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BRICKYARD 400

 
   

Bubba Wallace wins Brickyard 400 in double-overtime thriller

 

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

SPEEDWAY, Ind.—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.

 

--30--

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Brickyard 400

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Speedway, Indiana

Sunday, July 27, 2025

 

          1. (2)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 168.

          2. (13)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 168.

          3. (39)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 168.

          4. (23)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 168.

          5. (14)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 168.

          6. (19)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 168.

          7. (24)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 168.

          8. (16)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 168.

          9. (21)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 168.

          10. (8)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 168.

          11. (28)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 168.

          12. (36)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 168.

          13. (30)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 168.

          14. (7)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 168.

          15. (10)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 168.

          16. (6)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 168.

          17. (38)  Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 168.

          18. (1)  Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 168.

          19. (11)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 168.

          20. (29)  Cole Custer, Ford, 168.

          21. (5)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 168.

          22. (17)  Josh Berry, Ford, 168.

          23. (9)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 167.

          24. (35)  Jesse Love(i), Chevrolet, 167.

          25. (12)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 166.

          26. (25)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 166.

          27. (31)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 165.

          28. (26)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 165.

          29. (4)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, Accident, 163.

          30. (22)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 162.

          31. (27)  Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 161.

          32. (15)  Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 160.

          33. (18)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 153.

          34. (37)  Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, Electrical, 125.

          35. (32)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 101.

          36. (3)  Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 89.

          37. (34)  Cody Ware, Ford, Fatigue, 58.

          38. (20)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 56.

          39. (33)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 17.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  124.598 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 22 Mins, 15 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .222 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  6 for 28 laps.

Lead Changes:  15 among 10 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   C. Briscoe 0;C. Briscoe 1-19;A. Cindric 20-41;C. Briscoe 42-51;R. Preece 52-63;A. Bowman 64-65;A. Cindric 66-83;*. Wallace 84-87;C. Briscoe 88-92;R. Blaney 93-100;K. Larson 101-104;D. Hamlin 105;K. Larson 106-120;J. Nemechek 121;J. Haley 122-136;R. Blaney 137-142;*. Wallace 143-168.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Austin Cindric 2 times for 40 laps; Chase Briscoe 3 times for 34 laps; * Bubba Wallace 2 times for 30 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 19 laps; Justin Haley 1 time for 15 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 14 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 12 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 2 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 1 lap; John Hunter Nemechek 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,23,24,45,17,8,77,5,3,16

Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,5,11,24,6,48,77,22,17,23

 

 

Connor Zilisch wins third straight, delivers 100th NASCAR Xfinity win to JR Motorsports

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

July 26, 2025

 

SPEEDWAY, Ind.—As contrary as it might seem, there was ambivalence in Connor Zilisch’s victory in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 

Yes, Zilisch won his third straight NASCAR Xfinity Series race and added to his inarguable credentials as a budding superstar.

 

What’s more, Zilisch delivered victory No.100 to JR Motorsports , the organization founded by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister, Kelly Earnhardt Miller.

 

But Zilisch’s victory came at the expense of teammate Justin Allgaier, who made a heroic move on the outside to retake the lead from Kyle Larson on Lap 74 and had the win in his sights until the following restart on Lap 87.

 

That’s when Larson’s No. 17 Chevrolet broke loose in Turn 1 and turned Allgaier’s Chevrolet into the outside wall and out of the race.

 

That left Zilisch and Taylor Gray to battle for the lead after a restart with four laps left. With a push from the Ford of Sam Mayer, Zilisch took control on Lap 99 of 100 and held on to win by 0.339 seconds over Mayer as Gray slipped to third.

 

“I see some bricks that look kissable, and I’m going to kiss them,” Zilisch said, referencing an Indianapolis tradition started by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett. “This is awesome. One hundred wins for JRM. Congrats to Dale, Kelley, L.W. (Miller), everybody who’s raced for JRM, everybody who works at JRM.”

 

“I’m the smallest part of this team, and I’m so glad to be a part of it.”

 

Zilisch’s fifth victory of the season and sixth of his career followed wins at Sonoma Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway in his last two starts. With Allgaier finishing 36th after the wreck, Zilisch, who turned 19 on Tuesday, cut his teammate’s lead in the series standings to 21 points with five races left in the regular season.

 

“I hate it for Justin, because he’s been the cornerstone of company for so many years,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said of the reigning series champion. “He’s been dependable, reliable, great with our partners, and he want to do these things for us.”

