NASCAR's return to Indianapolis Road Course promises to be another wild affair

Jul. 29—The NASCAR Cup Series makes its second foray onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, but it will be difficult to rival the chaotic proceedings of last year in Sunday's Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (2:30 p.m. on NBC, IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

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 NASCAR 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 last five Cup races and finished second in the other two. Elliott won last Sunday's Cup race at Pocono after disqualifications to Denny 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 ahold 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 the Verizon 200 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.

For the second straight week, Ty Gibbs will substitute for Kurt Busch in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. Busch suffered concussion-like symptoms after a crash during qualifying last Saturday at Pocono and has not been cleared medically to drive.

Sunday's race also marks the Cup Series debut of Russian driver Daniil Kvyat, who competed for Toro Rosso and Red Bull in Formula 1 from 2014 through 2020.

NASCAR Cup Series

Next Race: Verizon 200 at the Brickyard

The Place: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

The Date: Sunday, July 31

The Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

The Purse: $8,671,417

TV: NBC, 2 p.m. ET

Radio: IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 199.998 miles (82 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 15),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 35), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 82)