INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Michael McDowell powered across the yard of bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday to score the victory, beating Chase Elliott to the checkered flag.
While McDowell was kissing the bricks at the finish line later on, Elliott was left to reflect on another miss at snapping a race drought that would have punched his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Elliott, the 2020 series champion, spent the final 20 laps trying to chase McDowell. He trimmed the deficit from nearly three seconds to less than one but couldn't close enough to mount a charge.
So he settled for a runner-up finish that gave him some extra points — but not the playoff-clinching win. He'll have two more chances to as the regular season winds to a close.
"I just lost too much ground under that pit cycle," the Dawsonville, Georgia driver said. "I was just trying to pace myself for the long haul – it kind of had that green flag feel. And I thought I did that, just need to do a better job getting through traffic.”
When asked what he needed to take the win, Elliott said, "We just needed to be a little better through the back-half of the race, and get off of (turn) 14 a little better to have myself in a better spot getting into turn 1. Just really appreciate the effort."
Pole sitter Daniel Suarez also spent most of the afternoon up front in a race that had only one yellow flag and 77 laps of green flag racing. He finished 5.75 seconds behind McDowell, the byproduct of a hose getting caught underneath the car's left front tire during a pit stop.
Suarez sits 28 points below the cutoff line behind 16th place Bubba Wallace in the chase to make the Playoff cut.
"We just lacked a little bit of speed the first-half of the race," Suarez said. "We made a mistake as a team during the last pit cycle, which was probably the most important one. But we will continue to build and get better. We’ll continue to build race cars like this and hopefully we’ll have another shot next week at Watkins Glen."
Shane van Gisbergen finished 10th in his second career start, failing to become the first Cup driver to win his first two career starts. Van Gisbergen won in his NASCAR debut in the inaugural Chicago race last month but had a more challenging weekend running his first oval in Friday's truck race and contending with a field of drivers who have years of data regarding Indy's course.
“Oh, it's aggressive,” the New Zealander said. “It was fine. I really enjoyed it. You make a move on someone and that gives you the room and then they expect it back, so really cool.”
LARSON’S DOUBLE
Kyle Larson’s late-night arrival after winning the Knoxville Nationals sprint car race Saturday in Iowa, didn’t make any difference to the 2021 series champ. He still made it to a scheduled news conference before noon to unveil Arrow McLaren’s No. 17 car for next May’s Indianapolis 500.
Larson is scheduled to attempt the double and the two cars will feature familiar colors — the traditional blue-and-white paint scheme with a touch of papaya for the 600-mile Charlotte race and papaya, blue and white for the McLaren team.
“Obviously, I’m extremely excited, but at the same time, I’m so busy racing and trying to take care of my family that I haven’t — like it hasn’t really set in yet that it’s truly a reality,” Larson said. “When you have days like today and you unveil the car, all those little steps, it definitely makes it seem more real. But I’m sure once things slow down in the offseason and I have a lot of time to sit around and think about the upcoming season is when it’s really going to hit.”
Larson finished eighth.
BYRON'S SLIDE
William Byron's No. 24 Chevrolet started from the back of the field Sunday after failing inspection three times Friday. Then he was forced to do a drive-thru penalty at the end of his first lap.
But the series' only four-time winner this season snaked his way back through the field to finish 14th. It wasn't enough to help him in the standings as Byron slid one spot to third, behind Denny Hamlin.
Martin Truex, Jr. finished seventh to maintain his lead.
UP NEXT
The series makes its annual stop at the road course at Watkins Glen next Sunday, the second-to-last regular-season race.