 

A violent accident involving the cars of Aric Almirola and Austin Hill set up the final restart with four laps left. On Lap 91, Almirola looked to the inside of Hill’s No. 21 Chevrolet exiting the short chute leading to Turn 4.

 

Hill’s car got loose but recovered, then turned left into Almirola’s Toyota, sending the Supra hard into the outside wall.

 

“Of course it was intentional,” Almirola said after a mandatory trip to the infield care center. “It was time to go, and I got him loose, and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear. Honestly, it was one of the biggest hits in my entire NASCAR career.”

 

NASCAR held Hill’s Camaro on pit road for five laps for rough driving and will review the incident in the coming week for additional penalties, if warranted.

 

Larson survived the accident with Allgaier to finish fourth, and Ryan Sieg came home fifth. William Sawalich, Sammy Smith, Daniel Dye, Jesse Love and Dean Thompson completed the top 10.

 

Jeb Burton ran 15th and leads his cousin, Harrison Burton, by 10 points in the race for the final Xfinity Series Playoff spot. Harrison Burton finished 18th.

 

–30–

 

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Pennzoil 250

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Speedway, Indiana

Saturday, July 26, 2025

 

1. (7)  Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 100.

2. (1)  Sam Mayer, Ford, 100.

3. (14)  Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 100.

4. (19)  Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 100.

5. (21)  Ryan Sieg, Ford, 100.

6. (9)  William Sawalich #, Toyota, 100.

7. (11)  Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 100.

8. (18)  Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 100.

9. (4)  Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 100.

10. (16)  Dean Thompson #, Toyota, 100.

11. (25)  Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 100.

12. (12)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 100.

13. (15)  Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, 100.

14. (26)  Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 100.

15. (23)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 100.

16. (28)  Kyle Sieg, Ford, 100.

17. (3)  Sheldon Creed, Ford, 100.

18. (20)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 100.

19. (30)  Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 100.

20. (27)  Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 100.

21. (34)  Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 100.

22. (31)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 100.

23. (22)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 100.

24. (33)  Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 100.

25. (32)  Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 100.

26. (17)  Leland Honeyman, Chevrolet, 100.

27. (29)  Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 100.

28. (36)  Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 100.

29. (38)  David Starr, Chevrolet, 100.

30. (10)  Carson Kvapil #, Chevrolet, 100.

31. (37)  Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 100.

32. (5)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, 97.

33. (2)  Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 96.

34. (13)  Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 95.

35. (6)  Aric Almirola, Toyota, Accident, 90.

36. (8)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Accident, 87.

37. (24)  Katherine Legge(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 74.

38. (35)  Logan Bearden, Chevrolet, Electrical, 37.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  104.907 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 22 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.339 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  6 for 29 laps.

Lead Changes:  10 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   S. Mayer 1-32;J. Allgaier 33;A. Almirola 34-35;J. Allgaier 36-51;C. Zilisch # 52-59;J. Allgaier 60-66;K. Larson(i) 67-73;J. Allgaier 74-86;C. Zilisch # 87-95;T. Gray # 96-98;C. Zilisch # 99-100.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Justin Allgaier 4 times for 37 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 32 laps; Connor Zilisch # 3 times for 19 laps; Kyle Larson(i) 1 time for 7 laps; Taylor Gray # 1 time for 3 laps; Aric Almirola 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 41,7,19,20,88,00,2,17,54,1

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,88,17,19,54,20,41,1,2,18

Chase Briscoe wins third straight Crown Jewel pole at Indy oval

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

 

SPEEDWAY, Ind.—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 (2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

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.

 

 

Saturday Indianapolis Notebook

 

July 26, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

With $1million on the line, Ty Dillon and Ty Gibbs downplay rivalry

SPEEDWAY, Ind.—You could call it a Clash of the Ty-tans.

 

No, neither Ty Gibbs nor Ty Dillon was favored to win the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, but the two drivers have overcome long odds to reach the Championship Round of the $1-million-to win bracket competition.

 

Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG (2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will settle the matter, with the higher finisher claiming the title and the seven-figure bonus.

 

On paper and in the eyes of oddsmakers, sixth-seeded Gibbs is the favorite to take home the top prize, but Dillon, the 32nd seed in a 32-driver field, has advanced through four rounds as an underdog and hopes to continue the unlikely streak.

 

Surprisingly, there hasn’t been any bluster or bravado on the part of either driver. The posture is business-as-usual.

 

“The conversation about him (Gibbs) has been very minimal for us, and that's been the process week-in, week-out,” Dillon said. “We truly believe as a race team; that's why we've built so much confidence. If we execute our race and do the best of our abilities—no mistakes and out-execute everybody in the field—we might not have the most speed to win the race, but we're going to do plenty to put pressure on him.

