The 2.41-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana was the venue for the NASCAR.Cup (NCS) and XFINITY Series (NXS) races this past weekend. The NXS race went well on Saturday without any major problems. Multiple cars were damaged on Lap 78 of a scheduled 82 laps in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard when curbing came apart in Turn 6 at the road course. After red flags, track repairs, a couple more restarts and wrecks, the race was completed after 95 laps with NXS regular AJ Allmendinger winning the event. The Camping World Truck Series will return on Friday, August 20, at the World Wide Technology Raceway for the first race of the series’ Playoffs. The latest results and upcoming scheduled events for the NASCAR feeder series are also included below as well as details on all tracks mentioned in this column.[[ad:athena]]
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sun, Aug 15, Verizon 200 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Cource - 82 laps.
- William Byron (#24 Chevrolet Camaro), with a lap of 87.765 seconds (100.044 mph), scored his 7th pole in 132 NCS races. It is his 2nd pole and 18th top-10 start in 2021 and his 1st pole at the Indy Road Course. Chase Briscoe (2nd), the fastest qualifying Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender (ROTY), posted his 1st top-10 start of 2021 and his 1st at the road course. Chase Elliott (3rd) posted his 1st top-10 Indy start and his 17th in 24 races this season. Did not make the 40-car field: No one, there were 40 entries.
- XFINITY.Series regular AJ Allmendinger scored his 2nd victory in 375 NCS races. This is his 1st victory and 3rd top-10 finish in 2021. It is his 1st victory and 1st top-10 finish at the Indy Road Course . Ryan Blaney (2nd) posted his 1st top-10 finish at the road course and his 12th top-10 finish in 2021. Kyle Larson (3rd) posted his 1st top-10 finish at Indy road course. Chase Briscoe (26th) was the highest finishing ROTY. Allmendinger becomes the 4th different driver since the inception of ‘Select A Series’ to win in the Cup.Series after not selecting to run for a championship in the series joining Trevor Bayne (Daytona, 2011), Brian Vickers (Loudon, NH, 2013), Justin Haley (Daytona, 2019). Polesitter William Byron led one lap and was credited with a 33rd-place DNF after getting involved in the lap 78 multi-car wreck.
- NCS points leader: Kyle Larson by 22 points over Denny Hamlin.
- TOP-16 NCS Playoff Contenders (G/L):
1. Kyle Larson
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Kyle Busch +1
4. William Byron -1
5. Chase Elliott +2
6. Joey Logano -1
7. Martin Truex Jr. -1
8. Ryan Blaney
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Tyler Reddick +1
12. Alex Bowman -1
13. Austin Dillon
14. Kurt Busch
15. Christopher Bell
16. Matt DiBenedetto +1
- Next: Sun, Aug 22, FireKeepers Casino 400 - Michigan Int’l Speedway - 200 laps.
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Sat, Aug 14, Pennzoil 150 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Cource - 62 laps.
- AJ Allmendinger (#16 Chevrolet Camaro) won the Pole Award for Saturday’s event with a lap of 89.831 seconds, 97.744 mph. This is his 3rd pole in 48 NXS races. It is his 1st pole and 17th top-10 start in 2021 and his 1st pole in two races at the Indy Road Course. Austin Cindric (2nd) posted his 19th top-10 start of 2021 and his 2nd in two races at the road course. Justin Haley (3rd) posted his 1st top-10 start at the Brickyard and his 14th in 20 races this season. Ty Gibbs (5th) was the fastest qualifying ROTY. Since only 36 cars were allowed to make up the lineup, the following 37th to 44th, in that order, did not qualify for this event: #15 Mike Skeen, #66 Matt Jaskol, #74 Bayley Currey, #13 Stephen Leicht, #6 Ryan Eversley, #33 Loris Hezemans, #42 Georgio Maggi and #52 Gray Gaulding.
- Austin Cindric (#22 Ford Mustang) scored his 13th victory in 121 NXS races. This is his 5th victory and 17th top-10 finish in 2021 and his 1st victory and 2nd top-10 finish in two races at Indy. Polesitter AJ Allmendinger (2nd) posted his 2nd top-10 finish in two races at the road course. It is his 14th top-10 finish in 2021. Justin Haley (3rd) posted his 2nd top-10 finish in two races at the Brickyard. Ty Gibbs (19th) was the highest finishing ROTY. Cindric ties Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger for the NXS most road course wins all-time with five each.
- NXS points leader: Austin Cindric by 82 points over AJ Allmendinger.
