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In The Know – Indianapolis

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (Round 24 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 13

●  Location:  Indianapolis Motor Speedway

●  Layout:  2.439-mile, 14-turn road course

●  Laps/Miles:  82 laps / 200 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 15 laps / Stage 2: 20 laps / Final Stage: 47 laps

●  TV/Radio:  NBC / IMS Radio Network / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

Despite running the road course at Indianapolis, Indy is still an oval thing for Harvick. The venerable 2.5-mile rectangle hosted 27 NASCAR Cup Series races, and Harvick competed in 20 of them, putting up impressive numbers in the crown-jewel Brickyard 400 – three wins, three poles, eight top-fives and 14 top-10s with 389 laps led. The only other active Cup Series driver even close to those numbers is Kyle Busch with two wins, two poles, five top-fives and 12 top-10s with 324 laps led. Harvick also holds the title of reigning Brickyard 400 winner, a title he has held for four years. Harvick won the last two Brickyard 400s (2019-2020) before the Cup Series switched to the road course in 2021.

Aric Almirola:

Aric Almirola has 36 road-course starts in the NASCAR Cup Series with two top-10 finishes and a best of eighth at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in 2018. His road-course results include five top-20s at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International with a best finish of 12th in 2019, three top-20s on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval with a best of 14th in 2019, and 12th-place finish in the non-points Busch Clash in 2020 on the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course. While Almirola is seeking a victory in the NASCAR Cup Series to catapult him into the 2023 NASCAR Playoffs, he raced his way to victory lane June 10 in the Xfinity Series race at Sonoma.

Chase Briscoe:

As a child growing up in Mitchell, Indiana, Briscoe dreamed of going from the dirt track to the Indy oval, just like his hero and Indiana native Tony Stewart. Though the 2020 win didn’t come on the iconic 2.-5-mile oval, it was one for the record books as Briscoe became the first driver to win a NASCAR race on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indy road course. He had watched Stewart pilot his NASCAR Cup Series car on Sundays before he headed back to the bullrings to compete in his dirt car. Stewart, the Brickyard 400 winner in 2005 and 2007, ran several races against his father Kevin, giving the youngest Briscoe plenty of time to learn how best to emulate his hero. When Stewart won at Indy, he climbed the fence, so Chase Briscoe climbed it, too, in 2020. He kneeled in front of the Yard of Bricks in his HighPoint.com firesuit and finally took his turn to kiss the bricks as he had dreamed of doing as a kid growing up in Mitchell. The 2020 season continued with a playoff berth that carried all the way to the championship race in Phoenix. Briscoe didn’t earn the title that year, but the support from HighPoint.com allowed Briscoe to continue chasing his dream as the next driver of the No. 14 Ford Mustang in the Cup Series.

Ryan Preece:

unday’s race will mark Preece’s second start on the Indianapolis road course. His first race on the circuit came in 2021 for JTG-Daugherty Racing. He started 30th and was credited with a 35th-place finish after being involved in an incident on lap 77. In the season’s first road-course race March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, Preece started 26th and was vying for a solid top-10 finish before being spun during the final restart, leaving him with a 32nd-place finish. In the season’s second road-course race June 11 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, Preece started 22nd and finished 13th. Preece competed in the ARCA Menards West race at Sonoma to gain extra seat time on the road course. He started on the pole and won the race after leading 50 laps. When the series conducted its first-ever street race July 2 in downtown Chicago, Preece started 28th and finished 15th. The No. 41 team has shown improvements on road courses and hope that will continue this weekend in Indianapolis.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:


Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang:

You’ve got three Brickyard 400 wins, including the last two at the oval. What are your thoughts going into Indy one final time?

“Indy’s a special place, and obviously I’d rather race on the oval. But the good news is I won the last two on the oval, so I’ll always go out a winner on the oval. That feels good to me because Indy’s always been a pretty special place because of growing up a Rick Mears fan and wanting to race at the Indy 500 and all of the things that I wanted to do as a kid.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang:

Did your Xfinity Series win at Sonoma give you more confidence on road courses?

“Well, Sonoma is by far my favorite road course because of the long flowing style of the course compared to these other road courses that are extremely technical. We had a really fast car and the team made some really good calls to put us in position to win. It’s definitely in the back of my mind that I have more confidence knowing I can win at road courses, but the Cup cars are so drastically different than the Xfintiy cars that it doesn’t really transfer.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang:

What are your earliest memories of racing at Indy, as a fan or driver?

“One of my first racing memories is going to get my first firesuit. It was across from the tunnel in turns one and two at Indy. The guy’s name was Jim Bob Luger and he would do embroidery on uniforms. I remember going there, getting my first uniform, driving up to the end to get our first Quarter Midget and racing in Indy, for my first-ever race. So, I just felt like every time you were going to Indy, it meant you’re going to get something racing-related. As a kid, I didn’t really go to Indy outside of that, so it was always about racing. The first time I ever saw the speedway, I remember just being blown away by how big it was.”

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 Purdue University Ford Mustang:

It seems like Indianapolis Motor Speedway is always really special for drivers because of its history. What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

“For me, I enjoy the road courses and I think they’re always another opportunity to win – for sure. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Brickyard and the oval, but I think the road racing can definitely kind of put a variable in there that maybe we can squeeze one out. But it’s really just a special place, there’s so much history there on the oval, it’s special to be able to look back and say you’ve raced at a track like Indy. I think there’s some added confidence, too, knowing that I’ve had some decent finishes at road courses, and they’re so unpredictable.”