This Weekend in NASCAR – Indianapolis Storylines

This weekend sees two of NASCAR’s national series in action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The NASCAR XFINITY Series are on track Saturday with the Lilly Diabetes 250 and the Sprint Cup Series takes centre stage Sunday with the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is back on track August 1 at Pocono Raceway.

Indianapolis storylines follow…

Human Torch Kyle Busch Goes For Fantastic Fourth Victory Of The Season And Third Straight

Winner of the past two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and three of the last four events, Kyle Busch will attempt to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to take the checkered flag in three consecutive races when he gets behind the wheel for Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network). That year, Johnson won four straight races during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas and Phoenix – on the way to his second career NSCS title.

Busch has never won at Indianapolis, but finished second there last season and in 2012. He claims three top fives (30%) and eight top 10s in 10 starts at the Brickyard. The fact Busch has only started within the top 10 once makes his finishing stats even more impressive.

The No. 18 Toyota driver returned to action in late May, just three months after breaking his right leg and left foot. He ranks second in the NSCS with three wins after competing in a mere eight races.

Flash Gordon: Brickyard Record-Holder Says Goodbye To Hometown Track

Jeff Gordon, who spent his formative years in Pittsboro, Indiana, will make his final start at his “hometown track” in Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Gordon boasts a track-record five wins at the Brickyard. The No. 24 driver won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the 2.5-mile track in 1993 and took the checkered flag in last season’s race, 20 years later.

Currently 12th on the Chase Grid, Gordon still needs a win to automatically qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs. He rides a streak of three straight top-10 finishes into Indy.

Hoosier Winner: Indiana Drivers Share Brickyard Success

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman all called Indiana home during the formative years. Coincidentally, they have all been successful at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The trio has combined for eight Brickyard 400 wins (Gordon, 5; Stewart, 2; Newman, 1). Adding to the Hoosier State’s racing legacy, Gordon (4) and Stewart (3) have produced four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships.

Click here to see a graphic outlining each individual’s stats at the Brickyard.

Can Chevrolet Extend Record Streak At IMS?

A Chevrolet manufactured car has won 12 straight races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – the longest current streak in NASCAR. The run has featured three stock car generations and seven different winning drivers (Click here for a graphic detailing Chevy’s dominance at the Brickyard).

Generation 6 |2013-present: Jeff Gordon (2014), Ryan Newman (2013)

Generation 5 | 2007-12: Paul Menard (2011), Jimmie Johnson (2008-09, 2012) Jamie McMurray (2010), Tony Stewart (2010)

Generation 4 | 1992-2006: Jimmie Johnson (2006), Tony Stewart (2005), Jeff Gordon (2004), Kevin Harvick (2003)

Indiana Victory Lane – The Home Of Champions

Drivers readying to compete at Indianapolis Motor Speedway better eat their Wheaties because the track’s Victory Lane is the home of champions.

In all, 17 of 21 Brickyard 400 races have been won by a past or future NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. Kevin Harvick was the latest driver to join the list when he captured the NSCS title least season. He won at IMS in 2003.

Harvick, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart all have a NSCS championship and a Brickyard 400 win.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Package For IMS Set

At Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, NASCAR will debut its second track-specific rule package of the season.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series package planned for Indianapolis includes a 43-inch radiator pan (increased from 38 inches), a two-inch splitter leading edge, a one-inch wicker bill and nine-inch spoiler (increased from six inches). The increased downforce adds drag to the car and creates a larger draft window in the back.

“When you look at a lot of the data, and obviously you see it play out on the race track, but the belief is that the second-place car, if they’re lined up maybe two, three, four, five, could have a five-mile-an-hour difference between the leader,” NASCAR Executive Vice President & Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said. “As an example, if you came out of Turn 2 and you had a four-car-length lead, it’s the belief that second and third, if they hooked up, could head into Turn 3 up on the bumper of the leader and potentially have kind of that, more of that slingshot that you used to see and the ability to pass. A lot of that we’ve got to see in the real world once we’re out there at Indy, but that’s the effect we believe it’ll have.”

For Indianapolis, teams will be allowed to change their engines prior to qualifying and data will be permitted at practice. A single gear will be used, but teams will bring four different gears. NASCAR will determine which gear is needed after practice. Teams will start on a 3.70 gear.

The Indianapolis rule package differs from the first track-specific rule package used this season at Kentucky which created lower downforce. The modifications helped produce a track-record 22 green-flag passes for the lead and a total of 2,665 green-flag passes overall.

Qualifying Format Different At Indy This Weekend

Both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series will use the superspeedway qualifying format at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend. The qualifying format was updated to align with the high-draft rule package.

There will be two rounds of qualifying with drivers turning one timed lap. The qualifying order in the first round will be determined by a random draw. The top-12 drivers from round 1 advance to the final round where their times are reset. The final round qualifying order will be set from slowest to fastest speeds in the first round with starting positions 1-12 determined by the fastest laps in the second session.

Jeff Gordon won the Coors Light Pole Award under this format at Talladega in May.

Chase Watch: 7 To Go

Only seven races remain before the 16-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set.

Here’s what we know:

Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson have fulfilled two of the three Chase criteria. All three have the multiple wins that guarantee a spot among the top 16 winners, and have locked up a top 30 spot. All they need to do now is start each of the remaining races in the regular season.

A few drivers can join them this weekend. If Kurt Busch leaves Indy with a 289 point lead over 31st, he will lock up a top 30 spot. Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin all need to win, and in some cases get some help to lock up a top 30 spot (leaving Indy with a 289 point lead over 31st).

Indianapolis Is The Next Stop For The Dash 4 Cash

Four talented championship contending drivers will race to win a $100,000 bonus this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in the second round of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash program. Chris Buescher, Regan Smith, Brendan Gaughan and Chase Elliott will compete for the added cash bonus at Indianapolis in the Lilly Diabetes 250 on July 25 (on NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET). The top finisher among the four will win the bonus.

Of the four, Regan Smith has had the most success in the Dash 4 Cash program, having already won two rounds in his career – earlier this season at Dover and last season at New Hampshire.

Series standings leader Chris Buescher and 2014 series champion Chase Elliott have been on another level performance-wise this season and both finished in the top-12 in their series debuts at IMS last season.

Gaughan has an average finish of 14.4 through the first 17 races this season. Gaughan has especially run strong the last eight races, finishing in the top-10 four times. He has run two races at Indy, a 35th-place finish in the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup event and a 19th in last year’s XFINITY Series race.

The top finisher of the four at Indianapolis, plus the highest finishing three NASCAR XFINITY Series championship contending drivers in the Lilly Diabetes 250 will qualify for the third round of the Dash 4 Cash program at Bristol Motor Speedway and a chance at another $100,000 cash bonus.

Sunoco Rookie Update: Suarez Takes Rookie Standings Lead From Wallace

Following his seventh top-10 finish of the season last weekend at New Hampshire, Daniel Suarez has taken the Sunoco Rookie of the Year points lead from Darrell Wallace Jr. by three points as the series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 18th race of the season.

The Drive for Diversity graduates, Suarez and Wallace, have been battling for the rookie points lead for most of the season. The two standouts have risen above the rest of the 2015 rookie class as both drivers are the only rookies in the NASCAR XFINITY Series driver standings top 10.

In 17 starts this season Suarez, a Monterrey, Mexico native, has posted three top fives, seven top 10s and a pole. His average finish is 14.0.

Wallace’s season also has seen success. In 17 starts he has posted one top five, seven top 10s and a pole.

Both Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates will be making their series track debut at Indianapolis this weekend.

Elliott Chipping Away At Buescher’s Standings Lead

Point standing leads can be a tricky thing. One day they are here, the next they vanish. All it takes is one bad finish or one DNF and an insurmountable lead could vanish.

Unfortunately for Chase Elliott, he can’t wait on a bad finish from the consistent standings leader Chris Buescher. So, in all likelihood, he’ll need to win.

Elliott gained five points on Buescher in the standings this past weekend with his ninth-place finish at New Hampshire.

Still waiting on his first victory in 2015, Elliott has posted seven top fives, 13 top 10s (series most), and an average finish of 9.5.

This weekend Elliott will look to better last year’s Indy performance, when he started fifth and finished 12th.

Dillon’s Time To Rebound Is Now

Defending Lilly Diabetes 250 winner, Ty Dillon is rolling into Indianapolis Motor Speedway hoping this weekend can be the spark that can reignite his NASCAR XFINITY Series championship run this season.

After leading the series standings for six races earlier this season Dillon has hit a mid-season skid falling to third in the standings, 38 points behind standings leader Chris Buescher and seven points behind second-place Chase Elliott.

But this weekend could change all that. Dillon’s win at Indianapolis last year was no fluke. In his two starts at the 2.5-mile speedway he has posted an average finish of 2.0. And in last season’s victory he led 24 laps (third-most of the event).

Dillon’s pre-race Loop Data stats point to IMS as the perfect place to rebound from his recent standings slide. He is ranked first among championship contenders in driver rating (119.2) and in average running position (6.295).

Stars Line Up For IMS XFINITY Race

Along with the stars of the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship contenders vying for the win this weekend will be five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers looking to deny them the spoils of victory. Those drivers are Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Paul Menard and Aric Almirola.

JR Motorsports welcomes back their most successful driver this season, Kevin Harvick. Harvick will be in the No. 88 Chevrolet with crew chief David Elenz atop the Pit Box. Harvick has made seven starts this season posting two wins, three top fives, five top 10s and an average finish of 7.1.

Harvick has made two series starts at IMS posting two top fives and an average finish of 4.5.

For the third week in a row Kyle Busch will be competing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota. Busch has been stout since his return from his injury posting a win at Michigan, a third-place finish at Kentucky and a fourth-place finish at New Hampshire last weekend.

Busch has made three series starts at Indianapolis posting one win (2013), two top fives and an average finish of 8.3.

Kyle Larson returns to HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi’s No. 42 Chevrolet this weekend at Indianapolis for his sixth start of the season. Larson’s previous five have seen one top five and four top 10s.

Larson has made two NASCAR XFINITY Series starts at IMS posting an average finish of 9.5 – including his series career best finish of eighth at the 2.5-mile track last season.

Paul Menard, who won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis in 2011, will be back in the Richard Childress Racing No. 33 Chevrolet this weekend with crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. This will be Menard’s fourth race of the season; in his previous three starts he has posted two top fives. Menard finished sixth in this event at IMS last season.

Aric Almirola is back in the No. 98 Ford for car owner Fred Biagi this weekend. Almirola has made seven starts this season, posting three top-10s. This will be Almirola’s series track debut at IMS.