By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service 

NASCAR Cup Series’ return to Indianapolis oval likely to be drama-filled affair

For the first time since 2020—and the first time ever in the Gen 7 race car—the NASCAR Cup Series will race on the historic 2.5-mile oval track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Possibilities Toyota, races during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 10, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

The return to the oval marks the 30th anniversary of the Brickyard 400, which immediately acquired status as one of NASCAR’s Crown Jewel races on its debut in 1994.

Jeff Gordon won the inaugural event. Denny Hamlin, who stopped a five-race skid last week with a runner-up finish at Pocono Raceway, hopes to add another marquee victory to his resume in Sunday’s 28th running of the event (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin already has scored victories in three of NASCAR’s Crown Jewel events, the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. With a win on Sunday, he would complete the racing equivalent of a Grand Slam, a feat accomplished only by NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson (who will race Sunday), Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Sr.

If Hamlin is eager to win on the Indianapolis oval, so is his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, who grew up in Lafayette, Indiana, and earned a mechanical engineer degree from Purdue University.

To win at Indianapolis, Hamlin knows he’ll have to survive an intense fight for optimum position on the track.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Hamlin, who is tied for the series lead with three victories this season. “It’s going to be wild on restarts. I think you’ll have restarts very similar to Pocono, where guys are trying to fit in spots that are not there—and you’re talking about a track that is even narrower than what Pocono is.

“We all know being on the outside is not going to be preferred, so you’re going to want to be on the bottom. What’s going to happen is we’re going to go down these long straightaways and everyone is going to try to go three-wide bottom, and you’re probably going to see a lot of wrecks late if there are restarts to bunch us up.”

Hamlin, who represented the Toyota camp in a tire test on the Indy oval in June, is securely in the Playoffs this year. The same can’t be said of Mitchell, Indiana, native Chase Briscoe, or of Michael McDowell, who won last year’s race on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Course.

With five races left in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season and four Playoff spots still available, Briscoe is 75 points below the current Playoff cut line, likely needing a victory to qualify for the postseason.

After the announcement of Stewart-Haas Racing’s dissolution at the end of the season, Briscoe landed a job as the successor to Martin Truex Jr. at Joe Gibbs Racing next year. But Briscoe would love nothing better than to win at the Brickyard for SHR co-owner Tony Stewart, who preceded Briscoe in the No. 14 Ford.

“I’m excited. It’s cool,” Briscoe said. “Especially with how this year’s played out, with it being the last year for SHR… I was talking to Tony and told him it was pretty special that I’m going to get to run at least one Brickyard 400 in the 14 car. That means a lot to me personally, and even Tony—I don’t think it had hit him yet that it was going to be his last time as a car owner at Indy, at least for the time being.

“Yeah, it’s cool that we’re going back to the oval, with the history of that race. And as a Hoosier myself, I feel that there’s a little more emphasis on it… It’s obviously a Crown Jewel for all of us, but when you grow up in Indiana—and we’ve seen the Tony Stewarts and Ryan Newmans and how much different it is for those guys—it’s the same for me.”

With the move to the oval, McDowell won’t get a chance to defend his victory on the road course. Given that he’s 22nd in the Playoff standings and 152 points below the current cut line, McDowell will have to win one of the next five races to compete for the Cup championship.

“It’s funny—I have mixed emotions about it,” McDowell said of the return to the oval. “Obviously, winning there last year and having a fast car, you’d want to go back and race on the road course. I know it’s going to be hard for you to believe, but I’m glad we’re going back to the oval.

“As far as tradition and history—just the magnitude of the event—it’s different on the oval than it is on the road course. Now, do I wish it was a doubleheader, or we had another race to go back there and run the road course? For sure. But I’m actually excited to race back on the oval.”

Both Briscoe and McDowell drive Fords, and Ford drivers have won the last three races on the oval. Brad Keselowski’s victory in 2018 broke an 18-race drought for the car maker, dating to Dale Jarrett’s victory with Robert Yates Racing in 1999.

Qualifying could be critical in NASCAR Xfinity Series’ return to Indianapolis “big track”

Historically, if there’s one thing that’s been consistent at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, it’s the importance of qualifying to NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers.

Brad Keselowski won the 2012 series debut race at big track from the eighth starting position. Since then, all seven Indy winners have started from the top three spots on the grid, four from the pole position.

Kyle Busch has been the dominant Xfinity Series driver at the Indy oval, winning three times from the pole. He won the last race held there in 2019, leading a race-high 46 laps.

Busch, however, won’t be competing in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 (3:30 p.m. ET on USA, IMS Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In fact, JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier is the only former winner entered in Saturday’s race. Allgaier scored an emotional win at the track in 2018.

“It’s great to be going back to the oval at Indianapolis,” Allgaier said. “This is such a special place. I grew up watching races here, and to be able to have the opportunity to go to Victory Lane again on the oval definitely means a lot.

“Hopefully, our Jarrett Chevrolet will be just as strong as we have been throughout this season and we can put ourselves where we want to be in the end. If we can do that, I see no reason why we won’t have the opportunity to kiss the bricks come Saturday afternoon.”

To do so, Allgaier will have to execute a clean race. Though he leads the Xfinity Series with 11 stage wins this season, the speed in his No. 7 Chevrolet has produced just one victory so far, thanks to a series of mishaps and ill fortune.

In a star-crossed season, Ty Majeski looks for turnaround at LOIRP

Justifiably, there will be two primary areas of focus as the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series visits Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for Friday night’s TSport 200 (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The first will be the front of the field. The second will be the Playoff cut line, and, of course, the two areas may intersect.

Ty Majeski will try to defend the dominating victory he scored at LOIRP last year after leading 179 of 200 laps. He beat runner-up Christian Eckes to the finish line by 3.422 seconds at the 0.686-mile short track.

With two races left before the Truck Series Playoff field is set, Majeski is securely 125 points above the cutoff (needing just three points on Friday to clinch a berth in the postseason), but the driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford has scored just five top fives and no wins in 14 races this season.

Also hoping for excellent results on Friday are four “bubble” drivers clustered around the current cut line.

Defending series champion Ben Rhodes is 18 points to the good entering Friday’s race and far from a certainty when it comes to qualifying for the 10-driver Playoffs field. Tenth-place Daniel Dye is in a more perilous position, leading 11th-place Tanner Gray by a single point.

Stewart Friesen is four points behind Dye in 12th, all but assuring a wild scramble for the final two Playoff spots at LOIRP and Richmond Raceway, where the final regular-season race will take place on Aug. 10.