Qualifying Results : Indianapolis Motor Speedway

• Friday, July 25th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

The Brickyard Showdown: Playoff Pressure and a $1M Twist Heat Up Indy

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval will bring two significant conclusions—the championship round of the $1-million-to-win In-Season Challenge and the end of TNT’s five-race run as a broadcast partner for this season.

Ty Dillon’s matchup against Ty Dillon in the finals of the In-Season Challenge will receive considerable, well-deserved attention in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG (2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The novel tournament, introduced this year, won’t be the only focus, not with the 26-race Cup Series regular season nearing conclusion and Playoff spots still very much in play.

By finishing ahead of Gibbs in Sunday’s race, Dillon could complete an improbable run as 32nd seed in the 32-driver Challenge field.

“I feel like we’ve already won this thing, no matter what happens on Sunday,” said Dillon, who picked up his only career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2014.

“I know this is an awesome moment in time for myself, my family and Kaulig Racing, but in a few weeks, life’s going to move on, and hopefully we continue to get better and we win races and continue to stay in the spotlight.”

Certain to stay in the spotlight over the next few weeks are the drivers on either side of the elimination line for the Cup Series Playoffs. Currently, after a seventh-place finish last Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway, Bubba Wallace holds the 16th and final Playoff-eligible position by 16 points over Ryan Preece.

Twelve drivers—Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Shane van Gisbergen, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Josh Berry—already have scored wins this season and are presumed safe for Playoff berths.

With a 156-point margin above the elimination line and just five races left in the regular season, Tyler Reddick likewise is all but certain to qualify for the Playoffs. Alex Bowman helped himself with a third-place run at Dover and is 14th on the potential Playoff grid, 63 points to the good.

Despite a career-average finish of 33.0 on the Indy oval, Bowman is cautiously optimistic about his chances on Sunday.

“We’ve had a good stretch lately, and Dover was another step in the right direction for our (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports) team,” Bowman said. “Indy hasn’t been our strongest track, but with the way we’ve been running, I feel like we’re in a position to keep building on this momentum and have a solid weekend at The Brickyard.”

At the top of the standings, the race for the Regular Season Championship—not to mention the bonus of 15 Playoff points—has tightened considerably over the past few weeks.

With a sixth-place run at Dover, Chase Elliott knocked Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron out of the top spot in the standings, a position Byron had held for 17 of the first 20 weeks in the season.

Elliott now leads Byron by 16 points, third-place Kyle Larson by 38 and Dover winner Denny Hamlin by 39.

Byron’s race at Dover ended 14 laps short of its double-overtime finish after Bell spun while battling for the lead and ignited a wreck that sidelined Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet.

“Last weekend (was) a tough one,” said Byron, who has posted just one finish better than 27th in his last five races (eighth at Sonoma). “We ran basically in the top five all day just to get involved in someone else’s mess at the end.

“It sucks, but we have to move on and focus on Indy now. We obviously have the speed, just need the finishes at this point. I think we’ve shown how strong we are with having no practice in Dover and running up front all day. We have a long practice this weekend since we’re back on the oval, which will be nice to really get the car dialed in.”

• Saturday, July 26th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Briscoe's Brickyard Dream: Indy Native Nabs Third Crown Jewel Pole

Five was the magic number for Toyota at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG.

First and foremost, Indiana native Chase Briscoe won his fifth pole of the season with a lap at 183.165 mph (49.136 seconds), edging Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing (183.117 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.013 seconds.

Briscoe, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry, and Wallace led a Toyota sweep of the first five starting positions, the first time the car maker has claimed the top five spots for any Cup Series race at any track.

Erik Jones of LEGACY Motor Club qualified third at 182.749 mph, followed by Tyler Reddick (182.678 mph) and Ty Gibbs (182.445 mph).

William Byron (182.031 mph) was sixth in the fastest Chevrolet, and seventh-place starter Chris Buescher led the Ford contingent with a lap at 182.013 mph.

In Sunday’s race, Briscoe will start from the front row for the seventh time this season, having been second on the grid for the previous two races, at Sonoma and Dover. Briscoe has claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for all three Crown Jewel races this season—the DAYTONA 500, Coca-Cola 600 and now the Brickyard 400.

For a driver who spent his childhood as a spectator at Indianapolis, the pole is a dream fulfilled.

“I thought I was going to lose it a couple times, but I was able to hold onto it,” Biscoe said of his edgy qualifying lap. “I’m holding back tears. This is such a special moment for me. Even hearing the crowd as I got the pole is just super cool.

“Hopefully, I can keep it up there (Sunday). That’s the one that we want to win… Just being from literally 70 miles down the road (in Mitchell, Indiana) and coming here as a kid… and just dreaming of being able to come to this place, sitting in the same grandstands as the fans are, I dreamed of being on the other side of the fence, and now to do that is just unbelievable.”

The seventh pole of Briscoe’s career wasn’t secure, however, until his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin (the final qualifier) caromed off the Safer barrier in Turn 2 and nosed into the inside wall, destroying his No. 11 Camry.

Hamlin had an edge of more than 0.2 seconds over Briscoe through the first corner before his car stepped out in the second turn at the 2.5-mile track. Hamlin will start at the rear in a backup car on Sunday.

Gibbs will start 21positions ahead of Ty Dillon as the two drivers battle for the $1-million top prize in the In-Season Challenge. The higher finisher will take home the check.

Series leader Chase Elliott made an adroit save in Turn 2 on his qualifying lap but lost time in the corner and will start 30th. Elliott has a 16-point lead over Byron with five races left in the regular season.

