NASCAR race at Indy road course live updates: Michael McDowell wins

Live updates have ended for this race. Click here to see how Michael McDowell’s dominant win impacts the playoff picture and more.

Charltotte Observer reporter Alex Zietlow will be providing real-time updates and analysis during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. See those musings in the section below. Refresh this page as needed.

Full results will be posted here after the race.

Unofficial results: Michael McDowell wins it

Live updates from NASCAR’s Verizon 200

Stage 3

Lap 85: Unbelievable! Michael McDowell wins it! More to come.

Lap 75: Michael McDowell is navigating through lapped traffic with aplomb. He’s dominating this one. A yellow is the only way this race will be anything close to competitive. McDowell is still 2.8 seconds ahead of P2. The full Top 10 as we enter the final stretch: McDowell, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Shane van Gisbergen.

Lap 68: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets into and spins Kamui Kobayashi. He and Jenson Button have entangled a few times as well today — a couple of the several spin-outs today that haven’t resulted in cautions. Through Stage 2, we only had five lead changes and one caution (which arrived early in Stage 1).

Lap 60: Alright... everyone in winning contention (besides Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski) is good on fuel the rest of the way. Michael McDowell still leads second-placed Chase Elliott by 2.69 seconds, who is seven seconds ahead of Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick. What is in store these last 20-plus laps?

Lap 49: Daniel Suarez bangs into Chase Elliott to take P2 away! That could’ve sent Elliott spinning, but it doesn’t somehow. The Top 4 have run down pit lane now: Michael McDowell, Suarez, Elliott and Tyler Reddick. Just about 33 laps to go. And then... disaster strikes! Suarez has a rough pit stop — the hose gets caught underneath the left-front tire — and is now seconds behind Elliott and McDowell!

Lap 43: Now we embark on the longest and what should be the most interesting stage of today. Expect some green-flag pit stops in about 5-7 more laps — the fuel window is about 35 laps, as Denny Hamlin displayed last stage. Our Top 10: Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch (who might head to pit road early because something is wrong with his car and is about a second off the lead pace), Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell.

Stage 2

Lap 35: What a final lap of Stage 2! Denny Hamlin somehow stretches his fuel tank after not pitting at all in Stage 2 and stays out in front to earn an invaluable Playoff Point. He went 33 green-flag laps and a handful of laps under yellow while the rest of the field needed to visit pit road. What a strategy. The entire Top 10 after Stage 2 (in order): Hamlin, Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson.

Lap 31: AJ Allmendinger spins thanks to contact from Ryan Blaney, but he’s able to keep the car away from the wall and continues on. The 2021 winner of IMS’s road course is not happy. Allmendinger got on the radio with his team: “If I get back to the 12, he’s getting crashed.”

Lap 30: Green-flag pit stops have mostly cycled through, and Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell will be battling for P1 once Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski pit. Chase Elliott, though, is the best car on the racetrack right now. He’s right in the run with Suarez and McDowell.

Stage 1

Lap 15: Michael McDowell takes 10 points and one playoff point for winning Stage 1. The rest earning stage points (in order): McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen, Martin Truex Jr.

Lap 6: The tire barrier has been mended, and we’re green once more! Joey Logano spins out, but the field is able to avoid making contact with him; we’re still green. A reminder: There are no stage breaks today — a rule NASCAR made for all road courses in 2023 — but there are points on the line every stage (the first of which ends on Lap 15). Your Top 10: Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe.

Lap 2: Justin Haley! Into the tire barrier! First caution of the day. Joey Logano makes contact with the 31 car. Lot of damage on the right side of the car.

Green flag, 2:47 p.m.: Let’s gooooooo racing!

2:34 p.m.: Engines fired! We’re going racing in about 10 minutes. Catch it on NBC.

2:07 p.m.: Pre-race timing notes below. Also note the change in the restart zone — which moved from the start-finish line to in-between Turns 13 and 14 — to help mitigate the yellow-after-yellow-after-yellow slugfest that was last year’s race on this road course.

• Invocation: 2:25:20 p.m.

• National Anthem: 2:26:10 p.m.

• Command: 2:33:10 p.m.

• Green Flag: 2:44:00 p.m.

1:58 p.m.: Some administrative notes prior to getting going: Brodie Kostecki (in the 33 car), full-time Supercars driver and contemporary of Shane van Gisbergen, will have to drop to the rear for using a backup car. Also dropping is William Byron (of the 24 car) after multiple inspection failures; Byron will have to serve a drive-through penalty after taking the green flag, too.

1:35 p.m.: Is today the day Daniel Suárez finally breaks through? The Trackhouse Racing driver has been on the playoff bubble for the past few race weekends — and despite struggling as of late, he’s only five points behind the postseason cut-line. He starts on the pole today at Indy (2:30 p.m., NBC). His chief competitors for the four remaining playoff-on-points slots? Michael McDowell (who’s starting P4), Ty Gibbs (P10) and Bubba Wallace (P19).

How to watch NASCAR race at Indy

• Race: Verizon 200 at the Brickyard

• Place: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

• Date: Sunday, August 13

• Time: 2:30 p.m.

• Purse: $9,158,803

• TV: NBC, 2 p.m.

• Radio: IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• Distance: 199.998 miles (82 Laps)

• Stages: Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 15), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 35), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 82)

Starting lineup for race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway