Seven-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson will reunite with his famed No. 48 in the 2027 Daytona 500 as he caps his NASCAR Cup Series career, Rick Hendrick announced Sunday alongside Johnson on the “NASCAR Nation Pre-Race” show on TNT Sports.
Johnson, owner of Legacy Motor Club, will pilot the No. 48 Toyota in an agreement with Hendrick Motorsports to allow Johnson the fitting sendoff.
“This is far more than a number,” Johnson said in a release. “The 48 represents people, relationships, memories and a chapter of my life that shaped who I am. To have the opportunity to make one final Cup Series start carrying that number is something I never imagined. I’m incredibly grateful to Rick, Hendrick Motorsports, Ally and everyone who made this possible. It’s a gesture I’ll carry with me forever.”
The entirety of Johnson’s illustrious full-time NASCAR career came while driving the No. 48 car at Hendrick Motorsports, collecting each of his 83 race wins and seven championships with that number donning the side of his vehicle.
A two-time Daytona 500 champion and four-time Brickyard 400 winner, Johnson made his Cup Series debut in the No. 48 car in 2001 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and carried the number in 686 of his 702 career starts, making his most recent appearance in the No. 48 in the 2020 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
“The No. 48 is part of Hendrick Motorsports’ history, and it’s forever connected to Jimmie,” Hendrick, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a release. “When Jimmie asked about using the number for his final race, it just felt right. Ally immediately understood why it mattered, too. They’ve always valued relationships, and their willingness to be part of this says everything about the kind of partner they are. Seeing Jimmie back in the No. 48 at Daytona one last time will be quite a moment.”
Since returning to NASCAR in 2023, Johnson has 16 part-time starts for Legacy, all while driving the No. 84 car. Johnson has led 18,941 laps in his career but none since piloting the No. 84. His return to the No. 48 for one final race creates the opportunity to add to his already enshrined legacy with a number near and dear to his heart.
Alex Bowman is the current driver of the No. 48 car for Hendrick Motorsports. In conjunction with Johnson’s reunion with the number he made famous, Bowman will instead drive a different numbered car to be determined later for the 2027 Daytona 500. Bowman announced Thursday the 2027 season will be his last before retiring from full-time NASCAR competition.
The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series take on the famed Brickyard this weekend for their annual stop at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be in action at the nearby Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.
Race day: Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.
Tires: Five total sets — three new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and one for practice. If needed, three wet-weather sets will also be available.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — After two championships and 26 wins since joining Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson is used to success.
That makes his current 45-race winless streak all the tougher to reconcile, his longest such drought since joining the organization back in 2021 and all after clinching the Cup Series crown last November at Phoenix Raceway.
But with five races remaining in the 2026 regular season, neither Larson nor No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels are sounding the panic bells. Instead, they’re relishing the opportunity to grow with new players like mechanic Mark Hudson and engineers Nathan Woodby, Ryan Bradley and Jarrett Schalch joining the fray while learning through adversity.
“We started the year with four new team members,” Daniels told NASCAR.com in a Friday interview. “And I try really hard to look at evaluating our process and how does our weekly flow go, and how does our at-track execution through practice and through qualifying and getting race changes done on Sunday (go). We have improved a lot as a team just in what that is. So a lot of confidence comes with that. Even if our outcomes aren’t where we want, we’re getting more and more confident just in our process.”
Make no mistake: The team is well aware of the goose egg that sits in their win column entering Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In fact, Hendrick Motorsports as a whole has just two wins through 21 races, both courtesy of Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team. This is unusual territory for a team of Hendrick’s stature, backed by 15 championships and 322 victories. But Daniels isn’t shying away from that story.
“I think it’s important to talk about because Hendrick hasn’t had much of a winning season this year that we are typically accustomed to having, and so the conversations we’ve been having internally is a great look in the mirror,” Daniels said. “It’s a great reminder of just how, if you feel like you’re a percent or two off in a couple areas, this sport is tough. And the garage continues to rise to a higher and higher level every year, and we’re getting pushed to get better. So while there may be growing pains, that is also a really good thing because we’re pushing ourselves to get better — and that’s in every department from how we build the cars, how we prepare the cars, how we pit the cars, engineering and simulation and all of those things. So we’re going to continue to grow and get better.
