Next Race: Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line The Place: Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Date: Sunday, September 8 The Time: 2 p.m. ET TV: NBC, 1:30 p.m. ET Radio: IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 400 miles (160 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 50), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 100), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 160) 2018 Race Winner: Brad Keselowski Last race to make the Playoffs There have been 25 race trophies awarded this season – 25 opportunities to lock in a Playoff berth – but for the four drivers on the bubble, the last two Playoff positions will depend on their outing in Sunday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Veteran Clint Bowyer in 15th holds an eight-point edge on Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Daniel Suarez and Roush Fenway Racing driver Ryan Newman, who are tied in points. Suarez, however, holds the tiebreaker and is currently slotted into the 16th and final Playoff position entering the race while Newman is on the outside in 17th. Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson is ranked 18th – 18 points behind Suarez and Newman and 26 points behind Bowyer. But there is also the possibility that a driver ranked below this foursome could earn one of those Playoff spots with a victory Sunday – which would leave room for only one of them to advance to the postseason on points. Of the four still eligible to point their way in – Johnson holds a clear statistical advantage. Only NASCAR Hall of Famer and former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon has won more Indianapolis races (five) than Johnson’s four. And Newman is the only other driver among this Playoff-hopeful quartet with a victory at Indianapolis – winning the 2013 race from the pole position. In order of their current ranking, Bowyer has three top-five and four top-10 finishes in 13 Indianapolis starts, including a fifth place last year when he tied Denny Hamlin with a race-best 37 laps led. Suarez has finishes of seventh and 18th in two starts at Indianapolis but has never led a lap. Newman has had three top-five and five top-10 finishes in 18 career starts, including a third place in 2017. He’s finished in the top 10 in his last two Indianapolis starts, adding in a 10th-place result last year. With his four Brickyard trophies, Johnson is not only best among those still vying for a Playoff positions but also best in Sunday’s field. He has six top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 17 starts. He won there four times in a seven-year span between 2006-2012, was runner-up in 2013 and then third in 2016. He was 16th last year. Last week Bowyer bested the four drivers with a sixth-place finish at Darlington – good enough to move him up from 17th in the standings to a Playoff-eligible 15th. His SHR teammate Suarez was 11th at Darlington, securing him that 16th-place designation while Newman was 23rd Saturday night, putting him 17th in the Playoff standings – one spot out of the postseason. Johnson finished 16th but earned some important stage points. He was running fourth when he was collected in a multi-car accident on Lap 276 of the 367-lap race. Of note – Johnson has never missed the Playoffs in the 15 years the postseason has been in place for the Monster Energy Series. And a historical note that Newman and Johnson will try to overcome…in the most recent two seasons, no driver raced into the Playoffs by virtue of his finish in the regular season finale. Keselowski looking to go back-to-back at Indianapolis The defending winner of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) comes from a team whose owner knows how to find Victory Lane at the historic 2.5-mile track. Brad Keselowski’s Team Penske owner Roger Penske is the winningest team owner in Indianapolis 500 history (18 victories, including this year). And Keselowski’s victory at the historic track last year made Penske a proud winner of NASCAR’s race at the venue, as well. Keselowski is living up to the Penske tradition at Indianapolis. He won the race last year, finished runner-up in 2017 and has five top-10 finishes in nine starts. Also very telling, Keselowski has led laps in seven of the nine races he’s run – 108 laps total. Only two drivers – Jimmie Johnson (2008-2009) and Kyle Busch (2015-16) – have won back-to-back Indianapolis races, but Keselowski has to be a favorite to become the third. This season he has three victories in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford – at Atlanta, Martinsville, Va., and Kansas. Keselowski has nine top-five and 14 top-10 finishes through the opening 25 races – including top-10 results in five of the last six. He’s coming off top-five showings at Bristol, Tenn. (third place) and last weekend at Darlington, S.C. (fifth). He sits sixth in the points standings and his 966 laps led with 11 races remaining is more than he totaled in each of the three previous complete seasons. Keselowski in locked into the Monster Energy Series Playoffs and is chasing his second title after winning the championship trophy for Team Penske in 2012 with a five-win season. Kyle Busch locks up regular season championship Kyle Busch wrapped up his second straight regular season championship last week at Darlington Raceway with a third-place finish and another stage win. He had been battling Team Penske driver Joey Logano for that top position all season, finally taking it back for good four races ago after the Watkins Glen, N.Y. road course race. Busch has led the standings for 14 of the 25 weeks – most among drivers this season – and was never ranked lower than fourth, where he spent one week after the race in his native Las Vegas. He has a series-best 10 stage victories. The title gives the four-time winner an extra 15 Playoff points for the postseason, which begins next week in Vegas. “Obviously we set out to do that here a few weeks back,’’ Busch said of his regular season championship. “We knew when he [Logano] passed us and got the lead from us that it was going to be hard to get it back. But fortunately, we went back into stage racing a little bit more and tried to get some of the stage points and that helped us.’’ The bad news for Busch’s competition is that this week’s regular season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been an especially successful venue for the 2015 Monster Energy Series champion of late. He has won the last three pole positions and two of the last four Brickyard 400s. In fact, Busch (2015-16) and Jimmie Johnson (2008-09) are the only drivers in history to win back-to-back races at the historic 2.5-mile facility. Busch has an impressive 11 top-10 finishes in 14 Indianapolis races, second only to Kevin Harvick’s 12, including seven straight from 2010-2016. He led a record 149 of 170 laps – from pole position – en route to his dominating 2016 win, one of only five times in the race’s 25-year history a driver has led at least 100 laps. With the regular season title in hand, a series-best 1,166 laps led and seven top-10 finishes in the last 10 races, Busch is in good form as the Playoffs approach. But his last victory was 11 races ago during the first visit to Pocono, and he’s hungry for another win. Hamlin riding a hot streak into the Playoffs Despite a rough outing at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway over the weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin is easily one of the hottest drivers headed into NASCAR’s postseason. He, along with several other race front-runners, was involved in a late-race, multi-car accident – not of his doing – the 29th-place finish that resulted snapped an impressive streak of six consecutive top-five finishes for the four-time race winner. Hamlin has led 373 laps in the No. 11 JGR Toyota with wins in the Daytona 500 and at Texas, Pocono-2 and then two weeks ago at Bristol from the pole position. The combined work of his 13 top-five finishes this year and the four victories has him ranked third in the Monster Energy Series points standings as the series holds its last regular season race this week at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a venue where the championship challenger has never won. Hamlin has come close, however. He has five top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 13 starts at Indianapolis with a best showing of third place – in 2014 and last year. He’s finished among the top-five in four of the last five races at Indianapolis and his 37 laps led last year is the most time he’s had out front at the track. A good showing at Indy would certainly boost his momentum heading into the 10-race championship Playoff that begins next week in Las Vegas. Among the other four-race winners – JGR teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. – Hamlin has had the most recent success. It’s been 10 races since Truex claimed his fourth trophy at the Sonoma, Calif. road course and it’s been 12 races since Busch last won – at the first Pocono, Pa. race of the summer. After slow start (by his standards), Harvick is on a roll As many predicted, getting that first victory of 2019 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway six weeks ago may have been the boost Kevin Harvick needed to make a true Playoff run. He has 16 top-10s through the opening 25 races, but since that first win, he has five top-10 finishes (and another win at Michigan) in the last six races. The only sore spot on this run was a 39th place at Bristol two weeks ago after his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford suffered a clutch problem. Harvick answered that tough day with a fourth-place result at Darlington on Sunday night and is also in fourth place in the points as the regular season closes this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Harvick is always a favorite. He has an impressive 12 top-10 finishes, best in the field, in 16 starts at Indianapolis and won from the pole in 2003. Harvick has finished eighth or better in the last five races there, including finishing fourth last year. He’s led laps in three of the last five races. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has always been a special venue for Harvick, who grew up in Bakersfield, Calif. – also home to four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears. To win at the same track as his lifelong racing hero has a sentimental value unlike any other place the series races. “For me, I grew up in Bakersfield, California, as a Rick Means fan,’’ Harvick said. “Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as a child, that was your racing dream. That was where you wanted to race. I’ve been fortunate to have won the Brickyard 400 and kind of live out that childhood dream. “There is a mystique and history, and everything you can think about in racing that has happened for over 100 years has happened at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. … I always feel like it is one of the most special places that you can race because that is all I wanted to do as a kid.’’ Teams sweeping their way into the Playoffs With one race left to formally set the 2019 16-driver Playoff field, there are three teams that have “swept” their way into the championship battle – and two others whose could match that mark after this week’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One that’s certain – Joe Gibbs Racing has earned a Playoff opportunity for all four of its drivers – four-time winner and regular season champion Kyle Busch, four-race winners Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin and the newest winner this season, last weekend’s Darlington victor, Erik Jones. Team Penske will field all three of their cars in the Playoffs. Defending Monster Energy Series champion Joey Logano challenged Busch for the regular season title all year and has a pair of wins heading to Indy. His teammate – the defending Brickyard 400 winner – Brad Keselowski has three wins in 2019 and the third driver, Ryan Blaney, is ranked 10th in the standings now and has locked himself in the Playoffs on points. Chip Ganassi Racing is the other team with both of its drivers already eligible for the championship run. First-year CGR driver Kurt Busch won at Kentucky Speedway this summer. And Kyle Larson is ranked ninth in the standings, still looking for his win. Stewart-Haas Racing is looking to get all four of its cars into the Playoffs for the second time. Two-race winner Kevin Harvick is locked in on wins, while teammate Aric Almirola secured a spot on points. Clint Bowyer (15th) and Daniel Suarez (16th) are looking to complete the SHR sweep heading into the regular season finale. And Hendrick Motorsports currently has three of their four drivers in – Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman locked themselves in with wins, while William Byron is in on points. The fourth, and most veteran, member of the team – Jimmie Johnson – currently sits in 18th, just outside the Playoff cutoff. Only eight points separate Bowyer (15th) from Suarez (16th) and Newman (17th). And 26 points separate Bowyer from 18th-place Jimmie Johnson. Of those four drivers, Johnson is a four-time Indianapolis winner and Newman won the 2013 race from the pole position. Leading the way at Indianapolis Only five times in 25 races has a driver led at least 100 laps in the 170-lap Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch holds the record for laps led en route to a win – leading for 149 of 170 laps in his 2016 victory from pole. