Diez: NASCAR has 2 races left before playoffs

Martin Truex Jr. couldn’t quite get to the front in Michigan’s rain-delayed NASCAR Cup race last Monday. Instead, Chris Buesche used the momentum of his win at Richmond the week before, scoring back-to-back wins for RFK Racing. Teammate and part owner Brad Keselowski finished fourth, indicating that the two-year development of the team is peaking at exactly the right time.

Truex’s second place finish puts him 57 points ahead of Denny Hamlin for the regular season championship. And with just two races left before the playoffs, at least two postseason berths will be settled on points. Kevin Harvick and Keselowski are safely in the playoffs, 170 and 158 points respectively above the cut line. Ty Gibbs is three points above the cut line and Bubba Wallace is 42 points to the good. But two new winners would put both out unless one of them wins. On the outside looking in are Michael McDowell at -3, Daniel Suarez -5, A.J. Allmendinger -24, and Alex Bowman -44.

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Coming up Sunday is Allmendinger’s best chance to lock into the playoffs with a win. Allmendinger won on the Indianapolis road course in 2021 and Tyler Reddick took the 2022 victory. It will be the third and final time the series races on the road course at Indy in the doubleheader with the NTT IndyCar series. Next season NASCAR will be back on the oval for the resumption of the Brickyard 400.

Sunday’s 39-car field features ex-F1 drivers Jensen Button in a Rick Ware Racing Ford and Kamui Kobayashi in a 23XI Toyota. Chicago Street Race winner Shane Van Gisbergen drives the Trackhouse Racing Project 91 Chevy with fellow Australian V8 Supercar racer Brodie Kostecki joining the fun in the Richard Childress Racing No. 33 Chevy. It will be former champion Chase Elliott’s best opportunity to dig himself out of the hole he’s in from missing seven races, now 55 points below the cut line.

Opening odds have Truex the favorite at 4-1 with Reddick 11-2 and Elliott 15-2. Kyle Larson is 10-1, Van Gisbergen and Kyle Busch both 10-1, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell 11-1, and Allmendinger 16-1.

The Pennzoil 150 for the Xfinity series airs Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on USA with the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on NBC at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. To watch qualifying for both series, download the NBC Sports app, streaming Xfinity qualifying at 6:30 a.m. Saturday and Cup qualifying at 8:30 a.m.

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Last Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville saw Kyle Kirkwood take his second win of the season for Andretti Autosport. Kirkwood held off Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin in a one-lap shootout with McLaughlin finishing second for the second year in a row.

The race was surprisingly clean for a street race until the closing laps which were marred by caution after caution and a red flag. There was fast and furious racing throughout the pack for the entire race, with tire choice and strategy critical. The race is set for the next three years with a change in venue to downtown Nashville beginning in 2024. It will also be the season finale on next year’s schedule.

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This weekend is the Indy road course doubleheader with NASCAR.

Will Power is the most prolific winner on the road course with five victories, most recently in 2021. Alexander Rossi is the defending winner with Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Rinus Veekay posting one victory apiece. Simon Pagenaud has won three times but has still not been cleared to drive following his horrific Mid-Ohio crash. 2022 INDY NXT champion Linus Lundqvist will replace him in the No. 6 Meyer-Shank Racing entry.

USA will broadcast the race at 11 a.m. Saturday.