“We do need to find our way back to Victory Lane as a company, but we have a lot of the right people to do it. Everybody has stuck together. Mr. Hendrick came to us this week and just reminded us (of) the process of continuous improvement, and it is OK to be reminded when you aren’t great of digging in, finding the things to make yourself better. Know that there’s going to be a little bit of a runway to go achieve that, just from a timing standpoint. And as long as everybody’s bought into that, which we are, then I’m confident that our company and our team can get right back to where we need to be. So the growth is tough but necessary.”
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
The results of the last three weeks paint a disappointing picture: 34th at both Chicagoland Speedway and EchoPark Speedway before a 15th-place finish, two laps down, at North Wilkesboro Speedway. But context matters too. Larson led 23 laps at Chicagoland before spinning from second; his EchoPark drive was strong before getting collected in a multicar crash late; and early pit-road damage at North Wilkesboro forced Larson to charge from the rear multiple times, walking away with a top-15 finish.
Before those three weeks, Larson finished top five in five of the prior six races, signaling potential even if the ultimate result — a win — has yet to materialize.
“I think we’re a fourth- to seventh-place car and just need to do our best to finish there,” Larson said Friday. “And if you continue to run in that window, you’ll have some wins hopefully — (the) opportunity for wins pop up. But yeah, I mean, we’re always working hard to get better. And I mean, (we’re) working harder probably than ever to get better, so yeah, hopefully it’ll come together.”
Another encouraging takeaway for Daniels has been the team’s patience in execution. That extends from Larson himself to the team members servicing the No. 5 Chevrolet.
“I think we’ve made mistakes in the past of trying too hard to get it all at once,” Daniels said. “And now, the game has just been refined so much by everybody in the garage that little moments of execution can really impact your day. So we need to be solid just on the baseline of what’s in the car and make sure we don’t miss those little moments of execution to do it right. And you’ve seen when we have missed it, it’s impacted our day very negatively. And when we get it right, we’re right up there with all the good guys.”
But if one thing is constant in Daniels’ leadership, it is his love of the process, the drive to derive the best of his teammates for a common goal — now in pursuit of a second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship.
“There’s a lot of fun in learning some new guys and how to update your process with new guys that come in that have a little different skill sets and personalities,” Daniels said. “And then once you get through some of the growing pains, how to keep putting it together in a more efficient way, in a more productive way, and we’ve been able to do exactly that. Very much appreciate the guys that left us at the end of last year because they had a great tenure with our team, and now we’re excited of building around this new group.
“And I think there’s a lot of strength that we’ve been building over the summer. And sometimes, you have to go through difficulty and you have to go through those challenges just to know how to update your process and how to have the experience of when things don’t go well. Unfortunately, that’s just part of life. That’s part of competition. Again, we’re trying not to get too caught up in the outcomes. Of course, we have a job to do. Of course, we have outcomes to go achieve. But long before the outcome, you’ve got to have the team chemistry. You’ve got to have the process. You’ve got to have the daily discipline of how you go to work, and that’s what our team has. And we’re going to keep building on that.”
HAMPTON, Va. – As Caden Kvapil wrapped up the pre-race autograph session before Saturday’s Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway, he managed to catch the closing laps of the Pennzoil 250 for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
That’s where Caden’s older brother Carson Kvapil fended off a late charge from JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier for his maiden O’Reilly Series victory. Thrilled to see his brother finally break through in the O’Reilly Series, Caden turned his attention back to the Hampton Heat, determined to find Victory Lane himself.
Caden easily picked up where Carson left off at Indianapolis. After conserving his tires inside the top 10 during the first 100 laps, Caden methodically worked his way to the front to secure a checkered flag in his first attempt at the Hampton Heat.
For as much as Indianapolis has tested drivers like Carson for more than 100 years, Caden endured plenty of his own obstacles trying to figure out Langley’s flat layout. That’s why it was a tremendous source of pride for Caden to overcome those issues and prevail in Langley’s most cherished event.
