Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson Among Those Excited for Brickyard 400 Return (2024)

LONG POND, Pa. — The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will make its triumphant return to the schedule next weekend for the first time since 2020, right in time for the 30th anniversary of the inaugural running in 1994.

The hype is high among the NASCAR Cup Series field, as just about every driver in Saturday’s (July 13) media sessions at Pocono Raceway expressed excitement at having one of the sport’s “crown jewel” events back on the calendar.

“I’m just happy we’re back on the oval because of the history and the meaning of the Brickyard 400,” Kyle Larson said. “I feel like when we went to the road course, we lost a crown jewel race.”

“… I think it’s good for the sport being back on the oval; I think that race means a lot more on the oval. Happy to have a crown jewel race back, and hopefully we can have a good showing.”

“Oh my gosh, I was so disappointed when it left, the oval went to the road course,” said Brad Keselowski, one of two former Brickyard 400 winners (alongside Kyle Busch) competing this weekend. “I felt like we lost a crown jewel of our sport, and it’s good to see it come back.”

“I’m looking forward to going up there,” Chase Elliott said. “It’s been a while since we’ve done [the oval]. It wasn’t historically a great track for me and the times that we did run, so I’m looking forward to getting back and trying to find a little more pace and some more comfort there.”

“It’s good to be back on the oval,” Ross Chastain said.

Chris Buescher was pleased with the decision to return to the oval, but he also enjoyed running the road course layout and wasn’t opposed to bringing it back every once in a while.

“I like the fact that we’re heading back to the oval,” Buescher said. “I enjoy the road course side of it too, but I’m not ragging on that whatsoever. I like road racing; I like to do it four or five times a year. I think we got up to like seven at one point, and that was too much. So I like going oval racing, obviously at a historic venue like Indy.

“I think it might be a good eye opener for us as an industry to say, ‘look, we’re not locked into one configuration year over year.’ We might have the ability to change it up and make it to where it’s different for our fans from time to time.”

Chastain, meanwhile, didn’t have as much of a preference as long as the Cup Series kept racing somewhere in the city.

“[The Indy race] could be on the oval, [it] could be across town at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Just as long as we’re racing in Indianapolis, that’s good.”

The elephants in the room next week, however, are two of the reasons why it was taken off the schedule in the first place: poor attendance and lackluster on-track action. Next week will also mark the Next Gen car’s debut on the Indianapolis oval, which presents several unknowns to the teams, fans and drivers in how the racing will turn out.

Nevertheless, the drivers agreed that the prestige and the history of the Indianapolis oval outweighed any of the questions or concerns surrounding its return.

“I’m really excited about it,” Christopher Bell said. “I know that the on-track product is what it is at Indy. It’s a very unique racetrack … and I think it’s where we need to be.

“Going to be interesting to see how the race plays out. I think strategy is going to be a huge part of the race. I think Saturday qualifying is going to be a huge part of the race. On-track passes are going to be tough, I think, but [the oval’s] where we need to be for sure.”

“I don’t know what the race will be like, but I know [the oval’s] the place to have it,” Keselowski said.

“The racing is not necessarily very exciting on the oval, but the meaning behind winning there on the oval is special, and now we have that crown jewel back,” Larson said. “I know all the teams are going to want to win that event and kiss the bricks. I would imagine kissing the bricks after winning on the oval means a lot more than winning on a road course.”