What to watch for in today's NASCAR Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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7 days ago

INDIANAPOLIS — The challenges will be immense for NASCAR Cup drivers and teams in today's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A narrow track and high speeds make it tough to pass. That impacts what happens on the track and how the strategy goes.
Here's a look at what to watch for today.
Cautions breed cautions
Last year's race saw half of the 10 cautions come after restarts, including crashes that eliminated, among others, William Byron, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin.
Logano was eliminated by a crash on a restart that started behind him.
'It came forward,' Logano said of the accident that ended his race a year ago. 'You don't see that every day, do you?
'I think everyone knows it's hard to pass. If (a restart is) your opportunity to pass, everybody's willing to ship it in there and figure it out later. Unfortunately, it causes accidents.
'If there's ability to pass later on, then everybody probably would have a little more respect for each other, more grace out there, a little more give and take.'
The last three Cup races on the Indy oval have seen at least one crash on a restart.
'I think without fuel saving, restarts are kind of one of your only opportunities to pass here,' Bowman said. 'They got super crazy there at the end (last year).'
Tight pit road
A majority of the fast cars selected pit stalls near pit exit because the width of pit road at Indianapolis (not including the pit boxes) is 24 feet. Only World Wide Technology Raceway has a narrower pit road width at 22 feet.
Ryan Blaney knows the challenges of pitting near pit entrance. In the 2020 race at Indianapolis, Zach Price, who remains the rear tire changer for Blaney, was struck on pit road when there was a chain-reaction crash just after pit entrance that blocked pit road.
'I'm like ultra vigilant here,' Blaney said of pit road. 'Let's say I'm done with my stop and I'm cruising down pit road (in the far right lane), I'm always watching those cars on the left who are in their stall. I've got to look at are they about to drop the left-side jack, and what that looks like because you can't bail anywhere. The only way you can bail is to slow down and stop. It makes it pretty tough. Hopefully … you don't see any issues on pit road and guys stay safe.'
Indianapolis starting lineup: Chase Briscoe claims NASCAR Cup pole at home track
Chase Briscoe has won five poles this season, including at the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and now the Brickyard 400.
Dustin Long,
Teams pick pit stalls based on how they qualify. The pole winner gets first choice, the No. 2 starter the second choice and on down to the final car.
Most teams select closer to pit exit to avoid potential incidents near pit entrance or the middle of pit road.
Bubba Wallace will start second and that gives him a good pit stall. He will be in pit stall 5, which has an opening in front of it, allowing Wallace to exit his stall without worry of being blocked in.
'This is probably the sketchiest pit road, for sure,' Wallace said. 'Obviously, we've seen a lot of crashes (on pit road) here, a lot of injuries. So, we can keep ourselves out of harm's way, the better. I'm excited. That's what we want, a good qualifying effort.'
Guess the right strategy
Crew chiefs will be busy devising the strategy they think gets their car to the finish line first. Brad Keselowski tried to stretch his fuel in last year's race but a late caution sent the race into overtime. As the field headed toward the restart zone, Keselowski, who led, pulled off to pit road because he was out of fuel.
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There are only three former winners in the field of the crown jewel event.
Nate Ryan,
'I think we were really aggressive last year and we almost won the race,' Keselowski said. 'I wouldn't expect anything to change there, and we've got no reason not to be very aggressive. I certainly don't want to just do dumb things just to do them, but this is a race that lends itself to aggressive moves on the track and off the track with pit strategy.'
Playoff picture
Twelve drivers have won this season, leaving four playoff spots open at this time via points. Those in a playoff spot without a victory this season are Tyler Reddick (156 points above the cutline), Alex Bowman (+63), Chris Buescher (+44) and Bubba Wallace (+16).
Ryan Preece is the first driver outside a playoff spot. He lost 13 points to Wallace last weekend at Dover and is 16 points back. Kyle Busch is 39 points below the cutline. Ty Gibbs is 52 points below the cutline.
$1 million at stake
NASCAR's inaugural In-Season Challenge comes to an end at Indianapolis. Ty Dillon, the last seed in the 32-driver event, faces Ty Gibbs. Whoever finishes better will claim the $1 million prize.
'If we execute our race and do the best to 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,' Dillon said of Gibbs.