NASCAR Playoffs Bubble Battle: Michael McDowell vs AJ Allmendinger

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are just six races away. Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger will battle it out. While there is a path for both drivers to make the postseason, they will be competing against one another for those precious points week in and out. This is a battle between the 16th and 18th-ranked drivers in the standings.

Separated by just 20 points, Michael McDowell leads AJ Allmendinger heading into the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono. These are drivers that come into the Cup Series with specialties of their own. McDowell is the superspeedway guy while Allmendinger is more tuned to the road courses.

However, they have both picked up good finishes at those tracks and then some. This season both drivers, who have long struggled for consistency, are right there with a chance at doing what they haven’t done before – make the postseason on points.

Just looking at the season overview, McDowell has a solid NASCAR Playoffs resume and is building upon it as well. Four top-10s and an additional top-5 finish this year have propelled McDowell to playoff contention. Four of those five season-best finishes have come since Gateway. His last six race finishes were P9, P7, P28, P7, P4, and P13. It’s one of the best stretches in his entire career.

As for Allmendinger, the same could really be said of him. Three top-10s and a top-5 this season, three of those four performances have come in the last five weeks. In that same six-race span as McDowell, Allmendinger has finishes of P14, P6, P10, P17, P3, and P19. In those races, the drivers have each gotten the best of each other three times apiece.

It’s a close battle that will come down to how well these drivers can perform at the Tricky Triangle.

Pocono Raceway will clear up NASCAR Playoffs field

Depending on what we see at Pocono Raceway, we could get a much clearer picture of the NASCAR Playoffs. If one of the winless drivers on the bubble wins, it causes some chaos. If one of those drivers in the mid-20s wins, then it becomes a scramble for the final spots.

However, let’s take a peek at what to expect from these drivers at the Tricky Triangle.

Through 20 starts at the track, Michael McDowell has an average finish of P26. However, McDowell has had two top-10 finishes at the track since 2020. Last year, he was P6 in this race after starting P25. The season prior, in 2021, McDowell started P2 and finished P17. He’s picked up stage points in each of those two races as well.

Meanwhile, Allmendinger has an average finish of P23. He has two more starts at the track but hasn’t raced a Cup Series event at Pocono since 2018. In the meantime, he picked up two top-5 finishes in 2021 and 2022. The past seems to favor McDowell, but some of that success came when Allmendinger was not full-time in the Cup Series.

I’m not sure who is going to come out on top in this NASCAR Playoffs Bubble Battle. Separated by just 20 points, this could be the moment where McDowell pulls away, or Allmendinger closes the gap. The HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway is scheduled for 2:30 PM EST on USA.