Who Can Pucker Up for a Brickyard 400 Date with Destiny?

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NASCAR

Stratta’s Six: Who Will Master All Four Corners at the Brickyard 400?

For the 30th time ever, a raucous pack of stock cars will race around the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Brickyard 400 is back with a vengeance, getting ready to hand out a crown jewel trophy to one lucky team. 2026 marks the third year the iconic oval is back on the NASCAR calendar, with a career-defining win on the line. Here are a few drivers who hope to line up after 400 grueling miles to kiss the bricks at Indy, one of the sweetest victories in all of racing.

Denny Hamlin

Already having tamed the Daytona 500, Southern 500, and Coca-Cola 600, Denny Hamlin’s résumé misses only one major trophy. The Brickyard 400 has eluded Hamlin in 17 prior starts, but 2026 may be his best chance yet at Indy. Third here a year ago tied Hamlin’s best Brickyard finish, equaling this result three times. Hamlin eyes vanquishing the behemoth speedway in his 18th attempt.

“I’ve just been so close there that it certainly makes me hungry going there,” Hamlin said. “But it’s a track anywhere we are going over 150 mph in speed that’s where our cars have excelled this year. I feel very optimistic about it. It’s such an execution kind of weekend. It starts with practice and all the way through. It’s tough because if you don’t qualify well there your odds really dramatically sink of your opportunity to win the race unless there’s some weird cautions and fuel mileage and that stuff, which there has been. So, I wish you could control your fate a little bit more, but it’s still prestigious no matter what and it would certainly mean a ton to me.”

“Well, I would think, for me, [Sunday] would probably be more desperate. I’ve got a couple shots at this left, so I think more desperate. I’m certainly willing to take a few more risks here, whether it be on restarts or whatever it might be, if it’s a strategy, something to give us a shot to win, simply because this is like the Daytona 500, I really don’t see this as a race where I count points. I count, like, did you win or did you not? For me, I think that’s the most important thing. Hopefully we have we have all the pieces in place to do that, but there’s only so many risks you can take. If you’re 10 laps short on fuel, that’s a stupid risk. You’re not going to make it, right? But if you’re a couple, then are you willing to make that risk? I think that my team knows that that what I want them to do this weekend.”

Intermediate ovals like Indianapolis have been Hamlin’s bread and butter this season. The No. 11 has an average finish of 2.1 on this track type, trumping the rest of the field by a large gap. Hamlin recovered in a backup car to finish third here a year ago. On such an elevated performance level this season, there may be no stopping Hamlin. Indy would be Hamlin’s 22nd winning track and Sunday would be career win number 65. Despite his 0-17 record here, Hamlin still tops the charts as the prerace favorite for the Brickyard. Hamlin hopes to become the fifth man to sweep all four crown jewels with a career grand slam this weekend.

Kyle Larson

Since the Brickyard 400’s triumphant return two years ago, nobody’s been more lights-out around the oval than Kyle Larson. The 2024 winner backed up that victory with a very close runner-up result a year ago, losing the lead late. The dirt phenom owns five top-10s in eight career starts at Indy. Larson reflected on his crown jewel triumph two short years ago after a melancholic May from the Indy 500/Coke 600 double.

“Yeah, I remember it feeling, I don’t know if redemption is the right word, but it was just extra satisfying to have won given how the month of May went,” Larson said. “Just the way the race played out, it just felt like there was another power that wanted me to win. Just the way that the strategy worked out, people running out of fuel and inheriting the front row, it was just stuff that you can’t really script, or if you do, it’s going to sound fake. Yeah, it just seemed meant to be.”

“I enjoy this race and the strategy behind it because it takes your whole team. Every weekend does, but it seems to matter even more here. Your race strategy has to be good. Good pit stops are important, along with having a good car, a good driver and making the right decisions. All of that matters. I enjoy that side of it and just being in Indianapolis is fun because I get to see some friends.”

Still winless on the 2026 season, the Brickyard 400 presents another prime opportunity for Larson. Prior to bad luck the last three weeks, the No. 5 earned five top-fives in a six race span. Larson has been a front-running threat more times than not this season, his turn at victory lane will come sooner rather than later.

Ryan Blaney

Team Penske and Indianapolis are tied at the hip, with Roger Penske owning of the famed Speedway steeped in tradition. Penske’s top driver this year, Ryan Blaney still searches for his own maiden Brickyard triumph. Third in 2024 was Blaney’s best result around the 2.5-mile rectangle. The Ford driver now eyes to be a few steps higher on the podium this weekend.