 

“And you know what they say about pressure: it creates diamonds or it'll crack your pipes. So you know, that's what we want to do to him. We want to put as much pressure on him as possible and see how they handle it. It’s worked out to this point. We're going to worry about our race. Hopefully, he massively underestimates us, and hopefully we'll be there at the end to take advantage of it.”

In the tale of the tape, Gibbs has posted four top-five finishes and six top 10s this season. Dillon has no top fives and scored his only top 10 of the season when he ran eighth at Atlanta Motor Speedway and eliminated top-seeded Denny Hamlin in the first round of the tournament.

 

However, the only victory in Dillon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series career came on the Indy oval in 2014. Gibbs won on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Course in 2023, so both drivers have kissed the bricks at the start/finish line.

 

Dillon ran a limited Cup Series schedule in 2024 and finished 19th in the Gen 7 race car’s first competition on the 2.5-mile Indy oval. Gibbs qualified sixth and finished 23rd in what became a fuel-mileage race.  

 

Gibbs won’t alter his approach to win the Challenge. He’s far more focused on trying to win a Cup race for the first time.

 

“I’m treating this race like any other race, no matter what’s on the line,” he said. “If I win this race, going up in the point standings is worth more than a million dollars, so I’m not here for the money.

“I’m here for the race wins, and that’s why I’m not just racing the 10 (Dillon) this weekend. I’m racing (38) other people out there. It is super cool to be in this position. I’m just taking it as it is but trying to go and win. Nothing is going to change that. I’m going for it.”

 

Ryan Blaney excited to “Race the Base” in Coronado next year

Concurrent with NASCAR’s announcement that its top three national series will race at Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June, Ryan Blaney and a group of NASCAR Cup drivers made a site visit to the base last Wednesday.

 

All three of NASCAR’s top touring divisions will compete June 19-21, 2026 on a street course at the expansive facility across San Diego Bay from the city itself. Next year also marks the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy.

 

“Yeah, I got to go there Wednesday—I think it’s going to be amazing,” Blaney said. “That was my first time at the base, my first time in San Diego in general. It was kind of a quicker in and out, but we were there for a handful of hours.

 

“The one thing that really stood out for me was that every single person on that base is excited that we’re coming. (They’re) going to pull out all the stops. And that part is really, really neat for me as a driver who is going to compete there. Every single man and woman on that base is going to be watching that race.”

 

Blaney was impressed with the size of the base and its potential to host a NASCAR weekend, though details of the track layout are still to be determined.

 

“I didn’t realize how big a base it was—40,000 people live full-time on that base,” Blaney said. “And the 250th anniversary of the Navy is even better. So I’m excited. I can’t wait to see it and see the track layout in person and see if they put any aircraft carriers in the bay as we’re going by or something.

 

“I think they’ve got a pretty good plan. It’s funny, when the San Diego race was being rumored, I didn’t think it was going to be on the base. I thought it was going to be more in the city of San Diego, like we did with Chicago. Then we found out we were going to race around the base. I don’t know the whole track layout yet, but I’m sure they’ll make it pretty interesting.”

 

William Byron hopes to shake bad luck in battle for regular-season title

A rash of ill fortune finally caught up with William Byron.

 

When he crashed out of last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway—through no fault of his own—the 31st-place finish cost him the series lead.

 

Byron now trails Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, a model of consistency this season, by 16 points. Three-time winner Kyle Larson, another Hendrick teammate, is third in the standings, 38 points behind Elliott.

 

For his part, Byron relishes a battle that’s staged within the same shop.

 

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I think it’s a really good thing, because it’s elevating all of our programs and elevating the importance of this part of the season.

 

“It’s obviously always important, but when you have three of us going for it, it’s like, ‘OK, it’s going to take your best for the next five weeks.’ I look at it like it’s going to give you more of an idea of what the Playoffs are going to be like.”

 

Before the Dover race, Byron had held the series lead for 17 of 20 weeks, but only one finish better than 27th in the last five races has proven costly. That streak has been unlucky enough for Byron to acknowledge he might have been “snakebit.”

 

“You could definitely say that,” he acknowledged. “I try not to use the ‘luck’ word a lot, but if you look at Atlanta and Dover and how we got crashed, I mean we just got run over from behind. Like, I check up for the wreck, and not everyone does.

 

“So I guess in those two instances you could say that definitely we weren’t in control of those two results… It’s just part of the nature of the schedule and the way things play out.