“It’s a really cool night for me,” Caden Kvapil said. “[Langley] is not easy, and I really don’t have a whole lot of laps here. I ran the CARS Tour race earlier this year, finished third there and honestly didn’t think I liked the track. Now that we came back here and [were] able to get the win at the Hampton Heat, it’s probably one of my new favorites, I guess.”
Caden had plenty of experience to guide him to a prestigious crown jewel victory like the Hampton Heat; not just through Carson or JR Motorsports, but also his father in 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil.
From the moment the Kvapil brothers showed an interest in motorsports, Travis made sure to instill into them a rigid, blue-collar mindset that included working on their cars. This was not an easy path for either to take, but Travis knew success would find his sons if they knew all the little details on how to make a car go fast.
Travis has been validated in this belief on numerous occasions.
Carson and Caden have won a combined four championships on the CARS Tour platform. Carson’s efficiency on short tracks eventually guided him to a full-time O’Reilly Series ride with JR Motorsports, which now has Caden in the team’s flagship No. 88 Late Model Stock after a successful part-time campaign in 2025.
As each brother goes through his own journey, Travis does everything possible to be with them every step of the way. Travis plays an active role in helping JR Motorsports set up Caden’s Late Model Stock, but he is always ready to provide advice to Carson even when they are hundreds of miles away from one another.
Travis watched intently on his phone as Carson crossed the yard of bricks at Indianapolis to win in his 64th O’Reilly Series start. Seeing Caden take home a Hampton Heat checkered flag in person only a few hours later was the perfect conclusion to one of the most rewarding race weekends of Travis’ life.
“We’ve won CARS Tour races in the same day, but this is another level of incredible,” Travis said. “Both these boys continue to amaze me every time we go racing. They’ve developed into incredible race-car drivers. There’s been so much work to get to this point, but more so, I’m super blessed to have car owners that give these kids opportunities.
“Carson had me in tears; I was emotional. [The Hampton Heat] was just a lot of fun.”
Caden Kvapil followed in his brother Carson’s footsteps by joining JR Motorsports’ Late Model Stock program, where he now has five victories. (Photo: Kaydee Gawlik/NASCAR Regional)
Even though he shared his father’s joy over Carson’s accomplishment, Caden knew he could only celebrate so much before the Hampton Heat. A 200-lap odyssey around Langley awaited him, one that would require intense mental fortitude against many talented local regulars and perennial Late Model Stock frontrunners.
“I’m here to do my job like he was doing his in Indy,” Caden said. “I didn’t really think much of it, honestly, other than it was really cool for him. I knew beforehand I was going to give my best effort [on Saturday] regardless of what happened.”
Caden admitted he was unsure about the race-winning speed of his car at first. He struggled to find pace in his No. 88 Chevrolet prior to the halfway break, but a concerted effort by his team and crew chief Bryan Shaffer provided Caden the adjustments he needed to make a run for the victory in the second half.
After narrowly dodging a crash between the race leaders of Brenden Queen and Ayden Millette, Caden settled in behind Langley Late Model Stock points leader Woody Howard. Caden made the race-winning pass on Howard with 74 laps remaining and pulled away from the field to secure his first win across the three Late Model Stock crown jewels in Virginia.
Howard, who won his lone Hampton Heat in 2009, knew it was going to be difficult to withstand an assault from a JR Motorsports car regardless of who was driving it. Yet the seasoned Langley veteran was satisfied with the speed he showed against one of the toughest fields he will see at the facility all year.
“I’m really happy,” Howard said. “Throughout the race, there was probably a couple of times we could have saved tires a little better. [Millette] got into us a couple of times on those restarts, but that was my only real issue looking back on what could have went better for us. We got beat by a professional team; that doesn’t hurt my feelings one bit.”
Even as Caden took control of the Hampton Heat, Travis knew a victory was not set in stone with the possibility of a late-race yellow, a feeling he experienced with Carson earlier in the day.
But just like with Carson, once Travis saw Caden the checkered flag, all the stress evaporated and transformed into jubilation. As someone who has witnessed every step of Carson and Caden’s development, Travis knows their victories Saturday were hard-fought and deserved.
Travis emphasized the importance for Carson and Caden to continue proving their talent through winning. Nothing is guaranteed in motorsports, something Travis understands firsthand from his own time as a driver. But Saturday reinforced his optimism over his sons enjoying long, sustainable careers.
