Part-timer Allmendinger looks for another Indy road win
The NASCAR Cup Series is making its second foray onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, but it will be difficult to rival the chaotic proceedings of last year.
Competing in the Cup Series in a part-time role for Kaulig Racing, AJ Allmendinger won the debut race on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn circuit. Taking advantage of two late cautions for wild multicar wrecks, Allmendinger claimed the second Cup victory of his career.
That came after Chase Briscoe knocked Denny Hamlin out of the lead and was parked for doing so. Given the last-lap scramble involving
Allmendinger, Alex Bowman and race winner Ross Chastain at Circuit of The Americas earlier this season, the action in the second race at the Indianapolis
Road Course is likely to be as memorable.
Allmendinger is competing for the Xfinity Series championship this season, but he’ll defend his victory — the first in the series for Kaulig Racing — in Sunday’s event.
“Being a part of Kaulig Racing’s first Cup Series win will always be so special to me,” Allmendinger said. “Heading back to Indy for the first time since then will be a surreal feeling. This is a place we have had circled on our calendar, and hopefully all the hard work will pay off.”
To score a second straight win, however, Allmendinger will have to beat surging Chase Elliott, who has won three of the past five Cup races and finished second in the other two. Elliott won last Sunday’s Cup race at Pocono after disqualifications to Hamlin and Kyle Busch, who crossed the finish line first and second.
Elliott leads all active drivers with seven road course victories. He’s third all-time behind Jeff Gordon with nine and Tony Stewart with eight, but the 2020 series champion has his own issues with the road course at Indy.
“I feel like that’s probably been one of my worst road courses, personally,” said Elliott, who finished fourth in the inaugural race. “Never really felt like I got a hold of the track last year ...
“So going back, I need to do some homework this week on how to be better up there, because I do not feel very good about that track and just never got a good groove there last year at all and was never really on offense.”
If Sunday’s race gives such established road course aces as Allmendinger and Elliott a chance to pad their resumes, it also presents an opportunity for drivers below the playoff cutline.
With five races left in the regular season, 14 drivers already have recorded victories, leaving two playoff spots currently available on points. Those positions are held by last year’s Indianapolis runner-up, Ryan Blaney, and Martin Truex Jr.
Kevin Harvick is the first driver out of a playoff spot, 83 points behind Truex. Realistically, Harvick and those below him in the playoff standings will have to win one of the next five races to qualify for the postseason.