INDIANAPOLIS — Daniel Suarez will lead the field to green for Sunday’s Verizon 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio Network). 39 drivers will hope to win what could be the final race on the 2.439-mile road course layout for at least the next few years as the rumored move to the 2.5-mile oval could come as soon as next season.

Here’s what’s at stake.

• Points – The 16th and final spot changed hands again on Monday in Michigan with Michael McDowell having another dismal week with a 24th place effort. He was also 22nd in Richmond and now falls from +17 entering Richmond to +18 entering Michigan to -3 entering Indy. That’s also because Ty Gibbs has gotten hot. He’s made up 31 points in two weeks in going from 28 points down to three points up. He’s done so without a top 10 finish too (15th, 11th). He’s just getting stage points and not making mistakes. Bubba Wallace has also made up a lot of ground too. He went from +27 to +58 in two weeks but the most growth came between Richmond and Michigan in going from +27 entering to +54. He still gained four points in Michigan. Now, he just needs to maintain. Daniel Suarez was a big winner too in going from -34 to -3. That’s a 31-point gain in Michigan and is back within striking distance. They’ll start 1st (Suarez), 4th (McDowell) and 10th (Gibbs). AJ Allmendinger continues to drop (-24). Alex Bowman (-44), Austin Cindric (-53) and Chase Elliott (-55) are now in really must win mode over the final three weeks. Elliott and Bowman will start 3rd and 9th respectively.
  • Who will stand out over the next three weeks of wildcard races (2 road course, 1 superspeedway).
  • AJ Allmendinger (2nd, 1st in NXS, 1, 7th in Cup) is good here. Austin Cindric (won NXS, runner-up last year in Cup) is also strong. Ty Gibbs was ninth in two of the three road races this season. Michael McDowell was eighth last year and seventh in each of the last two road races this year. Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland landed top five finishes a year ago too.
  • Can one of these drivers turn the playoffs upside down with a win on Sunday?
  • Right now, Brad Keselowski is +168 after being +122 two weeks ago. Kevin Harvick is +180 and so long as we don’t see another new winner, both are good.
• Elliott Facing Must Win – Chase Elliott’s playoffs start early, as in now. Due to his crash early on at Michigan last weekend, he was credited with a 36th place finish. As a result of that, he drops from 40 points behind the cutline to 55 back with just three races remaining. Elliott is taking it in stride though with saying that even when he came back from injury, he always expected to have to win anyhow. The problem is, he’s winless in his last 21 starts.
  • Indy is up next to where he’s winless. Then it’s to Watkins Glen to where he’s been great at. He won two of the last four years at The Glen with being runner-up (2021) and fourth (2022) in the others. On road courses this season, Elliott didn’t race COTA this year but was fifth in Sonoma and third in Chicago this season.
  • This is his best hope for winning. Daytona isn’t a place that he wants to have to score his first career win there with playoff hopes riding on the line of it.
• Manufacturers – Chevrolet is a perfect 2-for-2 here on the road course but just 1-for-3 this season on them. Is their advantage gone?
  • They went 5-for-6 on road courses last year and had won the final six road races in 2021 too. Factor in the 2019 race at Watkins Glen (2 races in 2019) and the 2 races (Daytona, Charlotte) in 2020 and you get Chevy scoring 16 wins in the last 20 road course races in general.
  • Chevrolet has always had a leg up over the competition in Indianapolis anyhow. From the inaugural race in1994 through 2014, a bowtie was found in victory lane an astounding 16 times in a 21 year span including 12 straight. However, it was more of a competition from then on out. Toyota won in 2015 and 2016, Chevrolet went back to victory lane in 2017 before Ford scored the final 3 wins on the oval in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Now, it’s back to Chevy. Who wins out on Sunday?
  • We know Ford’s are lagging on these tracks. They led four laps in COTA, two in Sonoma and none in Chicago.
  • Chevy led 29 of 75 laps in COTA, 25 of 110 in Sonoma and 32 of 78 in Chicago. Toyota’s by comparison led 42 of 75 in COTA, 84 of 110 in Sonoma and 46 of 78 in Chicago. So, who has the leg up between them? Is Toyota all the way back?
• RFK Turkey – Chris Buescher had 2 wins in the first 260+ starts to his career. He’s now has 2 in the last 2 weeks. Can he pick up a third straight on Sunday? He’s been a vastly improved road racer including eighth, fourth and 10th respectively on these courses this season. He also rebounded from a fire to finish 10th last year too. Now, he enters on the heels of two straight wins on the season too. Can he win three straight?
• International Flavor – Among the 39 cars competing here this weekend, some of them have some international flair. Shane van Gisbergen is back in the No. 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse and Project 91. He shocked the world with an upset win in Chicago. While most admitted that it should have been more speculated that he could do that, I mean he’s used to these types of cars on street courses to where the field wasn’t, it was still the first time in 60 years that a driver won in his NASCAR debut too. How will he do in a second start?
  • He’ll more have international flavor with him this time too. Jenson Button is back in the No. 15 Ford for Rick Ware Racing. However, Kamui Kobayashi (No. 67 Toyota) and Brodie Kostecki (No. 33 Chevrolet) are also making their NASCAR debuts too.
  • Can they make a name for themselves like van Gisbergen did last month?
  • Kostecki is with RCR, the winning team from last year. Kobayashi has Tyler Reddick, the winner driver last year, as a teammate.
  • This group could compete on Sunday but I’m curious after van Gisbergen had a surprising advantage in Chicago, if these guys to on a more typical road course at Indy.
  • Most INDYCAR driver call this a very European like circuit which you’d think would favor these four too.