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett was the first to lead 100 laps and win the race – famously kissing the bricks after a dominating 1999 victory when he led 117 laps and beat Bobby Labonte to the checkered. Labonte answered that however, with a unique honor the very next year. He led 21 laps in earning the 2000 Brickyard 400 title over second-place Rusty Wallace, who led 110 laps on the day. It marked the first time a driver led 100 laps and did not win the race. The other time was 2009 when Juan Pablo Montoya – a two-time Indy 500 winner – led 116 laps but finished 11th. Jeff Gordon led 124 laps to take the 2004 Brickyard victory – the most dominating win of his record five Indy triumphs. Next Race: Indiana 250 The Place: Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Date: Saturday, September 7 The Time: 3 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN, 2:30 p.m. ET Radio: IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 250 miles (100 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 100) 2018 Race Winner: Justin Allgaier Back to the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway is considered one of the most prestigious and historic tracks in American racing history, and this weekend the NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to the Brickyard for the Indiana 250 on Saturday, September 7, at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, IMS and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The almost rectangular-shaped, four-corner track is 2.5-miles in length, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, with nine degrees of banking in the four turns. This season’s Indiana 250 will be 100 laps (250 miles) with the first stage ending on Lap 30 and the second stage ending on Lap 60. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has hosted seven NASCAR Xfinity Series races, engendering three different pole winners and five different race winners. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch leads the series in poles (four) and wins (three) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. JR Motorsport’s Justin Allgaier won the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis; he is still looking for his first victory of the 2019 season this weekend. Regular season championship on the line With the regular season coming to a close, Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick has the opportunity to clinch the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season championship this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Indiana 250 on Saturday, September 7 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, IMS and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Reddick can clinch the regular season title at Indianapolis if he leaves the race with a 61-point lead on second in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings. He currently holds a 51-point lead on second-place Christopher Bell. Reddick has made two series starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, posting a best finish of runner-up last season. Xfinity’s Big 3 continue to win The 2019 season has been dominated by three talented drivers – Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer – and their winning ways don’t seem to be slowing. In total they have claimed 18 of the first 24 races of the season – a 75% winning percentage – and this weekend they turn their attention to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indiana 250 on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, IMS and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Cole Custer is the most recent of the “Big 3” to win, clutching his sixth victory this past weekend after Denny Hamlin was disqualified for failing post-race inspection. Custer is now looking for win No. 7 this weekend at Indianapolis, a track where he has made two starts, finishing fifth in 2017 and then 29th last season due to an incident. Christopher Bell is also looking for his seventh win of the season and his first at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend. The JGR standout made his series track debut at Indianapolis last season, starting seventh and finishing seventh. Xfinity points leader Tyler Reddick has four wins on the season but would gladly add a fifth this weekend at Indianapolis. Reddick has made two series starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway posting a best finish of runner-up last season. Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon to pull double duty in Indianapolis Two big names in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series – Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon – are pulling double duty this weekend and will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race the Indiana 250 on Saturday, September 7 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, IMS and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Kyle Busch will drive the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with crew chief Ben Beshore. Busch will be quite the contender to challenge this weekend at Indianapolis as the Las Vegas native leads the series in poles (four) and wins (three) at the 2.5-mile track. Plus, in 2016, he became the first driver to win both the NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Series races at Indianapolis from the pole. Austin Dillon will be piloting the No. 10 Kaulig Racing’s Chevrolet with crew chief Lennie Chandler. Dillon has made three Xfinity Series starts at Indianapolis, posting one top five and two top 10s. Next Race: World of Westgate 200 The Place: Las Vegas Motor Speedway The Date: Friday, September 13 The Time: 9 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 8:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134) 2018 Winner: Grant Enfinger source – NASCAR communications
