3 takeaways from the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Brickyard

Michael McDowell won the latest NASCAR Cup Series race at the Indy Road Course on August 13, his first victory of the season and first since the 2020 Daytona 500.

McDowell dominated the race, passing Daniel Suarez early in the race and never looked back. He held off Chase Elliott for the victory.

Here are three takeaways from the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Indy Road Course on Sunday, August 13.

#3 AJ's missed opportunities

Another wasted day for AJ Allmendinger

With the race today at the Indy Road Course and next weekend's race at Watkins Glen, all eyes were on Chase Elliott and AJ Allmendinger to make one last push to make the Cup Series playoffs.

Allmendinger was not fast in practice and had a poor qualifying run. His race did not go much better as he did not make much progress through the field and was later spun out by Ryan Blaney.

After a surge in the past couple of months to get into points contention, it is now evident that Allmendinger will have to win next weekend at Watkins Glen, where he got his first NASCAR Cup Series victory.

#2 The Great Indy Debare

What is NASCAR's future at Indy?

One of the major discussions coming into this weekend was the future of NASCAR at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Many fans and drivers have wanted the sport to go back to the oval and bring back the Brickyard 400.

The major complaint about the Indy Road Course was the chaos that it has caused in its brief history, especially in Turn 1 with the crazy divebombs that drivers were doing. NASCAR even moved the restart zone back to alleviate the issue.

However, today's race was very entertaining with the three way battle between Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, and Daniel Suarez. The no stage break cautions also caused for some strategy to play out as well.

With an overall entertaining race as well as the fact that the road course drew out international drivers to compete in the race, the great Indy debate becomes even more compelling heading into 2024.

#3 McDowell Supremacy

Michael McDowell locks himself in

Coming into today's race, Michael McDowell was firmly on the Cup Series playoff bubble. He had a slim lead over Daniel Suarez for the final spot and a win by anyone below him would have knocked him out of the playoffs.

McDowell responded today by going out and dominating today's race. What made it more impressive was that his chief rivals Suarez and Chase Elliott were right behind him all day, and one slip up would have cost him dearly.

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