“It’s really hard to climb the ladder in motorsports these days without funding, whether that’s family money or you’re tied in with a sponsor somehow.” Travis said. “We don’t have that. Being there and running up front is great, but you have to win races. There’s other drivers that will bring that funding and get in that seat, as well.
“[Carson] still has to do what he’s doing and make a championship run here. Caden is laying great steps in his career here.”
The Hampton Heat triumph marked Caden’s third victory in a JR Motorsports Late Model Stock this year. When Caden is not winning, he’s efficient, which is why he holds a commanding points lead in the CARS Tour’s Late Model Stock standings and departs Langley leading the Virginia Triple Crown with a 3.5 average finish.
Caden does not believe he would be where he is today without his blue-collar upbringing. He’s acquired copious knowledge from endless hours in either his family-owned shop or with JR Motorsports, a process that is arduous, but rewarding.
If everything goes the way he envisions, Caden is confident he will get a chance to race at Indianapolis one day just like Carson. Until then, Caden intends to enjoy every accomplishment obtained on short tracks, primarily because of how involved he is in each one.
“It’s definitely a lot, but I enjoy it,” Caden said. “That’s how my dad has always taught us, to work on our own cars and be hands on with our stuff, otherwise we’re not going to race. I enjoy it more than most people probably would, working on my own stuff and knowing what goes into it.
“When I have nights like these where I can win and run really good, it makes me have a lot of pride in myself knowing I put this whole thing together.”
No family in motorsports was likely prouder after Saturday than the Kvapils, one that has always taken pride in hard work and patience. Those qualities remain strong through Caden and Carson, both of whom look to one day join their father Travis as a champion at NASCAR’s top levels.
WINCHESTER, N.H. – There’s hot, and then there’s whatever Patrick Emerling is right now on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
The 33-year-old driver from Orchard Park, New York captured his third consecutive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory Saturday night at Monadnock Speedway in the Duel at the Dog 200 Energized by USNE Power to further solidify his place at the top of the series standings.
If that weren’t good enough, he also earned a $5,000 bonus as champion of the Whelen Midsummer Championship miniseries following his victory Saturday night.
“Absolutely incredible,” Emerling said. “Never would I have ever thought a while back that we would be in this position winning three in a row like that. We kind of struggled at the beginning of the season and just had to find our footing and get dialed in on the American Racer tire.”
Emerling started Saturday’s 200-lap event from the fourth position following the redraw and raced inside the top five during the first portion of the event.
Following a caution and subsequent round of pit stops just before the halfway mark, Emerling was able to muscle his way past defending series champion Austin Beers to take the lead for the first time.
After that, the only time Emerling was challenged was during restarts. His stiffest challenge came from Tyler Rypkema, who stayed glued to Emerling’s outside for several laps following the final restart before Emerling was finally able to clear.
Patrick Emerling further padded his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship with a win Saturday at Monadnock Speedway. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)
Once he disposed of Rypkema, Emerling pulled away to a comfortable, 2.326-second victory. The win, the 12th of his career, was his second at Monadnock Speedway.
Emerling’s three consecutive victories marks just the 18th time in the history of the modern NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour that a driver has won at least three races in a row. Justin Bonsignore was the last driver to do it at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
“Dale Hedquist just prepared another masterpiece of a race car,” Emerling said. “We had to work for it. We were really elbows up tonight and raced really, really hard each and every lap of the race. The team did an incredible job, and we were able to edge it out there.
“Just happy to be out here racing. I feel really lucky to do it. We had a lot of fun.”
Rypkema settled for second, his third runner-up finish of the season in Boehler Racing Enterprises’ Ole Blue No. 3. Beers was third, followed by rookie Paulie Hartwig III and Tommy Catalano.
Teddy Hodgdon, Eric Goodale, Jon McKennedy, Doug Coby and Stephen Kopcik were sixth through 10th, respectively.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes next week off before returning to action for a midweek show at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Wednesday, Aug. 5. The Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com takes the green flag at 8 p.m. ET live on FloRacing.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — William Sawalich led laps, scored stage points in both stages and left Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a fifth-place finish.
