NASCAR on NBC is brought to you by credit one bank the official credit card of NASCAR perfect for race fans sonic this is how we saw it Liberty Mutual Insurance only pay for what you need and by diehard batteries now available and Advance Auto Parts I took a field trip there in third grade and we sat in the tower Terrace bleachers ate our sack lunch and I got to see some racing grades like Mario Andretti Johnny Rutherford Rick Mears and I was hooked when they offered me the job to start working here I thought now I can finally be a part of the family and be a part of something bigger than I can ever imagine it's a place where imagination can run rampant that you could be a driver that you could witness you could put yourself in their shoes it is our heart it is our soul it is what we do we are very proud of our racing heritage and we're very proud of our racing history you would come here one time you would be overwhelmed with what goes on big energy be prepared for a tank owners because this place covers the moon the story lies the history and this is a unique place where you can see something happen that you might not see happen anywhere else the action on track is like none other and to be able to see cars cross those yarder bricks is something you won't forget people know that drivers want to win at this track and it means something to me drivers want that badge of honor to say that I want to Indianapolis and I want you all work together for the one come and go of putting on the greatest declaration it is just something special about the fourth of July and I think that there's no better place to celebrate those feelings and then here at this track so much of what does NASCAR spirit is to be able to say I can drive faster I could push the car harder I can do more in this race and I think it's a perfect fit for the fourth of July I love this place and I love what it means to other people and I'd love to see the legend live on and to me this place will always sleep it's the big machine hand sanitizer 400 at the Brickyard this telecast presented by advanced auto farms let's take a look at today's starting grid brought to you by Advance Auto Parts Joey Logano Middletown Connecticut Kurt Busch Las Vegas Nevada Alex Bowman Tucson Arizona 48 of Jimmie Johnson was still supposed to start in this fourth position outside of row two but now it is Justin Allgaier substituting for Jimmie Johnson who just tested positive for Kovac 19 aric almirola Tampa Florida Denny Hamlin Chesterfield Virginia Kyle Busch two-time Brickyard 400 winner Martin Truex Jr mayadeen New Jersey [Music] brad keselowski 2018 Brickyard 400 winter and we want to dial up Joey Logano on the radio before the green flag flies Junior get him up there to be in and tell us why you're one of the most aggressive guys on the racetrack when it comes to defending your position do you think you have to do a lot all right Joey thanks for your time today bud and good luck so chase Elliott actually starts 10th and will show you the rest of the lineup here Barbican Blaney back there and row 6 Rennick a rookie here in row 7th battle Fergie the year and how about Matt Kenseth back in row 11 I'm not sure at the beginning of this year he definitely didn't think it'd be in a race car and for sure didn't think if you get the Brickyard 400 and Steve the way they got these starting positions was random draw correct random drawn by groups basically the top 12 and owners points gets to start somewhere 1 through 12 off draw than a middle group of 12 and then the back and so on so no one has seen the track yet for laughs this first lap under green will be the first lap at speed all weekend all right let's take a look at the race breakdown Steve and this is another one where strategy's gonna come into play strategy will be huge but it's the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and iconic rectangle two and a half miles nine degrees a relatively flat racetrack nine degrees in the corners but don't let the flatness take away from the speed these cars are gonna reach a hundred and ninety four miles an hour on each of the long front and back straightaway short shoots at each end of the racetrack and this race it's always gets broken down to 160 laps I'm gonna have stage one for 50 laps two for 50 laps and then a final stage of 60 laps we expect fuel to be 38 to 40 laps and you see the sun shining down on this racetrack our aerial coverage brought to you by Geico we thank them for these great shots that we'll be able to see they're bringing the cars on to pit road that's so they can check pit road speed to make sure that they know what pit road speed and what the tachometer says teen yeah this is kind of the new system this is something that normally would be done during practice NASCAR giving the teams an opportunity to check all their settings get a good idea where your pit is you see all the pit signs the pit crew members out there waving them look how narrow this pit road is going to be a big point of conversation today guys very narrow pit road [Music] got some home boards today for you guys Bubba Wallace number 43 third last year in this race and he'd love to come out of here with a second or even maybe a first world technology bringing that roof cam to you he's got a side panels will