NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Immortalize their Racing Career with a Brickyard 400 Victory?
Hallowed grounds welcome NASCAR back this weekend. The world’s most famous racecourse at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host the 29th running of the Brickyard 400. All drivers are chasing a coveted crown jewel win. So far this season, each NASCAR major has seen a late lead change decide its winner. Can the same drama unfold at the yard of bricks? Here are a few contenders who hope to be kissing the bricks after 400 miles on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin
Indianapolis is the one crown jewel missing from Denny Hamlin’s trophy case. Three times a winner at the Daytona 500 and Southern 500, in addition to the Coca-Cola 600, Hamlin’s established himself as a milestone win collector. Coming into Indy hot on the heels of a Dover victory, Hamlin is already focused forward on another winning opportunity.
“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to go back-to-back so bad,” Hamlin said. “I mean, just that’s a track that I’ve just come so freaking close to winning. I just want to cross off all the major racetracks on our schedule. It’s going to be hard. I mean, we’re going to have to qualify well there. There’s just so many things that’s going to have to go really well for us to win that race.”
“It’s not like, you know, any other conventional track where you got speed, you’re just going to go through the pack. It’s just not that type of racetrack, but the history of it is unlike any other. I mean, even when you’re driving it, you feel like you’re at a historic racetrack. So, highly, highly, highly motivated. All I can hope is that something happens this week that derails everything and then I’ll do better.”
Despite an 0-16 Indianapolis record, Hamlin still enters the Brickyard 400 tied as the odds on co-favorite. The No. 11 Toyota has been painfully close to this win in recent years. Blowing a tire from the lead (2020) and crashing late a year ago are just a few Indy lowlights. Hamlin’s best Indianapolis result has been third three times, expect this to possibly change on Sunday.
Kyle Larson
No driver has been more of a talk of the town around Indianapolis recently than Kyle Larson. 2024’s Indy 500 Rookie of the Year returned to The Greatest Spectacle in Racing this year, only to crash out. Between those two showings, Larson also picked up a Brickyard 400 win last summer. Driver 5 returns to very familiar ground looking to defend this crown jewel triumph, with added experience. Larson is a last-minute addition to Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, wheeling the Hendrick No. 17 once again. Young Money likes his chances at taking home two Brickyard trophies this weekend.
“[The Xfinity Series] still produces exciting racing, and I love to get in there and race with those younger guys,” Larson said. “Hopefully give them a glimpse of what it might take once you get to the Cup Series because a lot of them are very well capable of being Cup drivers. I look forward to getting back out there again this weekend. Thanks to Rick Hendrick and HendrickCars.com for adding this race to the schedule and asking me to be a part of it. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is full of prestige and it was cool to win the Brickyard 400 there last year. I would love to have a good run with the Xfinity Series team this weekend and hopefully cap it off with a win on Sunday.”
Larson’s Indianapolis career has been very streaky, and last year’s race was an outlier. The 5 only led eight laps en route to the win, largely thanks to Brad Keselowski running out of fuel. Seven career IMS starts have led to four top-10s for Larson. Following a top-five day in Dover, Larson eyes another shot at victory lane.
Ryan Blaney
Speaking of Brad Keselowski’s Indy misfortunes, they also took Ryan Blaney out of contention for the Brickyard win. Restarting second beside Larson in overtime, the Penske No. 12 was no match for the 5 from the non-preferred outside lane. Blaney ultimately backslid to third, still his best Indy result in Cup.
12 months removed from this heartbreaking defeat, Blaney returns to Indianapolis seeking a redemptive victory. Team Penske cars always have an extra spotlight on them at Indy. Roger Penske will see his three missiles all try to deliver a trophy from his own track. Flat ovals have been Penske’s bread and butter track type in recent years too. Eighth in Dover also erased a three-week stretch of poor results for Blaney. Don’t put it past the 12 to be riding the victory lane elevator this weekend.
Chase Briscoe
Can a childhood dream be fulfilled for a native Hoosier this weekend? Mitchell, Indiana’s Chase Briscoe has been second for the last two weeks in 2025. He now faces his best chance yet at kissing the bricks. Growing up a Tony Stewart fan, some of Briscoe’s best memories are of Smoke climbing the Indy fence victorious. Briscoe has added confidence especially coming into this weekend.
“I’m so thankful that I got to run a Brickyard 400 in the 14 car just from a personal standpoint,” Briscoe said. “But I knew going there that the odds of us winning probably weren’t the highest, where now I feel like I have a legitimate shot to win the race. We’re actually taking our Pocono car to Indy, so I feel really, really good about it.”
“Outside of winning the championship, [the] Brickyard 400 is the biggest thing I could win. For me personally, I would put it over the Daytona 500. Nobody else probably would, but [I] was literally driving home from the shop the other day. And I just kind of like pictured for a moment, like what it would be like to win the Brickyard 400 and I had goosebumps.”
24th a season ago in his maiden Brickyard 400, that day saw the lifelong Stewart fan wheel the iconic No. 14. Now in the No. 19, Briscoe aims to become the fourth man to kiss the bricks with JGR. He would join his idol on this elite list. Battling for the win across the last two weeks only to come up one spot short, stars could be aligning for a fourth Indiana-born Brickyard winner.
Chase Elliott
One feat not yet seen in three decades of Brickyard 400 history is a father-son duo winning. Chase Elliott can change that this weekend–father Bill Elliott took this trophy in 2002. 23 years later, the No. 9 appears to be peaking in perfect time for this milestone race and to possibly leave its victory mark again.
“This race has always been important because it was one of the few races that I was old enough to be around that dad had won,” Elliott said. “So I think because of that, it’s always been just a little more special than the rest. And certainly, one of the few wins that I was around for. But more than that, it was the only marquee, major if you will, win that I was around for. So, it’s always been really special. I always knew how much that race meant to him. And you know because of that, I’ve always had a lot of admiration for the event. It’s always been something in my mind that I would love to match. And to be able to share that moment with the shoe on the other foot. I feel like that would be really, really cool.”
“The win was great, but I’m really proud of just our performance. Just kind of where we’ve been and the feel that I have in the car. I think we’re just talking about the right stuff.”
For the first time in a calendar year, Elliott enters a weekend atop the points. A perfect 21 top-20s to open this season is largely responsible for this. Elliott’s consistency was emphasized with a banner day in Dover last week. Leading 238 laps only to shuffle back to sixth, team 9 eyes vengeance after a win got away from them. Kissing the bricks may just be drowned out by the si-reen on Sunday.
Ty Gibbs
Twice before the Brickyard 400 has been the backdrop of a driver’s first career Cup Series victory. Following an eight-week stretch that’s seen him go from 27th to 16th in points, Ty Gibbs hopes to join this illustrious list. This same span has seen the No. 54 Toyota earn four top-10s, including the last three weeks. In short, a lot is resting on young Gibbs’ shoulders this weekend. He is also pinned against Ty Dillon for the $1 million In-Season Challenge finale.
The lone JGR car still without a 2025 win, it has become a company-wide effort to get the 54 in victory lane. Chris Gabehart as strategist has seen Gibbs trend forward with newfound speed and performance. This was shown with a fifth-place Dover showing. Throwing a $1 million check on top of an already high-stakes crown jewel race may just be the extra motivation team 54 needs to execute a flawless Sunday.
The century-plus old racetrack steeped in motorsports lore will write another page in its history book. Memories will be made when the Brickyard 400 goes green Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. One of racing’s most prestigious venues will see the 2025 NASCAR season’s next chapter unfold.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Justin Casterline/Getty Images
