NASCAR Race Central
Links to race information and statistics for the current and previous races in each Series.
NASCAR Cup Series
-
Race Preview
NASCAR Cup Series’ return to Indianapolis …
- Thursday, July 18th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
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.
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.
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.
- Entry List
- Practice Results
- Qualifying Results
- Race Lineup
- Pit Stall Selections*
- Draftkings Salaries
- Fanduel Salaries
- Accupredict Driver Projections
* Links activate when data is present.
PREVIOUS RACE
The Great American Getaway 400
Sunday, July 14th at 2:30pm ET
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA
-
Race Recap
Ryan Blaney earns his 12th career win at P…
- Sunday, July 14th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Ryan Blaney earns his 12th career win at Pocono Raceway
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney returned to the site of his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and pulled away from the field in the closing laps of Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at a sold-out Pocono (Pa.) Raceway to deliver a strong reminder to the competition that he’s primed to contend for another season trophy.
Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford held off the track’s all-time winningest driver Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by 1.312-seconds to give Blaney his second victory of the season – both coming in just the last month – and the 12th win of the 30-year old’s career.
“Hell yeah boys, let’s go,’ an elated Blaney screamed to his team as he crossed the historic Pocono finish line.
With the victory Blaney moves up to fifth place in the championship standings and thanks to his first win of the year at Iowa Speedway on June 16, he’s one of only five drivers with multiple victories on the season.
“Feel like we’ve gotten to a great pace and speed the last couple months, honestly thought we let a couple races slip away from us I thought we should have won,’’ Blaney said, adding, “It’s just so cool to win here again. Won here seven years ago for my first Cup win, so awesome to be back.’’
Although he ran among the top-10 for much of the race, Blaney ultimately took the lead on a restart with 44 laps remaining and never relinquished it despite two more restarts and a highly-motivated Hamlin lining up either alongside him or directly behind him on each of those green flags.
Last week’s race winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman filled Blaney’s mirrors for much of the closing laps until getting passed by Hamlin with seven laps remaining. Bowman finished third with his Hendrick teammate William Byron and Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano rounding out the top-five.
“Track position was just such a big thing and when that 12 [Blaney] jumped on that stage we won that put them in front of us and certainly were going to be hard to pass,’’ said Hamlin, a seven-time Pocono race winner who won Sunday’s second stage.
“Just not enough laps of green there at the end but hats off to them, great run. He kept up great pace at there at the front and hard for me to even get up there close enough to try to reel him in.’’
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Brad Keselowski, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. (the opening stage winner), Hendrick’s Chase Elliott and 23XI’s Bubba Wallace rounded out the Top-10. Both Elliott’s and Wallace’s finishes, in particular, were impactful on the championship standings.
The 2020 series champion Elliott took over the championship lead from his teammate, 2021 series champ Kyle Larson and takes a slim three-point advantage atop the regular season standings with only five races remaining before the Playoffs. The regular season champion receives a valuable 15 extra Playoff points to carry with him through the 10-race Playoff run.
Wallace’s top-10 was also important in his quest to become championship eligible for the second consecutive year. He is now ranked 17th, only 27 points behind 16th place Ross Chastain with the top-16 drivers following the Sept. 1 race at Darlington, S.C. eligible for the championship.
Chastain, one of four drivers inside the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field without a win but based on points, finished 36th on Sunday. His No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet slammed the Turn 1 wall on Lap 53 and the team had to retire the car.
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch was involved in a multi-car accident with 39 laps remaining and finished 32nd Sunday. He’s now finished 27th or worse in four of the last five races and is ranked 19th in the standings, 102 points behind 16th place Chastain. The two-time series champion is not only trying to make the Playoffs but extend a career winning streak to 19 seasons.
- Complete Results
- Loop Data Boxscore
- Pit Stop Performance
- Race Penalties
-
- Draftkings Results
- Fanduel Results
- Accupredict Results
-
- Driver Standings
- Owner Standings
NASCAR Xfinity Series
-
Race Preview
Qualifying could be critical in NASCAR Xfi…
- Thursday, July 18th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
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.
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.
