The NASCAR Cup Series will race at the Brickyard Sunday. The old car put on some boring races at Indianapolis, so NASCAR switched to the Indy Road Course in 2021. The Gen-7 has proved to be pretty good on the large intermediate tracks, so NASCAR will give it a try on the traditional track at Indianapolis. If you like pit strategy, this is the race for you. The Brickyard 400 can be seen Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
The Cup Series had a 50-minute practice session Friday to dial in their cars for Sunday’s race. Indianapolis is a 2.5-mile, rectangular-shaped, flat track. Most of the drivers were able to make some long runs in practice so we can combine that data with the stats from the race last week at Pocono to help predict which drivers will run up front Sunday.
Here is my starting lineup for the Brickyard 400 …
DENNY HAMLIN (5): Hamlin looked awesome last week, but that was to be expected. The No. 11 car had the fastest average green flag speed and the second-best driver rating at Pocono. Hamlin posted the third-fastest speed in practice and he qualified second for the race. Hamlin has never won the Brickyard 400, but that could change Sunday.
TYLER REDDICK (3): The plan was to use Reddick for qualifying points, but then he went out and posted the fastest lap in practice with the fastest long-run speed. Reddick wasn’t done dominating the field. The No. 45 car went out and won the pole for the race. Reddick clearly has the fastest car this weekend. I was planning to use Reddick at Homestead, but I will move that allocation to Indianapolis.
ALEX BOWMAN (7): Bowman is on a hot streak right now. He won the Chicago Street Course race and finished third last week at Pocono. Bowman looks fast again this weekend. The No. 48 car posted the fifth-fastest speed in practice and qualified 13th for the race. Indianapolis should be a good track to take a chance with the No. 48 car.
AJ ALLMENDINGER (8): I decided to take a chance with Allmendinger since he has had some success at Indianapolis, he has the Xfinity Series race to get dialed in for the Brickyard 400 and he had decent speed in practice. That speed translated into some speed in qualifying. Allmendinger starts 15th Sunday. He should be able to finish the race near the 15th position Sunday. That may be the best in Group C.
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