But even his second-best points day of the year leaves him seven points outside The Chase with just two races remaining in the regular season.
The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota impressed all day long, surging to lead two laps and capitalizing on a long run late in Saturday’s 250-mile feature to end his day with 42 points earned. He enters the looming off week 13th in the points standings, one position and seven points out of the provisional Chase field.
“The pressure’s on,” Sawalich said. “We still need some more points, and I wish we could have finished a little better there. We had the speed to, I guess, be top three on a long run, or if we were up there in the mix on the short run, then we could hold on better than the guys on the long run. But it kind of is what it is. We’ve got some work to do in Iowa to really build a safe gap into Daytona, but our Soundgear GR Supra was pretty good today.”
Sawalich was the top finishing entrant in Saturday’s race outside of the JR Motorsports stable, which swept the top four positions. Saturday marked Sawalich’s second straight top-five finish and sixth of the season, but the valleys of the four weeks prior leave him on the outside looking in: 21st at Pocono; 36th at Naval Base Coronado; 13th at Sonoma; and 29th at Chicagoland. That, in part, is what made Saturday’s performance “really critical” at Indianapolis.
“I mean, this is the kind of day we needed,” Sawalich said. “We didn’t need any mistakes. We couldn’t afford it. Pit crew did a really good job on pit road, gaining me spots every time. All the Toyotas kind of just struggled on restarts to get going, so those kind of paid off in the long run.”
Next on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is Iowa Speedway on Aug. 8 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Sawalich has found success on similar tracks as recently as this year, earning his first career win at Rockingham Speedway earlier this spring. In his lone Iowa appearance, he qualified second last year but ultimately finished 11th. Trailing JGR teammates Brent Crews and Taylor Gray in the points standings — with Rajah Caruth directly on his tail — Sawalich knows 11th may not cut it at Iowa.
“We’re pretty good at short tracks. We’ve got our package a lot better,” Sawalich said. “I think we know what to do while we’re there. Obviously, we need to maximize the stage points and get a good finish. Then we need to build a big gap there to be safe in Daytona because you never know what could happen.”
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Carson Kvapil chose the perfect time to claim his first victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Kvapil’s emotional victory in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway—one of the biggest stages in motorsports — had the driver shedding tears and team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. temporarily at a loss for words.
It was a day of milestones. With Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott in positions two through four, respectively, JR Motorsports scored the first four-driver sweep of an event in series history.
The victory was the 14th of the season for JRM with six different drivers, the latter number tying the record the organization set last year. For the 79th straight race, JR Motorsports placed at least one driver in the top 10, tying the record set by RFK Racing from 2008-2010.
“It means the world to me,” Kvapil said, as his No. 1 Chevrolet team climbed the frontstretch catchfence in celebration of the victory. “It’s very emotional. I rode around on that lap backwards (after taking the checkered flag), and I sat there just thinking about all the hard work I’ve put in — me and my dad Travis — to get to this point.
“And the faith (team principals) Dale Jr., L.W. Miller and Kelley Miller put behind me to give me this opportunity — a second chance, I guess you could say, to come back at it this year…. I’m going to try not to cry too much. I’ve already shed a few tears—just trying to hold it together right now.”
In an event that featured just one caution for an on-track incident, Kvapil passed Chastain on Lap 79 of 100 and held it the rest of the way. Allgaier powered past Chastain into second place on Lap 94 and closed his deficit to Kvapil to less than a car-length on the white-flag lap.
Crossing the Yard of Bricks with one lap left, Allgaier trailed by a scant 0.283 seconds, but his efforts to shrink the distance on the final circuit proved fruitless, and Kvapil crossed the stripe with a 0.643-second advantage to score his first victory.
Kvapil accomplished more than just a win. He moved into second place in the series standings, 265 points behind Allgaier, who has already clinched the top Chase seed.
Kvapil also joined Allgaier and Jesse Love in the Chase with two regular-season races left — as did Sheldon Creed (eighth Saturday), Corey Day (seventh), Brandon Jones (ninth) and Austin Hill (10th).
Allgaier, a six-time winner this season, felt the race slipped away from him when his No. 7 Chevrolet fell from first to fourth after the Lap 67 start of the final stage.
