SPEEDWAY, Ind.: Following a three-year absence from racing on the iconic 2.5-mile oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR Cup drivers couldn’t wait to return to the track on Friday.
While the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit provided a nice change of pace, the event simply didn’t carry the cachet of the Brickyard 400.
Michael McDowell, the last NASCAR driver to win on the road course at 16th and Georgetown, understands the move—even after seeing the billboard-size banner commemorating his victory hanging outside of the track.
“Winning here is special,” McDowell said. “When you’re talking about the road courses versus the oval, the oval is prestigious. The Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 are prestigious events.
“Not to say that the road course isn’t prestigious, because absolutely anytime that you win at Indy, it’s prestigious, but to do it on the traditional yard of bricks, going the right direction, I think would probably one-up the road course victory.”
Prior to Roger Penske purchasing IMS, Brad Keselowski delivered the Captain’s first Xfinity and Cup wins at the Yard of Bricks. Keselowski won the inaugural Xfinity Series race in 2012. Six years later, he added Cup hardware to Team Penske’s trophy case.
“It’s a return of a crown jewel race, which is great,” Keselowski said. “I don’t think anyone really considered the road course a crown jewel race, so it kind of returns back to that status. I think that’s huge for our sport and it means a lot to me as a driver and I’m assuming it does for the other drivers as well. So, a welcome return.
“It’s not going to be an easy race. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of drama on pit road and with respect to how the cars will draft and how they’ll run nose-to-tail around the track and all those pieces, and we’re still going to go back to some of those headaches, but I think we kind of learned that that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That’s part of what made Indy, Indy, right?
“And so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out with tires and all those things along the line, but I think it’s very meaningful to me to see it back on the quad-oval.”
Keselowski and Kyle Busch remain the only full-time active drivers to have won the 400, though four-time Brickyard winner Jimmie Johnson also is racing on Sunday.
McDowell, along with AJ Allmendinger and Tyler Reddick, were victorious on the road course. Of the three drivers who won the grand prix, Reddick appears to have the best shot of claiming victories on each course. Not only did the 23XI Racing driver lead practice but he posted the Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average.
“It’s certainly interesting how the draft works—and the dirty air that comes with it, is a challenge,” Reddick said after practice. “It was just a big learning session…We were pretty spread out, so we could all run a pretty good pace. I would expect a lot of mistakes on Sunday when we’re all packed up on restarts.”
Reddick believes passing will be tricky. He believes that drivers will need to exercise discipline and avoid putting themselves in compromising positions.
“We’ll get through Turn 1 OK,” Reddick believes. “Turn 2 is going to be sketchy. Turn 2 will be a tough corner. The speeds carrying into 1 won’t quite be at full speed. It will be somewhat challenging.
“But once we get over to Turn 2, I think it will be a little more. Turn 3 might be worse but we’ll probably spread out by the time we get down there.”
Alex Bowman, who was fifth on the speed chart and sixth in Best 10 Consecutive Lap Averages, thought Reddick was the class of the field.
“He was the fastest thing here by a mile,” Bowman said. “He ran me down like I was tied to a post. Then I couldn’t do a damn thing. Passing is going to be difficult. Guys are going to be aggressive because you’re never going to get those spots back. It’s going to be a track position race.
“This place is unique, right? It’s narrow. It’s really sensitive with this car. If you get a little too high, you’re on ice. Definitely tricky. ”
Despite the challenges, the competitors remain in favor of NASCAR’s return to the oval.
“It feels like it was meant to be,” Christopher Bell said with a smile.
For Denny Hamlin, the last three years on the road course have seemed like an eternity. With three Daytona 500 and three Southern 500 wins, plus at Coca-Cola 600 victory, all Hamlin needs is the Brickyard 400 to complete the NASCAR slam. The 43-year-old racer never gave up hope.
“I always felt we would come back here one day,” Hamlin said. “I was never resigned to the road course becoming a permanent thing. I just didn’t know how long my career would go at that point, right? I was, at the time, 40. I don’t have that many chances left. It’s less than what’s on my hand I would think.
“You just have to take advantage of every opportunity. 2020 was an enormous opportunity. 2018 was a very underrated opportunity. Brad caught a caution there that really was untimely for us. I’ve always felt I’ve been in contention here. I’ve just never got it done. It’s a gaping hole on the resume. It would complete all the majors.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
