The Cup Series will travel to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend. The Cup Series competed on the Road Course in Indianapolis from 2021 – 2023. Now we get to see what the Gen-7 car can do on the traditional track at the Brickyard. I think the race will be pretty good. The Brickyard 400 can be seen Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
* NASCAR will take a break from July 22nd – August 10th for the Olympics. I will also be taking a break. I will not be as active on Social Media or the Forum, but I will post an abbreviated DFS Golf article for the 3M Championship next week and a full DFS Golf article for the Olympic Golf Tournament. Enjoy the race this weekend and enjoy the time off from an exciting 2024 NASCAR season.
DRAFTKINGS ODDS INDIANAPOLIS
* The odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook. The odds could change between the time of this article and the time you place your bet.
BETTING STRATEGY FOR INDIANAPOLIS
The race this week should be a rerun of what we saw last week at Pocono Raceway. Both tracks are 2.5-mile, flat intermediate tracks. Turn two at Pocono (the tunnel turn) was designed to replicate the turns at Indianapolis, so the set-ups should be similar this week. The teams know this, we know this and the odds makers know this too. The odds for the drivers who ran well last week at Pocono opened as the favorites. I will be betting some of these drivers, but I like a few drivers with longer odds too.
BETTING CARD FOR INDIANAPOLIS
BRAD KESELOWSKI (+800): The race Sunday at Indianapolis is going to be a fuel-strategy race and the plays right into the hands of Keselowski. The No. 6 car was fast last week at Pocono, but pit strategy got Keselowski the lead and allowed him to lead 20 laps, have the third-best driver rating and the third best average running position in the race. Keselowski won the Brickyard 400 in 2018. I will bet he can do it again Sunday.
CHASE ELLIOTT (+900): Elliott had the best car in traffic last week. He passed 98 cars last week as he went from through the field. Crew Chief Alan Gustafson could never get Elliott the track position he needed to win the race. Hendrick Motorsports has some smart engineers. They will have a plan this week to get Elliott to the front. The No. 9 car will be fast enough to win once he gets there.
WILLIAM BYRON (+1000): One of the best performances I have ever seen by a full-time Xfinity Series driver happened at Indianapolis in 2017. Byron ran down Kyle Busch and Joey Logano and passed them both to win at the brickyard. Byron was also fast last week until he lost his track position. All Byron needs to do is qualify up front like he did last week (Byron started on the front row at Pocono) and have a little more luck in the race. The No. 24 car is going to be fast and Byron has the talent to get it to Victory Lane.
TYLER REDDICK (+1100): Reddick should be the driver kissing the bricks Sunday, according to the stats. He has the best average finishing position at the Brickyard in Indianapolis (small sample-size though) and he has the best average finishing position in the Cup Series over the last month. Reddick keeps finishing up front. Sooner or later he is going back to Victory Lane. I will bet that it happens Sunday.
ALEX BOWMAN (+2800): I can get the driver who finished 3rd and 1st in the last two races at +2800? I will take it. Bowman looked pretty good last week at Pocono. He qualified in the top-10 and ran in the top-10 for most of the race. Statically, the Brickyard is the worst track for Bowman, but that was a long time ago. He is a different driver now. The No. 48 team is running too well right now to pass up the opportunity to win some decent cash this week.
BUBBA WALLACE (+2800): Wallace looked really good in practice last week and then he went out and screwed up qualifying. Wallace spent the entire race trying to get some track position. Wallace passed 88 cars as he made his way to the top-10. This bet is more on Crew Chief Bootie Baker than it is on Wallace. Baker knows Wallace needs a win to secure a spot in the playoffs. He will be aggressive with his pit strategy to get Wallace to the front.
** I will not be posting updated Best Bets this weekend, but you can ask me on Twitter or in the Member’s Forum s there are any other drivers I like after qualifying.
Good luck Sunday!
Follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR