A Closer Look at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The NASCAR season rolls on this Fourth of July holiday weekend with a stop at one of the most well-known venues when it comes to auto racing. It’s going to be a highly entertaining weekend for racing fans as there’s going to be plenty of racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On Saturday, the Fourth of July, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, which is an IndyCar race that was postponed back in May will be That will be followed by a Xfinity Series race on the same road track that the IndyCar circuit will run. Meanwhile, on Sunday, it will be the race that normally is known as the Brickyard 400, though this year it is called the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400. With that said, let’s take a look at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and give you some information about the track and how the drivers have fared here.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been running races for more than a century with the first event to take place on the track coming on August 12, 1909. Those were motorcycle races: the first race with actual cars came a week later in an event that was fraught with issues. Louis Chevrolet was blinded temporarily when a rock struck his goggles while Wilfred Bourque became the first driver to lose his life at the track after his rear-axle came apart, killing him and his mechanic Harry Holcomb. Two days later, Charlie Merz blew a tire and veered out of control, killing a pair of spectators and his mechanic, Claude Kellum. Louis Schwitzer won the first race run on the track on August 19, 1909 in a two-lap, five-mile race, clocking an average speed of 57.4 miles per hour. The track was redone with 3.2 million paving blocks to replace the crushed rock and tar. That led to the name “The Brickyard.”
Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the first track to be called a speedway and it is an oval that is perfectly even all the way around. There are two straightaways that measure five-eighths of a mile, four turns that measure one-quarter of a mile in length and a pair of short straightaways that measure one-eighth of a mile between turns one and two along with turns three and four. The turns are banked at 9.2 degrees while the straightaways are completely flat with no banking involved at all.
As far as racing on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit goes, the Brickyard 400 had its debut appearance on the circuit on August 6, 1994. Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag by just over half a second (.53) over Brett Bodine. Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace and the late Dale Earnhardt rounded out the top five in that race. There were six cautions in that race spanning 25 of the 160 laps and 21 lead changes took place in the contest.
Among current drivers, there are four drivers that have raced here 19 times over the course of their careers. Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick each have run 19 times at the Brickyard. Jimmie Johnson is next in line with 18 runs on the track. Only five current drivers have won the Brickyard 400 coming into this year’s race. Johnson leads the way with four victories. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch each have won twice while Brad Keselowski and Newman each have one victory here.
Kenseth leads the way with nine top-five finishes here in his career. Harvick is next in line with seven while Johnson has six. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch each have five to round out the top five in that category. When it comes to top-10 finishes, Harvick is at the top of the heap with 13 such showings while Kenseth is next in line with 12. Kyle Busch has 11 while Denny Hamlin has eight such finishes. Johnson and Joey Logano both have seven top-10 finishes to tie for fifth in that category. Harvick has won three poles to lead that category while Kyle Busch has a pair to his credit. Johnson, Hamlin, Reed Sorenson and Newman are the only other active drivers to claim a pole position on the track. Kyle Busch has led 324 laps here to lead the active drivers with Harvick right behind at 321. Johnson is third with 306 with Hamlin (112) and Keselowski (108) round out the top five in that category.
Coming into this week’s race, Harvick is leading the Cup Series points standings by 52 points over Ryan Blaney. Keselowski (67 points back) is third, while Chase Elliott (71 points behind) and Hamlin (75 points back) rounding out the top five drivers. For the playoff standings, Hamlin took the lead with his fourth win of the season at Pocono Sunday, breaking a tie with Harvick. Logano and Keselowski each have two victories while Blaney, Elliott, Truex Jr. and Bowman each have one on the board. Almirola and Kurt Busch hold the ninth and 10th-place spots as they held the highest point totals among non-winning drivers entering this race.
There will be no fans in attendance for this weekend’s races. Television coverage is scheduled to be on NBC with green flag time scheduled for 4 pm ET.