The Cup Series will travel to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend to compete on the traditional rectangular-shaped track. The Cup Series competed on the Indy Road Course from 2021 – 2023, but the Gen-7 car has proven to provide better racing on the large intermediate tracks than it has on the road courses. It should be fun to see how this car performs on this iconic track. The Brickyard 400 can be seen Sunday at 2:30 pm 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.
The Fantasy Live picks bounced back after a bad race in Chicago. The drivers scored 61 Stage Points and that allowed the lineup to score 253 points in the race. It just amazes me how people do not understand how important track position is to the Stage Points and how important Stage Points are to your final score. The picks are now ranked No. 57 out of 352K entries. I will do my best in these final races to keep the picks climbing in your league standings.
CUP SERIES PRACTICE
The Cup Series had a 20-minute practice session Saturday to shake down their cars for Sunday’s race. Indianapolis is a large track, so it was tough for all of the teams to make a long run in practice. We can use the speeds from the single-lap and five-lap average speed charts for our picks this week. Indianapolis is also similar to Pocono, so the drivers who ran well last week, and have speed this week, should be the drivers who run up front Sunday.
Here are the practice speeds for the Brickyard 400…
FANTASY LIVE PICKS FOR INDIANAPOLIS
TYLER REDDICK (1): The plan was my final allocation with Reddick at Darlington, 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. There is no guarantee that Reddick will dominate the weekend at Darlington like he did in Indianapolis, so I will use my last start with the No. 45 car Sunday (Unless he ends up in the garage).
WILLIAM BYRON (2): One of the best performances I have seen from an Xfinity Series driver happened in 2017 when a young William Byron outraced Kyle Busch and Joey Logano for the win at Indianapolis. Byron has been good on these large, flat tracks. He posted the ninth-fastest speed in practice and qualified fourth for the race. I will take a chance with the No. 24 car Sunday.
CHASE ELLIOTT (1): The No. 9 car had a lot of speed last week, but Elliott could never get the track position he needed to win the race. Elliott had the sixth-fastest green flag speed at Pocono, the fifth-best driver rating and the second-most green flag passes in the race. Elliott posted the 12th-fastest speed in practice and he qualified third for the race. Elliott should score a lot of Stage Points with the upside to win the Brickyard 400. I will use my last allocation with Elliott Sunday.
RYAN BLANEY (1): Am I chasing last week’s stats by playing Blaney this week? Absolutely, but there are other reasons I like the No. 12 car this week. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is owned by Roger Penske. I am sure he told his teams to put a little more time into the setup for his cars on his track. Blaney posted the second-fastest speed in practice and he qualified seventh for the race. I will use my final allocations with the No. 12 car Sunday.
TY GIBBS (6): Gibbs had a lot of speed last week until fluid started to pour out of the car. I am sure Joe Gibbs Racing will have that problem corrected this week. The No. 54 car qualified sixth for the race, so Gibbs has the track position to score a lot of Stage Points Sunday. Gibbs just needs to get the finish that he deserves with his fast car Sunday (That doesn’t always happen, but that is what the Garage is for).
(GARAGE PICK) ALEX BOWMAN (6): 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.
* I am out of allocations with DENNY HAMLIN. I would use Hamlin over TY GIBBS if you have any allocations left with the No. 11 car.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.