“That was kind the difference maker for us, I feel like, over the day,” Allgaier said. “I guess, in some ways, we kind of set up to be good on long runs, and it showed through. That’s why we were able to be really good at the end of that run…
“We made good adjustments. We did all the right things. We just came up a couple of laps short. I think if we have a couple more laps, if we have maybe a little bit different help from some of the lapped cars, there’s things that we maybe could have done different.
“But again, super proud of Carson and the whole No. 1 team. He’s done a really good job, and as a company, to do what we did today shows really where we’re at and what we’re able to accomplish, and for that I’m super proud.”
Crew chief Rodney Childers and the No. 1 team kept Kvapil in the mix from start to finish, but that was no surprise. While working as Kevin Harvick’s crew chief, Childers fashioned two NASCAR Cup Series victories at the Brickyard.
Kvapil has cobbled the current season together in three different cars with three different teams — the Nos. 1 and 9 at JRM and the No. 91 fielded by Mario Gosselin for DGM Racing.
Saturday’s victory was vindication of Kvapil’s determination to sustain a career despite some imposing obstacles in his path.
With seven of 12 Chase positions now filled, the fight for the final spots intensified at Indy. After finishing 12th, Taylor Gray holds the final berth above the current cut line by seven points over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate William Sawalich and 20 over Rajah Caruth, who stayed out on old tires to win the second stage before finishing 22nd.
Just two races remain in the O’Reilly Series before the Chase begins at Darlington Raceway. Up next is a date at Iowa Speedway on Aug. 8 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage, confirming Carson Kvapil as the winner. The Nos. 2 and 20 cars had one lug nut not safe and secure, which will result in loss of pit-stall selection for both teams at Iowa Speedway.
With five races remaining until The Chase, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Hoosier State to compete at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Given the fact that time is running out for drivers to position themselves into a good spot for a postseason run, expect a greater sense of urgency to be on display at the 2.5-mile oval. Numerous drivers will seek a strong points day and hope to avoid disaster in the prestigious Brickyard 400 on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
For drivers in desperate need of a strong performance in Indiana, how will achieving glory in one of the sport’s crown-jewel events change the course of their season and career? Here’s a look at other drivers to keep an eye on, as well as the full projected results for Sunday’s Cup Series race.
DRIVERS TO WATCH
TYLER REDDICK: After watching his points lead slip away during a dreadful summer stretch, the 23XI Racing driver hopes a third-place qualifying run Saturday at the Brickyard will set the No. 45 Toyota up for Sunday success. During the first 15 Cup Series races of the 2026 season, Reddick averaged 44.6 points per race. However, in the last six races, his points-scoring average dropped significantly to 17.5 points per race. In three starts on the 2.5-mile Indiana oval. Reddick has two top 10s, including a runner-up finish in 2024. Sitting 68 points behind championship leader Denny Hamlin, Reddick will try to add a Brickyard 400 win on the oval to go alongside his 2022 victory on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
ALEX BOWMAN: Days after announcing his decision to step away from full-time Cup Series competition after the 2027 season, Bowman was the highest-qualifying driver from Hendrick Motorsports Saturday afternoon at Indianapolis. With the No. 48 Chevrolet set to roll off the Brickyard 400 grid in eighth, he hopes to score another top 10 in Indiana and prove it was not an outlier after finishing ninth in last year’s crown-jewel event. Bowman’s average finish at Indianapolis is 29.6, which is actually his worst among all tracks in the Cup Series. The Hendrick driver has finished 30th or worse in five of his seven career starts in the Hoosier State. Despite those numbers not favoring his chances, maybe the weight of having questions about his future off his chest can spark a magical Sunday and put his name into the history books.
TODD GILLILAND: Last year, it was Ty Dillon, and this year, Gilliland is the Cinderella story of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge, advancing to the final round at the Brickyard against Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney for the $1 million grand prize. While the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford qualified 36th for Sunday’s race, his underdog mentality and never-quit attitude may kick in and give him a shot to upset Blaney. After all, Gilliland has a pair of sixth-place finishes in his two career Brickyard 400 starts.