 

“We’ve had top-five speed everywhere, but the results haven’t been there every week. Chicago was definitely on me in practice (a clutch issue), and Pocono was also on me in qualifying, and unfortunately those race results weren’t there. Then other things happened, but yeah, I think it’s still within reach—we’ve just got to do it.”

 

NASCAR 25, produced by iRacing, set for October release

Get ready for a racing experience where virtual meets realism.

 

On Oct.14, NASCAR 25, the first standalone NASCAR console title produced by iRacing, will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with PC via stream to follow soon thereafter.

 

Already recognized for the authenticity of its simulations, iRacing has partnered with NASCAR to produce a title that will feature all four of NASCAR’s top national racing series—the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and, for the first time in a standalone title, the ARCA Menards Series.

 

All four series, along with real drivers from each, will feature extensively in NASCAR 25’s Career Mode, where competitors can customize drivers and vehicles, manage contracts, money, facility, and staff, and make strategic choices on and off the track that play a pivotal role in the journey to becoming a NASCAR champion.

 

The four series are also playable in other gameplay modes such as quick races, seasons, and online multiplayer.

 

Layne Riggs dominates NASCAR Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

July 25, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

INDIANAPOLIS—The post-race celebration said it all.

 

Layne Riggs planted the nose of his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford firmly against the outside of the pit row wall and lit up his tires as members of his team stood on the barrier and pumped their fists repeatedly.

 

The elation was well-deserved after Riggs scored his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Friday night’s TSport 200.

 

With his second victory of the season and a sweep of the first two stages, Riggs cut into the dominating lead of Corey Heim with two races left in the regular season.

 

Nevertheless, Heim, who ran third in a balky No. 11 Toyota, clinched the regular-season title.

“I’ll tell you, this truck was bad-ass, man,” Riggs said after climbing from the F-150 on pit road. “It was so great. I was just out front saving my tires at the end. Then I was just waiting for a late-race caution (which never came), trying to run the bottom and trying to keep the least amount of distance to keep the distance off my tires.

 

“It’s so great to get (sponsor) Clew Nicotine Pouches in Victory Lane. That’s only their second race with us, and we’re super excited to have them. That was a pretty cool celebration.”

Riggs led 160 of the 200 laps at the 0.686-mile short track and beat Corey Day to the finish line by 1.864 seconds. The runner-up result was a career-best for Day, who had run fifth at Nashville Superspeedway in his most recent Truck Series outing.

 

“It was good to back up Nashville,” said Day, 19, who is running part-time schedules with Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series and Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. “I was telling everyone it clicked, and it felt like it clicked, but unless I come here and back it up, it means nothing.

 

“I’m really glad to finally be delivering results. I’ve been working really, really hard at this to be delivering results, and I really want to be doing the burnout up there.”

 

Stewart Friesen parlayed an early pit stop in the second stage into an ostensible third-place finish but was disqualified after failing height requirements in post-race inspection. The disqualification ruined an astute strategic call by the No.52 team.

 

Grant Enfinger ran fourth. Reigning series champion Ty Majeski, currently the last driver above the elimination line for the 10-driver Playoffs, came home fifth after Friesen’s disqualification and extended his advantage over ThorSport racing teammate Jake Garcia (15th Friday) from 38 to 61 points.

 

Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, Ross Chastain and Rajah Caruth completed the top 10.

 

Though he scored no Playoff points on Friday, Heim, who set the fastest lap on his second circuit, already has banked 39 this season. With the seven he added in the TSport 200, Riggs now has 16, second most among Truck Series drivers, with the Playoffs set to begin Aug. 30 at Darlington Raceway after the two final regular-season events at Watkins Glen International (Aug. 8) and Richmond Raceway (Aug.15).

 

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NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – TSport 200 At IRP

Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

Indianapolis, Indiana

Friday, July 25, 2025

 

1. (11)  Layne Riggs, Ford, 200.

2. (16)  Corey Day(i), Chevrolet, 200.

3. (1)  Corey Heim, Toyota, 200.

4. (8)  Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 200.

5. (2)  Ty Majeski, Ford, 200.

6. (3)  Chandler Smith, Ford, 200.

7. (6)  Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.

8. (7)  Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 200.

9. (12)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 200.

10. (19)  Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 200.

11. (5)  Ben Rhodes, Ford, 200.

12. (9)  Luke Fenhaus, Ford, 200.

13. (15)  Tanner Gray, Toyota, 200.

14. (10)  Kaden Honeycutt, Chevrolet, 199.

15. (22)  Jake Garcia, Ford, 199.

16. (14)  Brenden Queen, Chevrolet, 199.

