Back to the Big Track

We have just one more race before the engines quiet and the drivers and teams get a well-deserved two-week break for NBC’s coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

And what a race it will be, as the Cup Series finally returns to the big track, the two-and-a-half-mile, rectangular-shaped oval at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway after three years of running the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course layout – more formally known as the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit.

This will be race No. 22 of the 2024 season, and with 11 drivers having already secured wins, the pressure on those on the points bubble or in need of a win to secure a playoff berth is ratcheting up week-by-week. And for those on the edge or below the cut line once the checkered flag flies on Sunday, there will be something of a painful wait until we fire up the engines at Richmond Raceway on August 11th, which in itself will be a fascinating occasion with the softer option tire available to the teams.

Only two current drivers have wins on the main track at Indianapolis, with Brad Keselowski winning in 2018 and a wheelman in desperate need of a win this Sunday (July 21) afternoon, Kyle Busch, who won back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.

The last winner before the switch to the road course was Kevin Harvick back in July, 2020 – a race that played out in front of empty stands due to the pandemic.

One driver who will not have fond memories of that July afternoon is Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota was leading the field with seven laps to go and looking likely to sail away to a much coveted race victory before a blown tire and an absolutely vicious fiery hit prematurely ended his day.

Erik Jones and Alex Bowman also blew tires and wrecked out on the afternoon in question.

Blown tires have been something of a theme at Indianapolis. The 2008 race, the first for the “Car of Tomorrow”, was marred by a number of blown-tire wrecks. It was so bad that NASCAR had to throw a competition caution every 10 to 12 laps, with the average green flag run lasting a measly nine circuits.

Hamlin, who has eight top-10 efforts in 15 attempts, expanded on his intense desire to win at the Brickyard – and complete his set of crown jewel races – on his always-compelling “Actions Detrimental” podcast this past Monday:

“I want to win it bad,” Hamlin said. “I also know that I need to control what I…