Kaulig struggles continue at Indy

SPEEDWAY, IND. — Kaulig Racing coninued a string of poor runs Sunday at Indy and is now in must-win territory to make the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

AJ Allmendinger finished 26th in the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard. Meanwhile, teammate Justin Haley finished 38th of 39 drivers who raced Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Entering Sunday, Allmendinger sat 19th in the standings, -24 points to the cutline. Haley was 23rd, already in must-win territory at -72 back. 

Expectations were high coming into the race with Allmendinger a former winner of the race and Haley showing good speed at the Chicago Street Course.

Haley had an uphill battle almost immediately Sunday. Joey Logano hit the turn six curb and sent Haley barreling into the tire barrier on lap three.

The Kaulig Racing driver drove away and told the team the car felt fine mechanically.

Allmendinger had his share of frustrations with Team Penske later in the day. His No. 16 car tangled with the No. 12 car of Ryan Blaney, sending Allmendinger spinning in the final turn on lap 31. 

The 41-year old driver quickly voiced his displeasure with Blaney. 

“If I get back to that 12, he’s getting crashed,” Allmendinger said over the radio. 

That didn’t come to fruition Sunday. However, it does add an intriguing storyline with two races to get into the playoffs. 

Luckily for Kaulig Racing, their two Cup Series drivers have wins at the final two regular season tracks. Allmendinger won at Watkins Glen in 2014 and Haley won at Daytona in 2019.

Haley also led before rain hit and caused a large multi-car wreck in last year’s Daytona race in August.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Wakins Glen next Sunday for Go Bowling at The Glen, with the green flag set to drop just after 3 P.M. EST.