The Cup Series and the Xfinity Series will compete at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, while the Truck Series will race at Lucas Oil Raceway (right outside of Indianapolis) Friday night. It is nice to see NASCAR listen to the fans and put the cars back on the traditional track at Indianapolis. It will be fun to see how the races play out at the Brickyard. 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.
STRATEGY FOR INDIANAPOLIS
A lot has changed since the Cup Series last raced the traditional tack in Indianapolis. We really cannot us the data from the races in the old car at the Brickyard, so we need to use the data from the race last week in Pocono. Both tracks are 2.5-mile, flat, intermediate tracks. The setup for Indianapolis should be very similar to what they had last week at the Tricky Triangle. I will be using many of the drivers who ran well at Pocono last week.
We are at race No. 22 on the schedule. I am quickly running out of allocations with my top drivers. I am going to try and get through the race at Indianapolis with some drivers I have many allocations left with. I will give you some options to use the drivers with better stats, just in case you have more allocations than I do.
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS FOR INDIANAPOLIS
GROUP A DRIVERS
DENNY HAMLIN (4): Hamlin looked awesome last week and he looks fast again this week. Hamlin was third-fastest in practice with the third-fastest speed on the long runs. Hamlin has said on his podcast that he does not like to give it 100% in practice. He wants to find the balance he likes more in the car than just looking at pure speed. The No. 11 car is going to be tough to beat if Hamlin was that fast and he was not going 100%.
KYLE LARSON (4): I originally had Ryan Blaney in this spot and the No. 12 car was second-fastest in practice, but Larson was a half-second faster than Blaney on the long runs. The word in the garage is that Larson, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick have the cars to beat. I did not hear Blaney’s name mentioned, so I will pivot to Larson this week.
GROUP B DRIVERS
ALEX BOWMAN (7): It looks like Bowman’s hot streak is going to continue this week. He won at Chicago, finished third last week at Pocono and the No. 48 car was fifth-fastest in practice Friday. Bowman was also sixth-fastest on the long-run speed chart. I will keep Bowman in the lineup this weekend.
CHRIS BUESCHER (8): Buescher had the third-best car in Group B last week at Pocono and the No. 17 team brought the same speed to the track this weekend. Buescher posted the eighth-fastest speed in practice with the 12th-fastest long-run speed. The No. 17 team will not be afraid to use their pit strategy to steel track position. Buescher should be a good pick Sunday.
BUBBA WALLACE (8): Wallace had a lot of speed last week and he passed the third-most cars at Pocono. He started deep in the field and finished in the top-10. The No. 23 car looks fast again this week. Wallace posted the 11th-fastest speed in practice. I just need him not to overdrive the car in qualifying so that Wallace will have some track position to start the race. His teammate may have the best car this week, so I am sure Wallace got some good notes after practice.
TYLER REDDICK (3): I really do not want to use Reddick this week since I only have three allocations left with the No. 45 car, but Reddick was too fast to fade this week. The plan is to use Reddick for qualifying points and fade him for the race. He is a good insurance policy to have as a backup for the drivers listed above.
* BRAD KESELOWSKI (1) has the second-fastest car in Group B behind TYLER REDIDCK. I would use Keselowski over BUBBA WALLACE if you have two or more allocations left with Keselowski.
GROUP C DRIVERS
* I originally had two Stewart Haas Racing cars for Group C, but they looked awful in practice. I will pivot to two drivers who had a lot of speed in practice.
CARSON HOCEVAR (8): Can Hocevar run a complete race without messing up? He has one of the fastest cars and he should finish up front if he can complete the race. Hocaevar posted the 10th-fastest speed in practice and he had the eighth-fastest speed on the long runs. Hocevar is just too fast to fade this weekend.
AJ ALLMENDINGER (8): I am going to play it safe and use Allmendinger. He has had some success in the Xfinity Series and he has the race Saturday to get his rhythm down at the Brickyard. Allmendinger only posted the 23rd fastest speed in practice, but he was 13th fastest on the long runs. Allmendinger will not finish in the top-10, but he is a safe pick for a top-20 finish Sunday.
* Be sure to check back Sunday morning for my starting lineup.
TRUCK SERIES PICKS
XFINITY SERIES PICKS
Good Luck This Weekend!
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