With just five races remaining until the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the intensity is ramping up as drivers fight to secure their spot on the grid. This weekend, the battle returned to one of the sport’s most iconic venues, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for the Brickyard 400.
Qualifying:
Shane van Gisbergen delivered his best NASCAR Cup Series oval qualifying performance to date, securing 11th on the grid for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Kiwi was just 0.455s off pole with a flying lap of 181.485 mph in the #88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, starting alongside veteran Kyle Busch on row six.
It marks his first time qualifying inside the top 12 on an oval in the Cup Series, surpassing his previous best of 17th at Talladega in 2023.
Trackhouse teammates Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain will have some work to do after qualifying near the back of the field in 31st and 33rd, respectively.
SVG’s rise comes at a track he has history with; he finished fourth here in last year’s Xfinity race after starting 23rd.
At the front, it was a Toyota lockout of the top five led by local hero Chase Briscoe, who narrowly edged Bubba Wallace by 0.013s for pole. Briscoe was emotional after the result, calling it a “dream come true” at his home track.
The session saw drama as Denny Hamlin, fastest in practice, crashed exiting Turn 2 and will start last.
Race:
The 160-lap Brickyard 400 got underway with Stage 1 set to run 50 laps.
Pole-sitter Chase Briscoe led the field to green, followed by Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, and AJ Allmendinger, rounding out the early top 10.
Kyle Busch and Shane van Gisbergen slotted into 11th and 12th by lap 3.
By lap 7, Daniel Suárez had made modest progress, climbing three spots to 28th.
Further up, van Gisbergen was under pressure but holding firm, fending off a train of contenders that included Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Christopher Bell, Austin Dillon, and Alex Bowman.
As the laps ticked by, the field began to spread out. By lap 10, just over five seconds covered the top 10 runners. Reddick made a move on Wallace to take over second place and quickly began reeling in Briscoe, cutting the gap to just three-tenths of a second. The front of the pack compressed slightly, with 4.2 seconds now covering the top 10.
Michael McDowell and Ross Chastain came together during a battle in the mid-pack. Chastain appeared to brake unexpectedly early, catching McDowell off guard.
McDowell made contact with the rear of the #1 Trackhouse Chevrolet, sending Chastain spinning into the wall at turn 3 which brought out the race’s first caution. Chastain’s car suffered heavy damage to both the front and rear, including right-front suspension damage.
Under caution, most of the field took the opportunity to pit for their first stops of the race. Briscoe retained the lead on pit road, while Wallace gained a position on teammate Reddick to move up to second.
Racing resumed on lap 23, with strategy beginning to play a role. Cindric and Logano, both of whom stayed out during the earlier caution, led the field to green. Briscoe was the highest-placed driver who had pitted, restarting in third, while Berry also opted not to pit and ran fifth.
Van Gisbergen lost ground in the opening laps after the restart, slipping to 18th as he came under pressure from Suárez, who had climbed into 18th himself.
On lap 26, McDowell’s tough day went from bad to worse as a right-front tyre failure sent him to pit lane for unscheduled repairs. He rejoined the race two laps down.
With 18 laps remaining in Stage 1, Van Gisbergen slipped back to 19th after being overtaken by both Gibbs and Suárez.
As Stage 1 progressed, Cindric stretched his lead to 2.6 seconds over Logano. Meanwhile, Hamlin continued his charge from the back of the field, climbing to 24th with 13 laps remaining after starting last due to his qualifying crash.
Further up the order, Berry made a bold move on Wallace for fourth place in Turn 3. Shortly after, pit stops began to cycle through. Logano was the first of the no-stoppers to blink, diving into pit lane with nine laps to go.
Cindric followed a lap later, handing the race lead back to Briscoe. Berry, who had briefly run second, also pitted soon after. Impressively, all three, Cindric, Logano, and Berry, rejoined the race still on the lead lap.
In the battle for second, Wallace defended aggressively against Jones into Turn 1, forcing Jones to lift and allowing Byron to slip through into third. Jones then headed to pit road.
With three laps to go in Stage 1, Briscoe held a comfortable 1.5-second lead over Wallace. Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, had slipped down the order to 31st, battling issues with his car and reporting virbation that was getting worse.
Briscoe went on to win Stage 1, with Wallace, Byron, Reddick, Buescher, Busch, Hocevar, Larson, Dillon, and Allmendinger rounding out the top 10.
As pit stops commenced on lap 52, the majority of the lead pack came to pit road, with the exceptions being Preece (21st), Bowman, Haley, Cindric, Berry, Logano, and Jones, who all stayed out. Hocevar won the race off pit road by taking just two tyres, rejoining ahead of Briscoe and Byron.
Two laps later, on lap 54, Bell, Van Gisbergen, and Legge also pitted to top off on fuel ahead of the restart.
Stage 2 got underway shortly after with 50 laps on the board. Preece led from the inside line with Bowman alongside on the front row.
As the field surged down the frontstretch, chaos erupted further back, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was clipped and bounced off the outside wall from 28th position. At the front, Preece cleared Bowman to take the early lead.
Dillon was forced to pit with front-end damage shortly after the restart and retired from the race.
By lap 59, SVG was running 29th, around nine seconds off the race lead. Meanwhile, Byron made a clean move on Hocevar into Turn 1 to take over fifth position, making him the highest-placed driver who had pitted during the stage break.
