NASCAR Xfinity Series News & Notes – Indianapolis Motor Speedway

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Next Race: Pennzoil 250
The Place: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Track Length: 2.5 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Saturday, July 26
The Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,651,939
TV: CW, 4 p.m. ET
Radio: IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 250 miles (100 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 100)

Where To Watch NASCAR This Weekend:

Friday, July 25

NCTS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (FS1 at 3 p.m. ET)
NCTS Race: TSport 200 (FS1, NRN, SiriusXM at 8 p.m. ET)

Saturday, July 26

NXS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (CW App at 1 p.m. ET)
NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying (truTV, IMS, SiriusXM at 2:30 p.m. ET)
NXS Race: Pennzoil 250 (CW Network, IMS, SiriusXM at 4:30 p.m. ET)

Sunday, July 27

NCS Race: Brickyard 400 (TNT Sports, IMS, SiriusXM at 2 p.m. ET)
NCS Race: Brickyard 400 – In-Season Challenge Altcast (truTV, IMS, SiriusXM at 2 p.m. ET)

Indianapolis Storylines and Insights:

This weekend marks the 10th running of a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2012-2025), and second consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the Indianapolis oval after the series ran the road course configuration from 2020-2023.
There are six races left in the regular season and five Playoff spots remain open.
Cousins Jeb Burton and Harrison Burton are separated by seven points at the Playoff cutline; Jeb is in while Harrison is out.
Harrison Burton has been within 16 points of the Playoff cutoff after every race this season; his high was +16 after Atlanta 1 and his low was -16 after Sonoma.
The drivers from 11th-14th in the Playoff standings are separated by 59 points, less than one race.
Sheldon Creed gained 61 points to the cut in the last three races, and Taylor Gray gained 28 points to the cut in the last two races.
Jeb Burton lost 17 points to the cut in the last four races.
Ryan Sieg gained 20 points to the cut at Dover after losing 68 points in the previous three races.
Christian Eckes gained 10 points to the cut at Dover after losing 30 points in the previous two races.
Connor Zilisch won the last two races, the second driver this season to win back-to-back races – Justin Allgaier at Las Vegas & Miami.
Connor Zilisch became the youngest driver to win back-to-back races in NASCAR Xfinity Series history – 18y, 11m, 27d (previous was Chase Elliott).
Connor Zilisch’s eight straight top fives since returning from back injury is the longest top-five finish streak of the season; Zilisch is the youngest driver with more than five straight top fives.
Connor Zilisch leads the series with four wins this season and a 10.68 average finish.
Connor Zilisch became the youngest driver to win five NXS races – 18y, 11m, 27d (previous was Kyle Busch).
JR Motorsports is one win away from 100, only three other teams won at least 100 NXS races (Joe Gibbs Racing-217, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing-138, Richard Childress Racing-100).
JR Motorsports finished inside the top five in a record-tying 22 straight races; they can break the record with a top five at Indianapolis.
JR Motorsports won 11 races this season with a series-record six different drivers, all six drivers won in the last 11 races. Carson Kvapil could become JR Motorsports’ seventh different winner this season.
JR Motorsports is the third team all-time to win 11 or more times in the first 20 races of a season.
JR Motorsports’ #88 won five races with three different driver/crew chief combos this season.
JR Motorsports had at least one car finish Top 2 in nine straight races, tied for the second-longest streak all-time.
Chevrolet won the last 12 races this season, the longest winning streak by a manufacturer all-time.
Chevrolet led 2,441 of 3,227 laps this season.
Chevrolet won 18 of 20 races, the most all time by a manufacturer through 20 races in series history.
Toyota is winless in the last 12 races, tied for their longest winless streak since the first NXS win in 2007.
Kyle Larson will drive Hendrick Motorsports’ #17; Larson has won his last two starts this season with two different teams – Hendrick Motorsports at Bristol & JR Motorsports at Texas.
There are only two previous Indianapolis winners on the entry list: Justin Allgaier – 2018 Xfinity & Kyle Larson – 2024 Brickyard 400.
Four drivers are doing double duty in Cup/Xfinity: Kyle Larson, Jesse Love, Katherine Legge & Josh Bilicki.
Jeremy Clements is the only driver to start all nine Xfinity Series races at Indianapolis.
Joe Gibbs Racing won four of nine Indianapolis races.
Eleven drivers on the entry list are making first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Indianapolis; nine drivers have never raced at Indianapolis.
All nine Indianapolis NASCAR Xfinity Series race winners started in the Top 8.
Only one of nine Indianapolis races went to overtime – 2016.
Two of the last six Indianapolis races featured a last-lap pass for the win.
The last four Indianapolis races featured at least 12 lead changes.
The last two races this season went caution-free in the first two stages, only the third time it has happened in Xfinity Series history.
Five crew chiefs got their first NXS win in 2025: Chad Haney at Atlanta, Sam McAulay at Darlington, Adam Wall at Bristol, Cory Shea at Mexico City & Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Pocono.
Justin Allgaier’s 28 career wins are ninth on the all-time wins list and one away from tying Matt Kenseth.
Justin Allgaier is five top 10s away from 300 in his career, he would be the first driver with 300 top 10s.
Justin Allgaier leads all drivers with 11 top-five finishes and 648 laps led in 2025.
Justin Allgaier’s 11 top-five finishes in 2025 are his most ever after 20 races in a season.
Justin Allgaier won the Fastest Lap Award five times this season, no other driver has more than two.
Sam Mayer leads all drivers with top-15 finishes in 16 of 20 races this season.
Five races this year ended with a last lap pass.
Six of the last ten races this season had a pass for the win in the final six laps.
Seven of the 20 races this season went to overtime.
There hasn’t been an overtime finish in the last seven races, the longest streak without an OT since Feb- April 2023.

