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With 10 laps remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200, AJ Allmendinger sat 15th, some 40 seconds out of the lead with even a top-10 finish out of reach. Three cautions, two wild crashes and one weird penalty later, he was an unlikely NASCAR winner at Indianapolis.

A driver who isn't even full-time in the Cup Series, who hadn't won there in seven years, took the victory for an organization making just their seventh career start at the Cup level. 

"I just can't believe the way it played out," Allmendinger said. 

Neither can anybody else. 

It all started with a debris caution, which erased Kyle Larson's comfy four-second lead. A handful of drivers then chose to stay out, gambling on old tires and putting Larson and the fastest cars back in traffic. 

That led to chaos on the restart, as Martin Truex Jr. and others were spinning in turn 6. But what really launched Indy's disastrous finish was something as simple as a curb. You know the turtle-like speedbumps you might go over in your local neighborhood to stay under the speed limit? 

Here's what happens when one of them falls apart:

Ever try flying over those speedbumps at well over 100 miles an hour? Hint: it's not pretty. 

For the record, here's the final tally after these two disastrous wrecks: eight DNFs, an estimated $2 million-plus in crash damage and a 90-minute ending that included a red flag for repairs. 

"I feel like we need the curb there," Larson said afterward. "But I don't know if they can just make it out of concrete or something just because that leading edge of the lip seems to pull up and destroy race cars." 

It destroys reputations, too.

It's the second track mess for NASCAR in less than a month after Kyle Busch and others raced right into a downpour at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Some felt the race should have been called for faulty curbing. Instead, the time-consuming choice was made to remove the portion that broke, leaving one other speedbump in place. 

"We always strive to finish the race to the checkered flag," said NASCAR Vice President of Competition Scott Miller. "The fact that we could take [the curb out] and they could race over that part of the racetrack led to the decision to continue." 

The mess in Indy launched Allmendinger inside the top 5, sitting pretty behind leaders Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. The duo, both winless this year, fought hard on the final restart with Briscoe forced off course, cutting through the grass to take the lead. 

NASCAR felt it was a shortcut, penalizing Briscoe with a stop-and-go. Seconds later, he spun Hamlin out, potentially in retaliation in a move that opened the door for Allmendinger. 

"At that point," he said, "It was just trying to put in like the best last lap of my life and try to get away." 

Escape he did, with the reward a trophy at the track. 'Dinger nearly won the Indianapolis 500 at in 2013. Running for Team Penske then, he beat a Penske car to the line in this one (Ryan Blaney was second) to come full circle in a career that's included years of near-misses with top-shelf opportunities behind the wheel. 

A 39-year-old who wears emotions on his sleeve, Allmendinger never reached his full potential, flaming out of the Cup Series in 2018. Now, he's building a second act, full-force Miracle on Asphalt by earning the first victory for any car outside NASCAR's franchise/charter system.  

Kaulig Racing has bought into that for next year, purchasing two spots on the grid in tandem with the Next Gen car's debut. Justin Haley's scheduled to run one of them. Will Allmendinger jump up to full-time status with the second?  

"I will do whatever they want me to do," Allmendinger said. "Whatever program we're on, I'm enjoying it... I'm okay in life. I've got a great wife. My parents have been fantastic. I love driving for [Kaulig]. Life is good." 

At least something nice came out of this disastrous ending at Indianapolis.  

Traffic Report

Green: Kyle Larson -- This weekend's Knoxville Nationals winner jumped back into a stock car and nearly pulled off back-to-back Cup victories. Larson still snatched the regular season points lead from Denny Hamlin and feels like a shoo-in for Driver of the Year. That near-miss at Indy seems like it won't last long. Will someone take up Robin Miller's plea to put him in the Indy 500 next season? 

Yellow: Matt DiBenedetto -- The pending free agent is putting his best foot forward again in open auditions, posting five straight top-11 finishes including a fifth at Indianapolis. But Matty D was right in the mix down the stretch and could have capitalized like Allmendinger under different circumstances. Was that his last-gasp playoff opportunity? 

Red: Michael McDowell -- His launch into the air and over a speedbump wiped out a top-10 finish and the excitement of clinching a playoff spot. More importantly, could rumors of a merger with Front Row Motorsports take the Daytona 500 winner out of a ride? 

Speeding Ticket: Penalizing Briscoe for running through the grass. NASCAR officiating's biggest bungle Sunday was punishing Briscoe for a move that brought the crowd to its feet.  

Judge that clip for yourself. It's clear Briscoe gets forced off course, into a high-speed grass maneuver that isn't easy. For old-timers, it reminded them of this grassy maneuver Dale Earnhardt used at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the 1980s. He was cheered for such aggression. Could you imagine The Intimidator parked for it? 

I agree NASCAR needs to find a line for when cutting a corner is unacceptable at a road course. But this was not one of those moments. 

Oops!  

The NASCAR Cup cars weren't the only ones struggling with those Indy curbs. Check out Kris Wright's wheelie from Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race. 

At least Wright had a sense of humor about it.