on Sunday will differ markedly from the past two races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The restart zone has been moved from the main straightaway before the start/finish line to a position between Turns 13 and 14, the latter a sharp right-hander leading to the frontstretch.
Similar to an approach that worked extremely well at the Chicago Street Course, the change should spread out the field and prevent the cars from barreling en masse into Turn 1.
Unless the next three races produce three different new winners below them in the standings—not outside the realm of possibility, given the venues—Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski are relatively certain they’ll qualify for the Playoffs on points.
Harvick is 182 points above the cut line and can clinch a Playoff spot by scoring 44 points, if there is no repeat winner or if there is a victory by a driver who cannot compete in the Playoffs (notably Shane Van Gisbergen, who won the Chicago Street Race in his only NASCAR start so far).
Keselowski can clinch by scoring 54 points under the same circumstances.
Closer to the cut line, Bubba Wallace is 58 points ahead of Michael McDowell in 17th, and Ty Gibbs moved into 16th—the last Playoff-eligible position—with an 11th-place finish on Monday at Michigan.
Gibbs has a three-point edge over McDowell and a five-point lead over 18th-place Daniel Suarez. Road course ace AJ Allmendinger is 24 points below the cutoff in 19th.
The good news for Allmendinger is that both his NASCAR Cup Series victories have come on the next two regular-season venues—the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and Watkins Glen International. The bad news is that Allmendinger’s Kaulig Racing Chevrolets haven’t able to compete consistently with the elite teams this year.
“The last two years at Indy have been really special,” said Allmendinger, who won on the Indianapolis Road Course in 2021 in a part-time Cup role and claimed victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race last year. “To be able to kiss the bricks in the Xfinity Series and Cup Series has been a dream come true.
“Our road course stuff hasn’t quite been where we need it to be, but we are definitely working hard on it. We were close last year on the Cup side, and if we get to Indy and unload well, we can have a shot to go win the race.”
Allmendinger isn’t the only road course star on the entry list. Van Gisbergen, a three-time Australian V8 Supercars champion, returns to the Cup Series at Indianapolis with an eye toward full-time NASCAR competition next year.
In addition, 23XI Racing is fielding a Toyota for former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi, and sports car standout Mike Rockenfeller is racing in place of Noah Gragson, who resigned from Legacy Motor Club on Thursday after his suspension for “liking” a meme on social media that made light of the death of George Floyd.
Source: Reid Spencer/NASCAR Wire Service