“That place has always been special in general, let alone in our organization,” Blaney said. “When you sign up to race for Mr. Penske, you know that that’s an important place to him. It’s not talked about in the shop, it’s just known, and now that he’s owned the speedway for the last handful of years it’s even more – I wouldn’t say pressure to win there, but it’s more of a known in our building that if you can win at the bosses track, that means a lot to him that got him into racing when his dad took him there when he was a kid. You just know the meaning behind that place to him, and then obviously as a driver you want to put your name on there, so a big weekend. I hope we can deliver for him. We’ve got to catch up to the Indy Car guys, who are kicking our butt at that place on their track record at the Indy 500, so, hopefully, we have something for them next weekend. It would be the coolest thing to share a Victory Lane moment and kiss the bricks with Roger. That would be a heck of an experience.”

Blaney was in a neck and neck battle against Kyle Larson at the Brickyard two years ago for that win, but ultimately came up just short. In 2026, the No. 12’s been the picture of consistency lately, with 11-straight finishes of 11th or better. Blaney’s led the blue oval Ford brigade for much of this season as their standout driver. Do not be surprised if Blaney brings home Team Penske’s second Brickyard 400 trophy.

Chase Elliott

Across 29 past runnings of the Brickyard 400, a father/son duo have yet to win this race. Chase Elliott could change that trend this weekend, joining father Bill Elliott as Indianapolis conquerers. Chase Elliott does have fleeting memories of his father’s victory here in 2002, and would love nothing more than to join him as Brickyard 400 champion.

“First off, I’m glad it’s back on the big track,” Elliott said. “I certainly understood the reason for the change, and I respect the effort to try and do something different. It just kind of felt, from my seat at least, that the Brickyard is a really big deal and it always has been in our sport ever since I was a kid. I just felt like that race belongs on the big track. I just think it feels better. Whether the race is good or not, suck it up and we’ll just run it on the big track. And if it’s a good show, it’s a good show. If it’s not, it’s not. And at the end of the day, I think that race winner should come from the big track itself.”

“I totally support that decision, regardless of what the race looks like. That was one of the very few races that I was old enough to even have a few memories from or even just be in the pictures of dad’s wins, which was really, really neat. Even then, I knew how big of a deal that was. It was evident in the way he acted and in the way that race was portrayed. Even as a child, you could tell the meaning behind it. So, I think for that reason, it always has carried a little more weight than some of the others. I would love to check that box for a lot of reasons, with that one being the number one. But I have never won a big crown jewel race. I’ve been close on a handful of occasions, but never gotten across that bridge, so it would be as good of a place, if not the best, to make that happen.”

Across eight past Brickyard 400 starts, Elliott’s best bout around Indianapolis was fittingly a ninth-place outing. Despite being fifth in points, Elliott’s last top-10 was seven races ago. Team No. 9 has flawlessly executed two races already this season, and look to grab their biggest victory yet at the Brickyard.

Bubba Wallace

Last year saw Bubba Wallace earn the biggest victory of his life by taming Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The maiden crown jewel triumph for 23XI Racing and driver 23 erased a nearly three-year losing drought, and propelled him into the Playoffs. 12 months removed from this career-defining moment, Wallace will try and run it back across the yard of bricks.

Wallace’s 2026 season to date has been highlighted by three top-fives and 10 top-10s, including sixth in two of the last three weeks. This has Wallace ranked 13th in the Chase standings, 69 points above the cut line. Coming to a track where he’s far from lacking in confidence, Wallace eyes jumping further up the standings after Sunday.

Joey Logano

If not for an untimely flat tire last year, it could have been Joey Logano celebrating as the Brickyard 400 winner. 2025’s race saw the Penske No. 22 cycle out ahead of Wallace, only to cut a tire. Logano’s best Indy result has been second twice, and he’s gunning to cross IMS off the winless list.

“Indy is one of those places where a lot of times your aggressive racer excels, whether that’s on restarts or strategy,” Logano said. “If you’re willing to risk a lot, you can find yourself in position to win it. That same person can also be on the other side of it where they’re torn up or miss the strategy completely and finish 25th, but it is definitely a place where you’re willing to take some risks because, one, it’s Indy, but, two, it’s very challenging to make passes later on in the run, so you’ve got to get them while you can.”

Last week’s winner from North Wilkesboro, Logano will try and go back-to-back at the Brickyard. Erasing a 45-race winless streak, Logano hopes to keep his winning ways alive and stay in Chase contention.

One of NASCAR’s most prestigious events, the Brickyard 400 trophy eyes a new suitor. The Racing Capital of the World will soon be alive again with stock car thunder. Sunday’s green flag is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on TNT, the IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. As the regular season winds down, a crown jewel event eagerly awaits all drivers.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Justin Casterline/Getty Images