A Recap of the Weekend Past
For the first time, the NASCAR Cup Series raced on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. With late season pressure to make the NASCAR Playoff's, the race was filled with thrills and spills. Unfortunately, the cars of Michael McDowell and Anthony Alfredo suffered damage and did not finish.
Michael McDowell and the No. 34 CarParts.com Ford Mustang finished 30th and Anthony Alfredo and the No. 38 Elliott's Custom Trailers and Motorcoaches Ford Mustang finished 38th.
MICHAEL MCDOWELL. NO. 34 CARPARTS.COM FORD MUSTANG. FINISHED 30
Michael McDowell and the No. 34 CarParts.com Ford Mustang team were a contender during Sunday's race on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After qualifying 12th, McDowell had the car into the top-10 early in Stage 1. As the Stage came to an end, McDowell led one lap and finished second.
As Stage 2 progressed, so did McDowell through the field. The team made their pit stop for fuel and McDowell made his charge back through the field. He made it up to the top-15 before pitting again for fuel just before the end of Stage 2.
The push to the end, McDowell had grass come up on the grille and start to overheat the engine. But, he was able to keep the engine cool enough to pit within the fuel window. Also, the late race cautions allowed McDowell to blast into the top-10 and fight for the win.
But, during a restart, McDowell hit a curb that launched his car in the air and then hard into the wall. After the accident, NASCAR removed the curb from the track.
With a part-time team winning the race, McDowell is now officially locked into the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
MCDOWELL ON INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
"I'm just super bummed. It was a top-10 finish today, maybe even better, and we had it go away so late in the race. Our CarParts.com Ford Mustang was fast, we overcame having grass on the grille and really had ourselves in great position. We just had the misfortune of hitting the curb and a big wreck. I'm OK, but just really sad that we couldn't get the result. We had a really awesome race for our fans and CarParts.com. We'll come back and be stronger.
ANTHONY ALFREDO. NO. 38 ELLIOTT'S CUSTOM TRAILERS AND MOTORCOACHES FORD MUSTANG. FINISHED 38
Anthony Alfredo and the No. 38 Elliott's Custom Trailers and Motorcoaches Ford Mustang team were never given a chance on Sunday. On the opening lap, Alfredo was hit by another car. The hit sent Alfredo into the curb and the splitter stuck under it. It also broke the sway bar and damaged the track bar. Alfredo was able to come down pit road at the end of Stage 1, but the suspension piece was unable to be fixed.
Still, Alfredo was able to drive the car and keep pace, even with the front wheels lifting off the ground in the turns. It was an amazing drive by Alfredo to not damage the body of the car the entire race.
Finally, the track bar broke off the car from the earlier incident. This ended the race for Alfredo.
ALFREDO ON INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
"We were fast enough to run about 25th without the sway bar. If we knew that, we probably wouldn't have tried to fix it, but we had to try. A big thanks for the guys for working hard to fix it. At the end, the track bar broke and that ended the day. I hate it for Elliott's Custom Trailers and Motorcoaches. But, thanks for everyone's support. We will look forward to having a better day at Michigan."
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