NASCAR Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis: How to watch, starting lineup and weather forecast
It’s a historic weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
For the first time ever, NASCAR’s Cup Series, Xfinity Series and IndyCar are racing on the same track on the same weekend.
“It’s really cool to see the excitement going on,” rookie Christopher Bell said Friday. “I’m really anxious to watch not only the IndyCar race but also the Xfinity race as well on the road course. I think that’s going to be a great show.”
The Brickyard 400 (officially this year called the “Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records”) is one of NASCAR’s most iconic races, and for a majority of the last half of the decade, it has been the regular-season finale. The biggest question surrounding this weekend’s race is who will kiss the bricks?
A yard of bricks rest at the start-finish line, and since NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett and his team kissed the bricks after his Brickyard 400 victory in 1996, it’s become a tradition.
“It’s unexplainable, but for a racecar driver, and for me personally, going across that yard of bricks and knowing that so many people have passed over that same yard of bricks, there’s so much history,” Aric Almirola said. “There’s no racetrack you go to like there is at Indy where you can almost feel ghosts and spirits are watching over the racetrack all the way back from the early 1900’s.”
Only five active drivers have been able to participate in the tradition — four-time winner Jimmie Johnson (2006, ‘08, ‘09, and 2012), two-time winners Kyle Busch (2015-16) and Kevin Harvick (2003 and 2019), Ryan Newman (2013) and Brad Keselowski (2018). Johnson, Busch, Harvick and Newman hold the distinction of being the race’s only four drivers to win from the pole position.
Johnson announced Friday night he tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss Sunday’s race.
The 2.5 mile oval is one of the trickier tracks for stock car drivers because it “doesn’t fit into the NASCAR wheelhouse as well as for IndyCars,” Johnson said Friday.
“For stock cars, we typically like more banking,” Johnson said. “Certainly progressive banking so that we can run side-by-side. There are two lanes for restarts, but to go fast, it really is a single lane racetrack, a very flat racetrack … For us, there are many things that we can do wrong at the track that will affect our lap time. There’s very little support from the banking and it’s easy to overdrive the car.”
What’s the weather like for NASCAR’s Brickyard 400?
Hot and sunny.
For the first time in weeks, there is only a low possibility of rain for Indianapolis on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. While there is a 10 percent chance of rain, forecasts show that it’ll be a high of 93 degrees with a slight but variable breeze for the 4 p.m. start.
NASCAR drivers to watch at Indy
Ryan Blaney, who is second in the points standings, is on a hot streak. He won Talladega two weekends ago, concluding a stretch of top-5 finishes — fourth, third, second and first. With that type of consistency, fans should keep an eye on the No. 12 car on Sunday.
During the Pocono doubleheader last weekend, Harvick finished on a high with winning Saturday and coming in second Sunday. As the reigning Brickyard 400 winner, Harvick has three wins already this season and leads the championship race with 581 points and eight top-five finishes.
Denny Hamlin, winner of last Sunday’s race at Pocono, has been coming in hot over the last four races. His four most recent starts: Win, fourth, second, win. Hamlin has a series-leading four victories in 15 starts, beginning with his Daytona 500 win to open the season.
How to watch NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 race at Indianapolis
Race: Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Distance: 160-lap, 400-mile race
When: 4 p.m.
TV: NBC/NBC Sports App
Radio: IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Starting order for Brickyard 400
1. Joey Logano 22
2. Kurt Busch 1
3. Alex Bowman 88
4. Jimmie Johnson 48
5. Aric Almirola 10
6. Denny Hamlin 11
7. Kyle Busch 18
8. Martin Truex Jr. 19
9. Brad Keselowski 2
10. Chase Elliott 9
11. Kevin Harvick 4
12. Ryan Blaney 12
13. Tyler Reddick 8
14. Ryan Newman 6
15. Matt DiBenedetto 21
16. Austin Dillon 3
17. Bubba Wallace 43
18. William Byron 24
19. John Hunter Nemechek 38
20. Chris Buescher 17
21. Matt Kenseth 42
22. Clint Bowyer 14
23. Erik Jones 20
24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47
25. Joey Gase 51
26. Brennan Poole 15
27. Michael McDowell 34
28. Garrett Smithley 53
29. Ty Dillon 13
30. Cole Custer 41
31. Corey LaJoie 32
32. Ross Chastain 77
33. Quin Houff 00
34. JJ Yeley 27
35. Christopher Bell 95
36. Ryan Preece 37
37. Daniel Suarez 96
38. Timmy Hill 66
39. Josh Bilicki 7
40. BJ McLeod 78