When asked for feedback over team radio, van Gisbergen responded: “The balance is back and it’s running smooth, but not as gripped up as it was in Stage 1.”
On lap 63, Preece brought his car to pit lane, handing the race lead over to Bowman.
At lap 66 of 160, Cindric led the field, marking his 23rd lap at the front. The race had already seen five lead changes among four different drivers, with two cautions covering eight laps. Cindric, who started 10th, held a slim 0.251-second margin over Byron, with Hocevar running a strong third.
Byron had remained inside the top 10 all race long after starting sixth. Hocevar climbed from eighth to third and was showing impressive speed, setting the third-fastest lap of the race at 50.867 seconds.
Cindric retook the lead on lap 66 as both Bowman and Haley, then running first and second, peeled off for pit stops. Preece, who had also been in the mix up front, suffered a costly pit stop of over 16 seconds, dropping him off the lead lap.
On lap 78, Custer experienced a tyre issue between Turns 1 and 2, forcing him to slow from around 19th position. Around the same time, Byron pitted from second.
Green-flag pit stops continued with Larson entering pit road from seventh on lap 79, followed by Hocevar from second and Love on lap 80. Lap 81 saw Berry, Elliott, and Busch all dive in for service, Berry from fifth and Elliott from 12th.
Drama unfolded on lap 84 when Cindric suffered a flat right-rear tyre on the frontstretch. He was forced to slow and take the access lane into Turn 2, relinquishing the lead. Logano briefly inherited the top spot before heading to pit road with Buescher and Gibbs. That shuffle elevated Wallace into the race lead.
Hamlin, who had climbed into the top five, made his scheduled stop on lap 85. Gilliland (5th) and Allmendinger (12th) also pitted under green on lap 87.
Wallace, the race leader, and Jones, running third, came in on lap 88, handing the lead to Briscoe.
Moments later, disaster struck for Jones, whose right-front wheel came apart, sending him into the wall in Turn 3 and bringing out the race’s third caution.
Gilliland received the free pass under yellow, while most lead-lap cars, including SVG, used the opportunity to pit. Notable drivers who stayed out included Blaney (3rd), Keselowski (7th), Byron (10th), as well as Bowman, Larson, Hamlin, Logano, Hocevar, Buescher, Wallace, Gibbs, and Elliott.
John Hunter Nemechek was the first off pit road among those who stopped and would restart in 13th place.
As Stage 2 concluded, Blaney took the stage win under green on lap 100, fending off Larson and Hamlin. Byron, Keselowski, and Cindric rounded out the top six, with Cindric also receiving the free pass during the caution period.
Several drivers, including Keselowski, Gibbs, Bowman, Gilliland, and Legge, opted to pit during the break, setting up divergent strategies for the final stage.
Stage 3 began on lap 106, with Larson leading from the inside and Hamlin on the outside. SVG restarted in 14th but quickly lost ground, dropping to 18th over the opening laps.
Green-flag pit stops began early, with Berry coming in on lap 116, followed by Logano, Byron, and Briscoe.
A wave of stops followed: Wallace, Buescher, and Cindric on lap 119; Bell and Gibbs on lap 120; and a major group, including Larson, Hamlin, Hocevar, and Bowman, on lap 121. By lap 123, SVG pitted from second place.
Haley cycled into the lead with 34 laps to go, followed by Keselowski and Gilliland. While the top five stayed out, Logano emerged as the highest-running driver who had completed their final scheduled stop.
However, Logano’s race unravelled on lap 135 when he lost a right-rear tyre while running fifth, forcing an unscheduled stop.
Haley and Keselowski finally pitted on lap 137, promoting Blaney to the lead. Wallace continued his charge, overtaking Legge for second on lap 142. A lap later, Blaney dove into pit lane, handing Wallace the top spot.
Van Gisbergen, who had fallen a lap down earlier, managed to get back on the lead lap and climbed into 21st. With 15 laps to go, Larson passed Reddick for second and began chasing down Wallace. He closed the gap to 4.7 seconds with 12 laps remaining.
With just five laps to go, rain brought out the caution, followed shortly by a red flag on lap 157. Under the delay, the Trackhouse Racing team took a gamble, choosing not to pit van Gisbergen in hopes he had enough fuel to go the distance. He lined up 16th for the restart—a two-lap shootout to the finish.
Wallace and Larson battled side by side as the green flag waved, with Wallace edging ahead. Chaos erupted behind them as a multi-car crash in the midfield brought out another caution.
Van Gisbergen narrowly avoided the incident, which involved Reddick, Smith, Gibbs, Logano, and others. The crash forced SVG to pit for tyres and fuel, dropping him to 21st for the final restart.
On the final green flag run, Wallace once again fended off Larson in a thrilling duel, taking the white flag just as Byron ran out of fuel.
Wallace held on to claim a dramatic victory at Indianapolis, locking himself into the Playoffs. Larson crossed the line second, followed by Hamlin, Preece, Keselowski, Gilliland, Blaney, Bell, Bowman, and Hocevar. Meanwhile Ty Gibbs took out the in-season challenge and is $1 million dollars richer.
Shane van Gisbergen finished 19th after a rollercoaster afternoon, continuing to show flashes of promise as he builds experience in NASCAR’s top tier.
Header Image: NASCAR
