INDIANAPOLIS
Through the gears
First gear: After a history-making doubleheader at Pocono Raceway, the Cup Series is heading to yet another seminal moment when competitors walk through the gates at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Brickyard 400, which was added to the NASCAR schedule in 1994, swapped places on the Cup slate with Daytona International Speedway, which had hosted a Fourth of July stock car race since it opened in 1959. NASCAR competitors will be greeted by a new track owner. Roger Penske bought the iconic racing facility from the Hulman family last year. Penske might be in his early 80s, but he gets this shake-up stuff. He made the weekend more interesting by turning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity race into a road-course event. Adding to the mix, Penske’s IndyCar Series restarts its schedule on that same road course, preceding the Xfinity race in a first-of-its-kind twinbill. For the record, the race we all know as the Brickyard 400 now carries the official name of Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records.
Second gear: The Brickyard 400 might not be the most exciting race from flag to flag, but it does separate the wheat from the chaff as far as championship contenders. Since the race was added, the eventual Cup champion has won this race 10 times.
Third gear: The inaugural Pocono doubleheader produced interesting outcomes. Kevin Harvick captured Race 1 and finished second in Race 2. Denny Hamlin was second in Race 1 and took the win in Race 2. Harvick is 1-for-40 at Pocono while Hamlin scored his sixth win at the oddly-shaped, 2.5-mile course.
Fourth gear: The Bubba Wallace-Talladega noose incident was resolved by the FBI and NASCAR last week. The noose knot had been in that Talladega garage stall since at least 2019. “Whether it was tied sometime throughout 2019, the fall race there, someone did it with whatever intent they had,” Wallace said. “We weren’t in that garage stall at that time, so we can’t say it was directed toward me, which is good.” – Godwin Kelly