By David Morgan, Associate Editor
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Back to the Brickyard.
After a three-year stint on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the NASCAR Cup Series is back where it belongs – on the 2.5-mile rectangular track that has made this race so special over the years.
First joining the circuit in 1994, IMS has provided some classic moments and some that the powers that be would rather forget. The track’s relatively flat surface, combined with narrow corners and high speeds, makes passing a premium on the 2.5-mile circuit.
Though the racing at times hasn’t been the best, absence has made the heart grow fonder for big, heavy stock cars to return to the track that was built and designed for open wheel cars. In the years since the Cup Series moved off the oval, drivers have been clamoring for its return because of one simple fact – its Indianapolis.
Drivers and teams will get an extended practice session on Friday afternoon to dial in their race cars before heading into qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.
Of the drivers entered into Sunday’s race, only Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch come in as previous winners at the Brickyard, with Keselowski having won in 2019 and Busch winning back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.
This race will also mark the last race before the Olympic break as only five races remain in the regular season with fierce battles taking place at both ends of the Playoff grid.
As it stands now, four drivers are in the thick of the battle for the regular season championship. Chase Elliott currently leads the standings, but his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson is hot on his heels just three points back. Tyler Reddick is just 15 points behind, with Denny Hamlin sitting 20 markers back.
At this rate, any of them could come away with the regular season title and the points bonus that comes with it.
On the other end of the grid, the race to even get into the Playoffs at all is just as heated.
Currently, Martin Truex, Jr. is the most comfortable of those drivers who have yet to win in 2024 at +137 over the cut-off line, with Ty Gibbs (+67), Chris Buescher (+44), and Ross Chastain (+27) clinging to those final spots with everything they’ve got.
Bubba Wallace is the first driver on the outside looking in (-27) and still has a mathematical shot at pointing his way in.
From Chase Briscoe (-75) on back, it will most likely take a win to punch a ticket into the postseason. Among those drivers is Kyle Busch, Josh Berry, Michael McDowell, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and others.
By the Numbers
What: 30th annual Brickyard 400, NASCAR Cup Series race No. 22 of 36
Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, Indiana (Opened: 1909 – First Cup race: 1994)
When: Sunday, July 21
TV/Radio: NBC, 2:30 pm ET / IMS Radio Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
Track Size: 2.5-mile quad-oval
Banking: Nine degrees in turns, flat straightaways
Race Length: 160 laps, 400 miles
Stage Lengths: 50 laps (Stage 1 and 2), Final stage: 60 laps
2020 Race Winner (Oval): Kevin Harvick – No. 14 Ford (Started 11th, 68 laps led)
Track Qualifying Record: Kevin Harvick – No. 4 Ford (47.647 seconds, 188.889 mph – 07/25/2014)
Top-10 Highest Driver Ratings at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
- Kyle Busch – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – 104.8
- Jimmie Johnson – No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota – 98.8
- Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 97.3
- Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 94.9
- Joey Logano – No. 22 Team Penske Ford – 92.7
- Christopher Bell – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 92.5
- Brad Keselowski – No. 6 RFK Racing Ford – 91.2
- Ryan Blaney – No. 12 Team Penske Ford – 85.3
- William Byron – No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 82.3
- Tyler Reddick – No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – 81.2
From the Driver’s Seat
“It is cool to go back there because we won last year and there will be banners there with us in victory lane. That is cool,” said Michael McDowell, who won on the Indianapolis road course last season.
“It is going to be fun. I know people won’t believe me when I say this, but I am. I wish we were still racing on the road course or had a doubleheader, but I believe we should be racing on the oval at Indy as well. Just its history, and it’s just different. The feel is different. It’s no different than the Indy 500 versus the Indy Grand Prix when the Indy Car guys run on the road course. It’s still a cool race and still a cool weekend, but it’s not the Indy 500.
“I’m excited about going back to the Oval and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been in the sport a long time, so I have a lot of seat time there. Some other guys do, but a lot of the guys don’t. I look at that as an opportunity, and I’ve driven a lot of different packages there from low downforce to high downforce, no drag to a lot of drag, a thousand horsepower to five hundred horsepower.
“I feel like I’ve experienced a lot there, and I’m looking forward to getting the Next Gen car on the Indy Oval and see what it can do.”
Last Time on the Indianapolis Oval
Denny Hamlin appeared to be well on his way to finally capturing a win at Indianapolis, but once again had the victory snatched from his grasp.
Leading the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 with seven laps to go over Kevin Harvick, Hamlin had a comfortable lead as the laps wound down, but heading into Turn 1, the right-front tire let go on his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, sending him hard into the outside wall.
The hit was violent enough to cause flames to billow from underneath his car, but Hamlin was able to exit the car under his own power as he took the mandatory ride to the Infield Care Center, where he was evaluated and released.
Hamlin was looking to become the fourth driver to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season, but instead leaves Indianapolis with a 28th place finish and now sits 0-for-15 in his pursuit of a win at the storied 2.5-mile track.
“It’s just tough,” Hamlin said. “I hate it for the FedEx team. We did what we needed to do and it didn’t work out for us today. I had a fast car obviously and was stretching it out there but wasn’t pushing right front at all. It’s kind of roulette if you’re going to get one that will stay together or not and mine didn’t. You saw the end result.
“These big races — things don’t go my way all the time. We’re still going to go next week and try to win the next one. We’ll do all we can.”
While Harvick had been the class of the field for most of the race, Hamlin finally gained the upper hand during a round of green flag pit stops on lap 123 by hitting pit road a lap prior to Harvick and cycling out ahead of him.
When the remaining lead lap cars pitted under caution at lap 132, Hamlin and Harvick were 1-2 on the subsequent restart, with Hamlin getting the jump when the green flag flew and setting sail with the lead. He was able to stay out front for 19 laps until his right-front tire had other plans.
The race would resume with a two-lap shootout with Harvick in the lead and fellow veteran Matt Kenseth running second.
However, Kenseth never had a chance as Harvick took off like a rocket, leading the final two circuits under green to score his third Brickyard 400 victory.
“We knew he was gonna be really close on tires and Rodney told me on the radio he said, ‘Just make sure you keep the pressure on him,’ and that was all the pressure I could give. Those guys do a really good job,” Harvick said.
“I’ve just got to thank everybody on my Busch Light Ford Mustang. Everybody from Mobil 1, Haas Automation, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Jimmy John’s, everybody who is a part of this program and just keeps bringing good race cars to the race track.”
Kenseth would come home second, his best finish of the season in a substitute role for Chip Ganassi Racing after Kyle Larson was terminated mid-season.
“It’s always nice to be up front and be in contention late in the race,” Kenseth said. “Chad did a great job on the box with his calls today. We had a really good strategy and the best tires coming to the end of the race, lining up fourth behind the leader late in the race, but just couldn’t get it done to take the lead.
“I tried everything to get to the front, but just didn’t have quite enough to get around the No. 4 car. If we had gotten to the lead though, I know we would have been hard to beat. All in all, though, a great race for us. It felt good to run up front and was a confidence booster for all of us. Looking forward to getting to Kentucky and carrying that momentum forward.”
Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)
Friday, July 19
- Cup Series Practice (2:35 pm – NBC Sports App)
Saturday, July 20
- Cup Series Qualifying (1:05 pm – USA Network)
Sunday, July 21
- 30th Annual Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis (2:30 pm – 160 laps, 400 miles – NBC)
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