Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of Indianapolis race
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s race.
This year marks the 30th anniversary since the inaugural Cup race there won by Jeff Gordon.
NBC will have coverage of Sunday’s race.
Here’s a look at where things stand for each Cup organization entering the 22nd race of the season.
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick has a series-best 14 top 10s this season. … Reddick, who is third in the standings, has gained 49 points on the points leader in the last four races. … Bubba Wallace moved to 27 points of the final playoff spot, gaining 18 points at Pocono with his 10th-place finish. Bad news: It has been 64 races since Wallace last won a Cup race.
Tyler Reddick holds on to top spot of NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings
Several drivers behind Tyler Reddick change spots in this week’s top 10.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell has won at Indy, although it was on the road course last year. Bad News: Todd Gilliland’s streak of nine consecutive top 20s ended at Pocono with a 34th-place result.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Chase Elliott’s ninth-place finish at Pocono moved him past teammate Kyle Larson for the points lead. … Alex Bowman and teammate William Byron are tied with 12 top 10s this season, which is second only to Tyler Reddick. … Organization has won three of the last nine Indy races, doing so with three different drivers. … Byron is the youngest driver to win a NASCAR race at Indy. He was 19 years, 7 months, 23 days when he won the Xfinity race there in July 2017. Bad news: Elliott has not won a stage since winning the first stage in the season-opening Daytona 500.
NASCAR points race heats up at top and bottom of playoff leaderboard heading to Indy
Five races remain in the regular season, including Sunday’s race at Indianapolis on NBC.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin’s runner-up finish at Pocono ended a streak of five consecutive finishes outside the top 10. … Christopher Bell has a series-high nine stage wins this season. Bad news: Hamlin remains winless on the Indy oval in Cup in 15 attempts. He has five top-five finishes and led 131 laps on the oval. … Martin Truex Jr. has finished 24th or worse in nine of his 16 Indianapolis starts. … Ty Gibbs had an engine failure at Pocono last weekend. He has four top 10s in the last 15 races.
JTG Daugherty Racing — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has finished in the top 10 in three of the last five races. Bad news: Stenhouse’s best finish at Indianapolis came in 2016 when he placed 12th.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has finished 11th or better in four of his nine starts this season. Bad news: Daniel Hemric failed to finish last weekend’s race at Pocono, ending his streak of running at the finish at 20 races.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson is back in the car this weekend. … John Hunter Nemechek finished 15th in his only Cup start on the Indy oval in 2020. Bad news: Erik Jones has not led a lap this season.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch will make his 700th Cup start this weekend, becoming the 20th driver in series history to reach that feat. At age 39 years, 2 months, 19 days on race day, Busch will be the second youngest to reach this mark. Only Richard Petty was younger at age 38 years, 11 months, 18 days. Bad news: The organization has only two top-five finishes all season. … Busch was 31 points above the playoff cutline entering the Coca-Cola 600 in late May. He is 102 points below the playoff cutline going to Indianapolis. … Austin Dillon has failed to finish three of the last six races.
NASCAR Cup drivers discuss tire test at Bristol
Six drivers took part in a tire test at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware will start his second race in a row and fourth of the season. Bad news: Justin Haley has the longest active winless streak at 126 races among those who have won at least one Cup race.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher’s 11th-place finish at Pocono moved him out of the final playoff spot with five races left in the regular season. … Buescher has gone 52 races without a pit road speeding penalty, the longest active streak in the series. … Brad Keselowski is one of only three former Indy winners entered this weekend, joining Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson. Bad news: Buescher has not scored stage points in the three of the last four races.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Corey LaJoie has been running at the finish at all but one of the last 74 races. … Zane Smith started a career-best ninth last weekend at Pocono. … Carson Hocevar has started in the top 15 in each of the last three races, his longest stretch of the season. Bad news: LaJoie’s only top 10 this year came in the season-opening Daytona 500 when he finished fourth.
NASCAR will not penalize Corey LaJoie for contact with Kyle Busch at Pocono
“Two guys racing hard,” says NASCAR Sr. VP of Competition Elton Sawyer on the contact between Corey LaJoie and Kyle Busch.
Stewart-Haas Racing — Good news: The organization is the most recent winner at the Indianapolis oval. Kevin Harvick won there in 2020. … Noah Gragson has six top-10 finishes this season. He had none at this point last year. … Josh Berry has qualified fifth or better in three of the last five races. Bad news: The last time the series raced on the Indy oval in 2020, Ryan Preece was among those collected in a crash on pit road and finished last. … Chase Briscoe has one top 10 in the last eight races, a runner-up finish at New Hampshire.
Team Penske — Good news: The organization seeks to sweep Indianapolis this year after Josef Newgarden won his second consecutive Indianapolis 500. Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric will look to complete the sweep for the team. The team won both races in 2018. … Logano has finished in the top 10 in seven of the last eight races at Indy. Bad news: Blaney has only one top-10 finish in six Indianapolis starts in Cup.
Winners, losers from NASCAR weekend at Pocono Raceway
Ryan Blaney earned his second NASCAR Cup win in the last five races.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: This is the first race for the organization on the Indianapolis oval. Bad news: Ross Chastain fell to the final playoff spot after his crash and 36th-place finish last weekend at Pocono. He’s failed to finish two of the last three races due to an accident. … Daniel Suarez’s 42 stage points are the fewest among those who have secured a playoff spot this season. … It has been 33 races since the organization last won a pole, which came when Suarez was fastest at the Indy road course last year.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Harrison Burton finished a career-best third at Indianapolis in 2022 … Bad news: That finish was on the Indy road course. He’s never run a Cup race on the Indy oval.