17. (17)  Connor Mosack #, Chevrolet, 199.

18. (20)  Matt Crafton, Ford, 199.

19. (29)  Dawson Sutton #, Chevrolet, 199.

20. (24)  Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 199.

21. (25)  Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 198.

22. (18)  Andres Perez De Lara #, Chevrolet, 198.

23. (13)  Brent Crews, Toyota, 198.

24. (30)  Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 198.

25. (4)  Giovanni Ruggiero #, Toyota, 198.

26. (28)  Toni Breidinger #, Toyota, 198.

27. (26)  Frankie Muniz #, Ford, 197.

28. (35)  Greg Van Alst, Toyota, 194.

29. (32)  Jordan Anderson(i), Chevrolet, 194.

30. (23)  Jayson Alexander, Chevrolet, 193.

31. (33)  Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Handling, 99.

32. (31)  Alan Waller, Ford, Accident, 65.

33. (34)  Boston Oliver, Toyota, Handling, 39.

34. (27)  Cody Dennison, Ford, Electrical, 8.

35. (21)  Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 200.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  82.128 mph.

Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 40 Mins, 14 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.864 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  3 for 24 laps.

Lead Changes:  3 among 3 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   C. Heim 1-20;L. Riggs 21-125;S. Friesen 126-145;L. Riggs 146-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Layne Riggs 2 times for 160 laps; Stewart Friesen 1 time for 20 laps; Corey Heim 1 time for 20 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 34,98,38,9,11,18,71,7,99,15

Stage #2 Top Ten: 34,99,9,38,45,98,11,66,81,13

 

naSCAR Weekend Preview: Indianapolis Motor Speedway & Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

 

July 24, 2025

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

NASCAR Cup drivers face crucial race on Indianapolis oval as Playoffs loom 

 

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.”

 

Connor Zilisch looks for third straight win in Indianapolis oval debut

 

Talk about a quick study.

 

No NASCAR Xfinity Series driver comes to Indianapolis Motor Speedway with more momentum than Connor Zilisch, who won his series-best fourth race of the season and fifth of his young career in last Saturday’s rain-shortened event at Dover Motor Speedway.

 

Fresh from consecutive victories at Sonoma Raceway and Dover, Zilisch will try for a third straight win in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 on the historic 2.5-mile oval (4:30 p.m. ET on CW, IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

All five of Zilisch’s victories have come in his series debuts at the respective tracks, dating to his first Xfinity start last year at Watkins Glen International. In addition, with his win at Dover, Zilisch trimmed the series lead of JR Motorsports teammate and reigning series champion Justin Allgaier to 56 points with six races left in the regular season.

 

Zilisch, who turned 19 on Tuesday, believes the regular-season crown might be difficult to attain.

 

“Fifty-six points is a lot, especially when you’re racing against Justin Allgaier,” Zilisch said. “It’s going to be hard to make that up with him being the points leader, but I would never say never. He would need to have very bad luck, and I would need to continue this crazy streak that I’m on.”

 

That streak includes wins in three of the last five races, eight consecutive top-five finishes (with three second-place runs to go with the three wins) and an average result of 2.25 over those eight events.

 

Ty Majeski returns to the track that launched 2024 NASCAR Truck Series title run

 

After three weeks off, the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to action in Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (8 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

That’s good news for reigning series champion Ty Majeski, whose victory at the 0.686-mile short track last year proved to be a springboard to the series championship.

 

Majeski added a win at Richmond and a runner-up finish from the pole at the Milwaukee Mile in his next two starts. After qualifying for the Championship 4, he won from the pole at Phoenix Raceway to secure the title.

 

Majeski was fourth in the Truck Series standings when he came to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park last year. This season, his position is considerably more tenuous. With three races left in the regular season, the driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford is 10th on the potential Playoff grid, just 38 points above the current elimination line.

 

Accordingly, the TSport 200 couldn’t come at a better time for the 30-year-old short-track ace from Seymour, Wisconsin, who won the prestigious Slinger Nationals super late model race in his native state on July 8 during the down time for the Truck Series.

 

Watkins Glen International and Richmond Raceway follow Indianapolis, and that portion of the schedule bodes well for Majeski in a disappointing year for ThorSport. Majeski is the only one of the organization’s drivers currently above the elimination line.

 

Jake Garcia is 11th, 38 points behind his champion teammate. Two-time title winner Ben Rhodes is 13th on the current Playoff grid, 68 points out, and three-time champion Matt Crafton is 153 points down in 16th, needing a win in the next three races to advance to the 10-driver Playoffs.

 

–30–

 
       

 

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