Wallace, the last driver above the current elimination line for the Cup Series Playoffs, will start Sunday’s race with a 16-point edge over Ryan Preece, who qualified 23rd.

Carson Hocevar, AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric completed the top 10 on the grid.

• Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Brickyard 400
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Chase Briscoe
• Age: 30
• Team : No 19 - Bass Pro Shops Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: James Small
• Chase Briscoe won the Pole Award for the Brickyard 400 with a lap of 49136 seconds, 183165 mph
• This is his seventh pole in 166 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his fifth pole and 12th top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Bubba Wallace (second) posted his eighth top-10 start of 2025 and his first in five races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Erik Jones (third) posted his second top-10 start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway It is his fourth in 22 races this season
• Shane Van Gisbergen (11th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Sunday, July 27th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Bubba Wallace Punches Playoff Ticket With Epic Brickyard 400 Victory

Mother Nature wasn’t going to deprive Bubba Wallace of the most important win of his career, not on this Sunday afternoon.

Unsure of the amount of fuel left in his No. 23 Toyota, Wallace survived a rain shower and two overtime restarts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to win the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG in two overtimes he punched his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Wallace was comfortably ahead of runner-up Kyle Larson with four laps left in regulation, but the sudden shower forced NASCAR to call the fifth caution of the afternoon.

The rain was gone almost as quickly as it appeared, and after a short stoppage to dry the track, Wallace pulled ahead of Larson on the first overtime restart. A five-car accident on the backstretch, however, sent the race to a second extra period.

Wallace stayed on track for the next restart—hoping his fuel would last—again pulled away from Larson and this time took the white flag without incident. After one more circuit, he crossed the finish line 0.222 seconds ahead of Larson to claim the trophy in the Crown Jewel event.

The third victory of Wallace’s career ended a 100-race dry spell dating to Sept. 11, 2022 at Kansas Speedway. He led 30 laps, including the last 26, as the race went eight circuits beyond the scheduled 160.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m just so proud of this team,” Wallace said. “That adrenaline rush is crazy, ‘cause I’m coming off that right now—and I’m worn out.”

After pausing to hug wife Amanda and hold his 10-month-old son Becks aloft in front of the cheering crowd in the grandstands, Wallace continued.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “To win here at the Brickyard, knowing how big this race is, knowing all the noise that’s going on in the background, to set that all aside is a testament to these people here on this 23 team. It’s been getting old right around the cut line (for the Playoffs).”

Wallace, who started on the front row beside pole winner Chase Briscoe, ran consistently in the top five but didn’t take control of the race until after he pitted on Lap 119 during a cycle of green-flag stops early in the final stage.

He took the lead for good when Ryan Blaney pitted on Lap 142 and enjoyed an advantage of more than five seconds after the stops cycled out. Though Larson made inroads into Wallace’s advantage, he wasn’t in position to challenge for the victory until the rain came.

After the shower, Wallace prevailed on the restarts against one of the top drivers in motorsports.

“There’s nothing you can do here to pass, so, no, I don’t really think there was anything I could do differently,” said Larson, the defending Brickyard 400 winner. “I was second gear on the first restart, and honestly, that one worked out a little bit better, but he almost got clear of me down the frontstretch.

“And then on the second restart, he brought the pace down a little bit slower, so I needed to be first gear. It was kind of the same thing with me last year—he had the preferred lane on the inside, and it’s really hard to beat that.”

Denny Hamlin, who co-owns Wallace’s 23XI Racing car with former NBA superstar Michael Jordan, finished third after crashing in Turn 2 during qualifying and starting the race from the rear in a backup car.

In the finals of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, Ty Gibbs claimed the $1-million prize by finishing 21st to Ty Dillon’s 28th. The battle wasn’t as close as the respective finishing positions might suggest.

Dillon went a lap down to then-leader Austin Cindric on Lap 78, sustained damage to the nose of this No. 10 Chevrolet during a restart and finished three laps in arrears.

“One million is a lot of money, so I’m going to donate $10,000 to whichever charity Ty Dillon wants to give to,” Gibbs said. “It’s his choice.”

“But we had a fast SAIA LTL Freight Toyota Camry. Didn’t end up where we wanted to in the end. We just lost track position and (were out of the running) to win the race.”

Ryan Preece finished fourth on Sunday but remains 42 points below the current elimination line for the Playoffs with four races left in the regular season. Brad Keselowski was fifth, posting his third top-five result of the season.

Todd Gilliland, Blaney, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10.

Cindric led a race-high 40 laps to 34 for Briscoe.

William Byron saw his bid to retake the series lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott fall apart on the final lap. Byron took the green flag for the final overtime restart in third but ran out of fuel and fell to 16th at the finish.

Byron trails Elliott by four points in the chase for the regular-season championship. Larson is 15 points back in third.

• Drivers Entered: 39
• Laps Scheduled: 160
• Laps Actual: 168 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.222 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 22 Minutes 15 Seconds
• Average Speed: 124.598
• Cautions: 6 for 28 laps
• Lead Changes: 15
• Green Flag Passes: 2,304 (16.5 passes per green flag lap)

• Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Brickyard 400
• Race Winner: Bubba Wallace
• Age: 31
• Team : No 23 - Chumba Casino Toyota
• Owner: Michael Jordan
• Crew Chief: Charles Denike
• Bubba Wallace won the Brickyard 400, his third victory in 277 Cup Series races
• This is his first victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in five races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Kyle Larson (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in eight races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway It is his 14th top-10 finish in 2025
• Denny Hamlin (third) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 17 races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Shane Van Gisbergen (19th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Chase Elliott leads the point standings by 4 points over William Byron