NASCAR: A.J. Allmendinger wasn’t the only big winner at Indy

A.J. Allmendinger’s second career NASCAR Cup Series victory was pretty big, but Allmendinger wasn’t the only big winner in Sunday’s race.

For the first time since he secured his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen International in 2014, A.J. Allmendinger found himself in victory lane.

Following an overtime restart, Allmendinger inherited the lead of Sunday’s inaugural Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course when rookie Chase Briscoe spun out race leader Denny Hamlin during the penultimate lap.

Briscoe had been penalized for short-cutting the track in turns one and two even though he gave the lead back to Hamlin, but he was not aware that he had been given a penalty and thought he was racing the #11 Toyota for the win.

Hamlin ultimately finished in 23rd place, with Briscoe in 26th.

But even beyond Allmendinger’s breakthrough win, there were several other big winners throughout the field, particularly as it pertains to this year’s playoffs.

For one, all of this year’s race winners are now locked into the playoffs. Why? Because Allmendinger, as a full-time Xfinity Series driver as opposed to a full-time Cup Series driver, is not.

A total of 13 different drivers had won at least one of the season’s first 23 races entering Sunday’s races. With three races remaining in the regular season, this left the door open for 16 different winners.

With Hamlin potentially guaranteeing himself a playoff berth without a win as the regular season champion, this would have created a situation in which there would have been 17 playoff eligible drivers but only 16 playoff spots. As a result, the lowest winner in the point standings would not have gotten into the playoffs.

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Now that is no longer a concern. As a result, Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, the lowest two drivers in the point standings who had a chance to be that 17th driver under this scenario, are officially locked into the playoffs.

And, of course, so is Hamlin. He can mathematically finish no lower than as the highest non-winner in the standings, so even with two more new winners, he would finish the regular season as the 16th and final driver in the playoff picture.

Of course, Hamlin lost ground in his regular season championship battle with Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who finished Sunday’s race in third place.

Larson now leads Hamlin by 22 points after trailing by triple digits earlier in the year, and the extra five (15 as opposed to 10) playoff points gained by the regular season champion could prove crucial.

But for now, Hamlin is still a big winner, as he has finally locked himself into the playoffs — even after Sunday’s disastrous finish.