Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart (14) sits in his vehicle during qualifying for the NASCAR Brickyard 400 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Saturday, July 25, 2015. Unlike the Indianapolis 500, which is typically a breathtaking race with dramatic passes, the heavier stock cars have never been a good fit at the Brickyard and the NASCAR race has rarely been among the best of the season.
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Gibson said he doubts the new high-drag, high-downforce package being utilized this weekend and on August. 16 at Michigan worldwide Speedway will engender more slingshot passing at Indianapolis. “Since 2008, our numbers have been smaller every year and this year, for the first time since 2008, we’ve seen a turnaround in numbers”, Boles said. “Settling for second-best is not an option”.
“Hopefully we took a little wind out of their sails”, Ford driver Logano said of Chevrolet.
“They tried what we wanted to try (at Kentucky) and I thought we had a pretty successful race and now we’re trying something different”.
During Thursday’s Jeff Gordon Day festivities in nearby Pittsboro, Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson shared a classic story about what Gordon did following the 1994 Brickyard 400.
But Jamie McMurray, victor of the 2010 Brickyard, said its too early to judge the package.
“The Brickyard 400 sticks out so much to me because I am from California via Indiana, and the first big race I remember watching on TV was the Indianapolis 500“, he said.
In yesterday’s practice sessions, trailing cars had no issue gaining on the leader in front of them, but when they attempted to pass that leading vehicle, they were immediately hit by the massive drag effects of a nine-inch spoiler.
Joey Logano would like nothing better than to fill the one glaring hole on Roger Penske’s resume as a team owner. I think I can see about five vehicle lengths behind me, and any cars that are further back than that I cant see.
“That isn’t the end of the world”. You’re going to have to take advantage of those drafts when you get them.
On Friday during practice in Indianapolis, things were not going in the right direction foe Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team.
His vision out the front windshield was severely hampered during practice when his hood flew open. Hamlin was able to slow and make it back to the garage area his vision unblocked by the gap in the remnants of the hood.
With 92 wins, 322 top-5’s, 465 top-10’s and four championships, Jeff Gordon has put together a racing resume that has Hall of Fame written all over it. Now, all he needs is that lasting image from his final season, his moment, that will forever be enshrined with him in the Hall.
“It blew the roof apart a lot. It’s just a lot of force there that tears up a lot of stuff anytime the hood comes up”.
NASCAR also will debut its superspeedway qualifying format this weekend.
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Brad Keselowski scraped the wall in turn two which hampered his qualifying effort and knocked him back to the 31st starting position at 180.854 miles per hour (49.764 seconds).