Only five spots remain in NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs

It’s possible to get more than 12 series winners with six races remaining in regular season.
If there are more than 12 winners after 26 races, the winner with the fewest regular season points will miss the Playoffs.
Cousins Jeb Burton and Harrison Burton are separated by seven points at the Playoff cut line.
Taylor Gray in 11th to Harrison Burton in 14th are separated by 59 points, less than one race.
The first four drivers below the cut all gained points to the cutoff at Dover.
The three drivers in 15th-17th are all rookies.

NASCAR & Indianapolis, Etc.

Historical and Significant Events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in 1909 by a partnership of four local businessmen whose primary purpose was to develop a track that would be a testing facility for the growing Indianapolis auto industry (by 1913 the Indianapolis area was the second largest automobile producer in the US).
A test track required long straightaways and gradual turns to fully test the capabilities of the cars of that time. Carl Fisher a former bicycle racer, car racer and industrialist was the driving force for the project.
Outside of the city limits at Crawfordsville Road four adjoining tracts of ﬂat farmland totaling 320 acres were for sale. The property was acquired for a total of $72,000.
Railroad tracks ran past the property directly to downtown Union Station. The track is located in Speedway, a separate self-suﬃcient municipality within the city of Indianapolis. Formed in 1926 it provides its own town services.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Company was incorporated in March 1909. The original design was for a three mile speedway with a two mile road course through the inﬁeld, but the length was changed to 2.5 miles to allow for grandstands. Plans for the inﬁeld road course were quietly forgotten.
Four major events for the opening season in 1909 were scheduled, including balloon (the inaugural event), motorcycle and auto races.
The track surface was graded then built up with layers of gravel coated with asphaltum oil. The surface quickly proved to be woefully inadequate. Violent crashes and serious injuries led to the cycle event being canceled before the ﬁnal scheduled day of races. The problems with the track led to the famous resurfacing.
Carl Fisher immediately canceled all future races. It was decided to resurface the entire track with paving bricks. The work was completed in a remarkable 63 days. Roughly 3,200,000 bricks were utilized in resurfacing the 2.5 miles giving rise to the name that sets the track apart from every other in the world.
The track has had major resurfacing six times the most recent in 2004. The 1961 resurfacing replaced all but a three foot strip of the original bricks at the start/ﬁnish line, “The Yard of Bricks”.
After four years of inactivity during WWII the track was in total disrepair. The track was resurrected by Terre Haute IN businessman Tony Hulman who purchased the facility from Eddie Rickenbacker for a reported $750,000. Ownership has remained in the Hulman family until November 2019 when Roger Penske bought IMS and the IndyCar series.
In 2002 Indianapolis was the ﬁrst track to install a SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier, ﬁrst tested during the Indianapolis 500 that year. The Speedway and IRL worked with engineers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to develop a ‘soft wall’ that was practical for racing.
“Yellow Shirts”: In 1948 IMS established its own security staﬀ, featuring dark-blue uniforms and pith helmets. Over time the hot wool uniforms were traded out for short sleeved shirts and dark blue was changed to the very recognizable yellow. Since 1975 the safety patrol at IMS have worn the very recognizable yellow shirts and baseball caps.
How big is Indy? Indianapolis Motor Speedway covers 560 acres, these eight things that would all ﬁt inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Vatican City, Churchill Downs, The White House, Taj Mahal, Liberty Island, The Rose Bowl, Yankee Stadium, Roman Colosseum.
The Dirt Track at IMS: In 2018 Indianapolis introduced The Dirt Track at IMS with the running of the Driven2SaveLives BC39 presented by NOS Energy Drink. The event made USAC history with an at the time entry of 118 Midget cars. The quarter-mile clay oval is located inside of Turn 3.

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