NASCAR is taking over Indianapolis Motor Speedway for its next Cup Series race. The Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, which will be another road course for the drivers. The race will start at 1 p.m. ET and will air on NBC.
William Byron won the pole for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, giving him a chance to win his third cup series race in his career. Byron is one of the rising stars in NASCAR, winning the Xfinity Cup Series in 2017 and earning the pole at the 2019 Daytona 500. But in order for him to win on Sunday, he will have to fend off Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, two drivers who have won four of the five road-course races this year.
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NASCAR veteran Kevin Harvick enjoys competing at the Brickyard, winning the Brickyard 400 three times. But with the change to making it a road course this season, Harvick made it clear that he isn’t happy with the move. “I’m not a huge fan,” Harvick said. “For me, driving through that tunnel and understanding the history and everything that comes with racing on the oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is something that I always look forward to. I’ve been around this deal for a long time, so understanding the history of the Speedway and what it means to racing, so having to race on the road course is going to be a tough pill to swallow.”
Another driver who isn’t a fan of the change is Denny Hamlin who is looking to win his first Cup Series title. “We lost a crown jewel,” Danny Hamlin said, per Autoweek. “People hated the racing, but I don’t know, are they really going to get more people out to the road course than what they did for the Brickyard 400? I’m not sure. I don’t love it; I don’t love the move. It took away a crown jewel.”
The playoffs are right around the corner and Hamlin is in a good position to compete for the title as he’s in eighth place (top 16 drivers qualify for the playoffs). The top five drivers when it comes to Cup Series standings are Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Byron.
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DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – JULY 1986: NASCAR driver Cale Yarborough sits in his race car prior to the start of the 1986 Pepsi Firecracker 400 stock car race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