- Entry List
- Practice Results
- Qualifying Results
- Race Lineup
- Pit Stall Selections
- Draftkings Salaries
- Accupredict Driver Projections
* Links activate when data is present.
PREVIOUS RACE
Pennzoil 250
Saturday, July 20th at 3:30pm ET
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, IN
-
Race Recap
Riley Herbst grabs Xfinity Series win at I…
- Saturday, July 20th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Riley Herbst grabs Xfinity Series win at Indianapolis
In one of the most dramatic NASCAR Xfinity Series finishes in recent memory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst took the lead in the final corner of the final lap to claim his first victory of the season in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 – formally punching his ticket to the 2024 Playoffs.
Three different drivers led the final three laps in the series’ return to the famous speedway’s 2.5-mile oval after four years of competing on the track’s road course. Ultimately, the 25-year-old Herbst drove his No. 98 SHR Ford sideways exiting Turn 4 to negotiate his way past veteran Aric Almirola and race off to a .167-second win over his SHR teammate Cole Custer and Almirola.
Custer led Lap 98. Almirola led Lap 99. And Herbst held the lead for the most important, Lap 100. The three were three-wide on the white flag lap, signaling one lap to-go with Almirola taking the white flag out front. Herbst caught him and dove low to claim the lead coming out of Turn 4 on the next lap and Custer raced past Almirola in the closing feet to give SHR a 1-2 finish.
“This is Indianapolis, this is the most famous race track in the world and it’s an honor just to walk into the place, let alone win,” said Herbst, whose only other series win was in at his hometown Las Vegas track last year. “We’ve had speed all year and I felt like we could win. I just messed up on restarts a little bit but just continued to work and continued to work.
“I’m proud of these guys. Proud of Stewart-Haas Racing. Obviously, with the news of us (the current Stewart-Haas Racing team) shutting down these guys could have given up on me and Cole but they stuck behind me and Cole and it’s back-to-back wins for Stewart-Haas Racing.”
The teammates combined to lead 77 of the 100 laps with Custer’s 47 laps out front most in the field. Custer, Saturday’s polesitter was smiling when he climbed out of his No. 00 SHR Ford and was the first to congratulate Herbst.
“What an awesome day for SHR, two cars up front all day, qualified one-two and finished one-two, so an unbelievable day for SHR,” said Custer, who started his day with a big announcement that he would be driving for the new single-car Haas Factory Team in the NASCAR Cup Series next year.
The defending series champion – who claimed his first win of 2024 last week at Pocono, Pa. – continues to lead the points standings and with his second place showing now has a 56-point advantage over JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who finished ninth Saturday.
The former fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver Almirola, 40, making his first start in the Xfinity Series since May 11, finished third in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The former Stewart-Haas Racing driver was also among the first to congratulate Herbst on the hard-fought victory.
“They (Herbst and Custer) were the class of the field but I knew if they got racing there was going to be an opportunity to steal it and I got the lead and thought and just got too tight in [turn] three and he got back inside me,” Almirola said, adding, “Those guys deserve it. I know all the guys on the team. They’re a great group of guys and proud and happy for those guys.”
Rookie Shane Van Gisbergen, the former Australian SuperCars champion, finished a strong fourth-place, making his way forward after opting for fresh tires on a final pit stop and turning in an inspired final restart with 10 laps remaining. A three-time road course winner this season, that fourth place was his best finish on an oval since a third place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February.
“It’s tough and I’m obviously still learning and I’m probably still a bit too conservative but I feel like the car got better and I got better,” Van Gisbergen said. “This Xfinity Series is so fun, the way the cars move around and the way they’re all sliding.
“I had a blast.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed finished fifth. Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill, who started from the rear of the field after some last minute adjustments on his Chevrolet, rallied to a sixth-place finish.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Daniel Dye was seventh, followed by two-time Indy winner A.J. Allmendinger, Allgaier and 21-year-old Carson Kvapil, who was making his sixth start of the year driving for JR Motorsports.