- TOP-12 NXS Playoff Contenders (G/L):
1. Austin Cindric
2. AJ Allmendinger
3. Daniel Hemric
4. Justin Allgaier
5. Harrison Burton
6. Justin Haley +1
7. Jeb Burton -1
8. Noah Gragson
9. Brandon Jones
10. Jeremy Clements
11. Riley Herbst +1
12. Michael Annett -1
- Next: Sat, Aug 21, New Holland 250 - Michigan Int’l Speedway - 125 laps.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NTS)
NTS Playoffs - Round of 10:
Reseeding order based on regular season stage wins, race wins, points, etc.
1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Austin Hill
3. Ben Rhodes
4. Todd Gilliland
5. Sheldon Creed
6. Zane Smith
7. Matt Crafton
8. Carson Hocevar
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- After the next 3 races (WWT Raceway, Darlington and Bristol), the bottom 2 will not advance to the NTS Playoffs - Round of 8 - at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 24.
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9. Stewart Friesen
10. Chandler Smith
- Next: Fri, Aug 20, WWT Raceway 200 - World Wide Technology Raceway - 160 laps.
NASCAR Feeder Series
ARCA Menards Series:
Fri, Aug 6, Clean Harbors 100 at The Glen - Watkins Glen.Int’l - 41 laps.
Winner: Corey Heim - P1: Ty Gibbs - Points Leader: Ty Gibbs
Next: Fri, Aug 20, Henry Ford Health System 200 - Michigan Int’l Speedway - 100 laps.
ARCA Menards East:
Sat, Jul 24, Shore Lunch 150 - Iowa.Speedway - 150 laps.
Winner: Ty Gibbs - P1: Ty Gibbs - Points Leader: Sammy Smith
Next: Sun, Aug 29, * Sprecher 150 - Milwaukee Mile Speedway - 150 laps.
* Combo race with ARCA Menards Series
ARCA Menards West:
Sat, Jul 31, Colorado 150 - Colorado National Speedway - 150 laps.
Winner: Joey Iest - P1: Todd Souza - Points Leader: Jesse Love
Next: Sat, Aug 21, Irwindale 150 - Irwindale Speedway - 150 laps.
Whelen Modified Tour:
Fri. Aug 6, GAF Roofing 150 - Stafford Motor Speedway - 150 laps.
Winner: Ryan Preece - P1: Ryan Preece - Points Leader: Justin Bonsignore
Next: Sat. Aug 21, Rumble at the Ridge 200 - Beech Ridge Motor Speedway - 200 laps.
Pinty’s Series:
Sun, Aug 15, Guardian Angles 60 - Trois-Rivieres, Quebec - 60 laps.
Winner: Alex Tagliani - P1: LP Dumoulin - Points Leader: Raphael Lessard
Next: Sat, Aug 28, Lafleur 75 - Circuit ICAR - 75 laps.
Peak Mexico Series:
Sun, Aug 1 at Ovalo Aguascalientes Mexico, Aguascalientes, Mexico
Winner: Ruben Garcia Jr. - Points Leader: Ruben Garcia Jr.
Next: Sun, Aug 22, Canel’s Grand Prix - Autodromo Potosino, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Track Details
Autodromo Potosino - 0.5-mile oval - San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway - 0.333-mile oval - Scarborough, Maine
Circuit de Trois-Rivieres - 1.53-mile street circuit - Trois-Rivieres, Quebec
Circuit ICAR - 2.125-mile road course - Mirabel, Quebec
Colorado.National Speedway - 0.375-mile oval - Dacono, Colorado
Indianapolis Road Course - 2.41-mile, 14-turn road course - Speedway, Indiana
Iowa Speedway - 0.875-mile oval - Newton, Iowa
Irwindale Speedway - 0.5-mile oval - Irwindale, California
Knoxville Raceway - 0.5 mile dirt oval - Knoxville, Iowa
Michigan Int’l Speedway - 2-mile oval - Brooklyn, Michigan
Milwaukee Mile Speedway - 1-mile oval - West Allis, Wisconsin
New York Int’l Raceway Park - 0.625-mile oval - Lancaster, New York
Ovalo Aguascalientes Mexico - 0.875-mile concrete oval - Aguascalientes, Mexico
Southern National Motorsports Park - 0.4-mile oval - Lucama, North Carolina
Watkins Glen Int’l - 2.45-mile road course - Watkins Glen, New York
Winchester Speedway - 0.5-mile oval - Winchester, Indiana
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway - 1.25-mile oval - Madison, Illinois
