Cup Drivers Excited for Indy Oval Return
Alex Bowman (#88) and Denny Hamlin (#11) lead the field to the green flag in the 2020 Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race on the 2.5-mile oval. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
After a three-year run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, NASCAR’s Cup Series returns to the famed 2.5-mile oval for Sunday’s 30th Anniversary Brickyard 400 Presented by PPG.
In an attempt to breathe new life into a one-time crown jewel of the Cup Series schedule, track owner Roger Penske led the effort to move the race and its Xfinity Series companion event onto the speedway’s infield road course. But the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is all about history and tradition, neither of which the road course possesses, at least not yet.
So to mark the 30th anniversary of NASCAR racing at Indy, the decision was made to bring back the Brickyard 400 on the oval. Overwhelmingly, the reaction in the Cup Series garage has been positive.
“Yeah, I mean I’m super excited,” said William Byron, winner of this year’s Daytona 500. “I think this was a decision that a lot of drivers wanted. I think it will be difficult to pass, which isn’t abnormal with this car. But I think it will come down to strategy and execution; your qualifying and everything.
“I’m excited for it. I think the track is fun to make laps on. I’m sure it will be tricky with the Next Gen car…probably a little bit edgy. But I think it will be everything we want as drivers, to be back on the oval with the history that it has.”
For Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry, when he think’s of racing at Indy, it’s racing on the oval, and not the road course.
I think Indianapolis Motor Speedway is so historic, and when you think of NASCAR at Indy, you think of the Brickyard 400 on the oval, right? So, to me, it’s a no-brainer to be there on the oval, and it’s going to be really special to run laps there. I’ve been to Indy on the road course but not the oval. So, it’s going to be a challenge learning that, but it’s super exciting to go there and it’s going to be a challenge learning that. It’s a marquee event that we all want to run really well in.”
Michael McDowell celebrates his win in last year’s Verizon 200 run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports, won last year’s race on the road course. McDowell, who has a road racing background, wishes there was a way to have two races at Indy; one on the oval and another on the road course.
“I know people won’t believe me when I say this, but I am. I wish we were still racing on the road course, or had a doubleheader, but I believe we should be racing on the oval at Indy as well. Just its history and it’s different. The feel is different. It’s no different than the Indy 500 versus the Indy Grand Prix when the INDYCAR guys run on the road course. It’s still a cool race and still a cool weekend, but it’s not the Indy 500.
“I’m excited about going back to the oval and I’m looking forward to it,” McDowell continued. “I’ve been in the sport a long time so I have a lot of seat time there. Some other guys do, but a lot of the guys don’t. I look at that as an opportunity, and I’ve driven a lot of different packages here from low downforce to high downforce, no drag to a lot of drag, a thousand horsepower to five hundred horsepower. I feel like I’ve experienced a lot here and I’m looking forward to getting the Next Gen car on the Indy oval and see what it can do.”
While the Next Gen car has improved the racing at tracks like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway, that doesn’t guarantee the competition will be better than it was previously on Indy’s oval.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin has tempered expectations about NASCAR’s return to Indy’s oval.
“Yeah, I mean if you’re crazy about side-by-side racing, it probably won’t be for you.
“But it’s just a big event and you know, it’s still over time, some of the best cars with the best engines, best aerodynamics, best execution on pit road, all of those things equals a win at that track. There's very many different ways you can win in NASCAR, right? It doesn’t always have to be through the normal competition that always happened. We've seen fuel mileage be a part of the last few winners and things like that.
“Indy will be no different. It'll be an execution race. You'll need to qualify well, but you just never know what can happen. Strategy is big there. I do hope that these cars have enough drag down the straightaway to create slingshot-like passes like what we have on the IndyCars at that track. The only thing that’ll limit that is I think our corner speed is just a hair too fast for the second-place guy to stay close enough to make that work. It'll be tough, but I think on new tires, there’s a shot to see something pretty great.
“The purist needs to be looking at the strategy part of it.”
Sunday’s Brickyard 400 is scheduled for 2:30pm/et.