Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

Verizon 200 at the Brickyard

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

August 13th, 2023

Race #24 of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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Laps Scheduled: 82
Miles Raced : 213.6
Time of Race : 02 Hours 09 minutes 59 seconds
Average Speed: 92.319 mph
Margin of Victory : 00.937 seconds
Cautions: 1
Caution Laps: 3
Lead Changes: 10
Cars in Race : 39
Finished On Lead Lap: 22 (56%)

Michael McDowell and his family celebrate at the bricks — Indianapolis, Indiana - August 13th, 2023: Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 Horizon Hobby Ford, and his family celebrate at the bricks on track after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photo by Justin Casterline | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	4	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	59	40	19	6	82	54	3	1	2	Running
2	3	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	49	35	14	0	82	1	1	3	5	Running
3	1	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	51	34	17	0	82	6	2	2	3	Running
4	2	45	Tyler Reddick	Toyota	44	33	11	0	82	0	0	4	7	Running
5	9	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	38	32	6	0	82	0	0	8	8	Running
6	13	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	33	31	2	0	82	0	0	0	9	Running
7	12	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	31	30	1	0	82	0	0	10	0	Running
8	6	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	36	29	7	0	82	0	0	5	10	Running
9	7	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	32	28	4	0	82	11	2	7	0	Running
10	8	91	Shane van Gisbergen	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	82	1	1	9	0	Running
11	17	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	26	26	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
12	10	54	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	25	25	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
13	16	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	24	24	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
14	39	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	23	23	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
15	20	2	Austin Cindric	Ford	22	22	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
16	27	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	21	21	0	0	82	1	1	0	0	Running
17	21	1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	20	20	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
18	19	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	19	19	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
19	25	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	28	18	10	1	82	8	1	0	1	Running
20	22	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	24	17	7	0	82	0	0	0	4	Running
21	24	21	Harrison Burton	Ford	16	16	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
22	11	33	Brodie Kostecki	Chevrolet	15	15	0	0	82	0	0	0	0	Running
23	38	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	14	14	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
24	37	42	Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet	13	13	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
25	34	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	12	12	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
26	26	16	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	11	11	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
27	35	77	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	10	10	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
28	31	15	Jenson Button	Ford	9	9	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
29	14	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
30	29	51	Andy Lally	Ford	7	7	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
31	30	41	Ryan Preece	Ford	6	6	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
32	32	78	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
33	28	67	Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota	0	0	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
34	18	22	Joey Logano	Ford	3	3	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
35	36	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	2	2	0	0	81	0	0	0	0	Running
36	5	8	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	11	1	10	0	80	0	0	6	6	Running
37	23	38	Todd Gilliland	Ford	1	1	0	0	80	0	0	0	0	Running
38	15	31	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	80	0	0	0	0	Running
39	33	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	1	1	0	0	79	0	0	0	0	Running

Race Infractions

Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
William Byron	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Tail End	0	0	White
William Byron	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Pass Thru	0	1	White
Brodie Kostecki	Pre-Race to the Rear Backup Car	Tail End	0	0	White
Justin Haley	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	2	5	Yellow
Jenson Button	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	13	14	Green
Mike Rockenfeller	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	17	19	Green
Corey Lajoie	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	18	20	Green

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Race Fast Facts

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
Verizon 200 at the Brickyard
Race Winner: Michael McDowell
Age: 38
Team : No. 34 - Horizon Hobby Ford
Owner: Bob Jenkins
Crew Chief: Travis Peterson
Michael McDowell won the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, his second victory in 453 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2023.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in three races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Chase Elliott (second) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2023.
Daniel Suarez (third) posted his first top-10 finish in three races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Ty Gibbs (12th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Martin Truex Jr. leads the point standings by 60 points over Denny Hamlin.

Race Recap

Michael McDowell grabs NASCAR Cup Playoff spot with win at Indy Road Course

August 13th, 2023

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

Running a race he knew he could win, Michael McDowell held off Chase Elliott in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard a grabbed a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford led 54 of 82 laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in a race that featured just one caution and ran under the green flag for the final 77 laps.

"My family comes to the races we think we can win," said McDowell, who shared hugs with his wife and children after climbing from his car. "We thought we could win this one."

McDowell’s second career victory was a convincing one. He passed pole winner Daniel Suárez for the lead after a restart on Lap 6 and held it until he brought the No. 34 Mustang to pit road on Lap 17 for a green-flag stop.

After pitting for a second time on Lap 49, McDowell regained the top spot when Bubba Wallace pitted on Lap 53 and held it the rest of the way. Over the last 29 laps, Elliott—needing a victory to advance to the Playoffs—narrowed McDowell’s four-second margin to .937 seconds at the finish, but that was as close as the 2020 series champion could get.

"I was really trying to pace myself," McDowell said. "I figured there would be a late-race caution, and I didn’t want to burn my stuff up. I was just trying to maintain that gap.

"Then when I got into traffic, (Elliott) started closing, I had to push it, but I just can’t believe it."

McDowell now has victories at Daytona (the 2021 Daytona 500) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, arguably the two most iconic venues in the sport. He put a Ford in Victory Lane at a road course for the first time since Ryan Blaney won the inaugural race at the Charlotte Roval in 2018.

"Winning the Daytona 500 was one of the coolest moments you could ever have," said McDowell, one of the most accomplished road racers in the Cup Series. "But going to Victory Lane without your family, that was tough.

"So we cherry-pick. We come to the races we think we can win… Just so proud… You know, I thought we could point our way in (to the Playoffs), but after the car that we had yesterday in practice, I thought, man, we’ve got a good shot at winning if we could just get track position and maintain it."

That’s exactly what McDowell did. After Suarez beat McDowell of pit road on Lap 17, McDowell chased the No. 99 Chevrolet until they caught the cars of Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski at the end of Stage 2 on lap 35.

Hamlin and Keselowski were on older tires, and McDowell surged past Keselowski and Suárez through the Turn 12 and 13 complex. When Hamlin and Keselowski finally came to pit road on Lap 36, McDowell was back in the lead.

Much of the race was a three-way battle between McDowell, Elliott and Suárez, but Suárez lost valuable time when his left front tire landed on an air gun hose during the Lap 49 stop. The snafu cost Suárez six seconds and a chance to win.

"We win and we lose as a team, and that’s all I can say," said Suárez, who salvaged a third-place finish. "The guys brought a very fast race car. I felt that maybe we were one adjustment behind in the first run with the back of the car, but then we made it a little bit better.

"But I felt like I was always one step behind the No. 9 and the No. 34, and then at the end, I felt that when my car came alive again, we had that issue.

"Just a little bit heartbreaking, but that’s part of the sport. All we can do is continue to push, continue to build race cars like this, and I’ll keep on winning races."

Elliott was gracious in his praise for McDowell, and he identified where his No. 9 Chevrolet needed to be stronger.

"Just to be a little better through the back half (of the course) over there and get off of (Turn) 14 a little better just to have myself in a better spot getting into (Turn) 1.

"Just really appreciate the effort, man. Our Napa Chevy was really good, really good. Just needed just a little bit more and came up a bit short. But congrats to Michael, man. He did a good job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you’ve got to do to win."

Tyler Reddick finished fourth, followed by Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. Shane van Gisbergen, who won the Chicago Street Race in July was 10^th in his second NASCAR Cup start.

McDowell’s win reduces the number of available Playoff spots to three. Keselowski and Kevin Harvick are comfortably situated on points—barring more different winners at Watkins Glen and Daytona—but Wallace’s hold on the final spot was reduced from 58 points pre-race to 28 over Suarez.