It was perhaps a fittingly dramatic ending to a race that got off to a tumultuous start with a 12-car accident taking multiple cars out of contention early. JR Motorsports Sam Mayer, a two-time race winner this year, spun out after making a three-wide move in Turn 3 collecting multiple cars and damaging more as they tried to avoid.
Fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver Josh Berry, who was driving the No. 15 AM Racing Ford was among those collected in the melee and was officially scored last. He and Mayer were unable to complete one lap.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith retired on Lap 37, his No. 81 Toyota never able to overcome the damage from the first lap incident.
RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg holds a slim three-point edge over JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith for the final points Playoff transfer position with six races remaining to set the 12-driver Playoff field.
- Complete Results
- Loop Data Boxscore
- Pit Stop Performance
- Race Penalties
-
- Draftkings Results
- Fanduel Results
- Accupredict Results
-
- Driver Standings
- Owner Standings
NASCAR Truck Series
-
Race Preview
In a star-crossed season, Ty Majeski looks…
- Thursday, July 18th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
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.
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.
- Entry List
- Practice Results
- Qualifying Results
- Race Lineup
- Pit Stall Selections
- Draftkings Salaries
- Accupredict Driver Projections
* Links activate when data is present.
PREVIOUS RACE
TSport 200
Friday, July 19th at 8:30pm ET
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis, IN
-
Race Recap
Ty Majeski mounts successful defense of vi…
- Friday, July 19th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Ty Majeski mounts successful defense of victory at Indianapolis short track
Ty Majeski’s victory in Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park wasn’t the sort of dominating performance he enjoyed last year—until the final stage of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race.
Majeski overcame a restart violation on Lap 50 that sent him to the rear of the field but rallied to defend his 2023 victory at the 0.686-mile short track. The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford earned his first victory of the season and the fourth of his career.
Majeski, who swept the stages and led 179 laps in last year’s win, was penalized for jumping the restart after the first caution of the race for Ty Dillon’s spin in Turn 3 on Lap 43. He scored no points in Stage 1, but by the time the second stage ended, Majeski had charged to third.
Sixteen laps after the restart for the final stage, Majeski took the lead for the first time, using the lapped truck of Thad Moffitt as a pick and charging past Eckes through Turns 1 and 2.
The Seymour, Wisconsin, driver led the final 56 of 200 laps and took the checkered flag 4.129 seconds ahead of Eckes.
“It’s huge,” Majeski said. “Obviously, I made a little bit of a mistake. It was probably a little bit of a close call on that restart. I had to pony up and get it back. Obviously, when you make a mistake as a driver, you drive a little bit harder to make up for it, but these guys had my back—awesome pit stops.
“It’s been an up-and-down year. We’ve had the speed to win. Just haven’t been able to put it together, had some bad luck along the way, some of it self-inflicted. But, man, so proud of this Road Ranger group.”
Grant Enfinger finished third after leading 71 laps. Tyler Ankrum was fourth, followed by Layne Riggs, Sammy Smith, Luke Fenhaus, pole winner Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson and Nick Sanchez.
Fenhaus’ seventh-place result was his best in three Truck Series starts.
By the time he took the checkered flag, Majeski already had clinched a Playoff spot on points, leaving three berths still available in the postseason, with the Aug. 10 race at Richmond left to decide the final Playoff grid.
With a 20th-place finish on Friday, Tanner Gray took over the 10th and final Playoff-eligible position from Daniel Dye, who came home 27th after an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 81. Dye trails Gray by five points entering the last regular-season race.
Five-time race winner Corey Heim finished 17th, a lap down, after contact from Eckes’ No. 19 Chevrolet cut his left-front tire and forced him to the pits under caution on Lap 88. Forced to use his last set of tires prematurely, Heim finished second in Stage 2 on the fresh rubber but faded in the final stage.
“I just misjudged the straightaway,” said Eckes, who led a race-high 73 laps. “He’s got every right to be mad.”
Eckes retained the series lead by 50 points over second-place Heim.
- Complete Results
- Loop Data Boxscore
- Pit Stop Performance
- Race Penalties
-
- Draftkings Results
- Fanduel Results
- Accupredict Results
-
- Driver Standings
- Owner Standings