Kevin Harvick push light camera defending champion of this race kaboosh the 18 car trying to get his first win in 2020 the Toyota roof cam he's also got a side panel on this car and then the man with the best view of all Joey Logano and this coca-cola camel on top of the car great great shots today all right we heard from Barney Kelly just moments ago let's hear from them again before these guys get the green flag Eric Justin Allgaier is making his first Cup start since August 2016 when he sucked for an ailing Michael Annett the plan has been in place for him to be the reserve driver since returning from the pandemic break so they've had everything they needed on hand to get him comfortable in this car and that includes changing the seat insert the headrest the steering column the shifter the mirrors the steering wheel just for the short list crew chief cliff Daniels told me aside from that that execution of this race they don't plan to do it any differently than if Jimmie had been behind the wheel although they might be more inclined to go for staged points versus the overall win to help maintain their 12th place standing and the owners points Marty Kelley since a return at Darlington Kevin Harvick has delivered three wins I asked him why it's worked so well he said we trust our notes we're a veteran team and we trust our playbook they can lean back on last year's playbook Rick because they are the defending winners of this race and would love to go back-to-back as you look back on the eyes if Kevin Harvick lights are off on the pace truck that means he's going to be making a very hard left-hand turn here at the entrance to pit road leaving the field in the hands of Joey Logano in the 22 Bush to the one on the inside as they get ready for the start of the Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway first time at speed going into turn number one here at Indy they stay side by side for the lead Logano inching ahead of Kurt Busch's to go down the backstretch that outside line work for joy Mangano [Music] look at Brad Keselowski big aggressive move down the back straightaway short shoot into turn four they're still side by side fighting for position Keselowski in the 2 on the inside at the 10 American Rolla see them side by side that's gonna be a big advantage that car behind them yeah butcher got a run there Brad did a great job of blocking taking that run away from butcher takes the spot away from Alba rola ensue Keselowski moves up into the night spot see how the fields already single-file down restarts really the first three quarters of that first lap after a restart we're going to be the best opportunity to get passes made back from Bubba Wallace is number 43 maybe a little balance between how breasts if you want to be Rick a perfectly clean Indianapolis no laps run on the oval all week long that can be very high for tire wear there'll be a competition yellow at lap 12 to allow crew chief to come down pit road and change those tires the drivers lap to go decide how tough they want push that right front early to the 42 Kenseth looking to the inside of Chris Buescher in the 17 party I was going to ask Steve that question Rick about that right front tire all the crew chiefs I talked to this morning see 12 laps in that's enough to make you a little bit worried about that right front traditionally Indianapolis when it's a green racetrack very hard on those Goodyear tires so Steve if your crew chief in this race will at 12 be early enough for you for that cop caution well it would have to be early enough we see the 20 of Erik Jones pull out of line to make a move in the end it's up to the driver I believe you know that right front is going to be unconcerned if you start with a little bit more air pressure trying to help it with Marty member green racetrack is a track with no rubber it's hard to tell but this service actually has locating proves in it and to tell that rubber gets put into the grooves it wears the tires you see the 47 high off the corner gets passed by his teammate in the 37 and he's struggling Stenhouse did that 47 car struggle and trying to get creep up here up front we've got a battle fifth place chase Elliott passing card tricks junior and early on we're going to see this right I mean these guys they're going off of what engineers think is the best setup for these cars they haven't had any track time well and even if there right now Rick this track as Marty was just talking about nowhere ever being that it's going to change dramatically so your balance is good here you better start making adjustments as you see Kevin Harvick out of the groove William briar in that red and blue 24 tries to keep the four out of the primary late eighteen car Kyle Busch get in the door of the 12 blatant Brad's trying to figure out who the hill that nine cars ran down his teammate Bowman this Blaney goes by Truex for six plays tricks fading they look last week by and Blaney Kyle Busch you saw Blaney drive right into the rear quarter-panel of Kyle Busch maybe that was a little oh by the way guess where I am right now on the track because that was on the straightaway that we just saw the 18 go over just nudge to the 12 they're never going to remind each other I'm sure was very unhappy in his interview we see the 19 of our tracks jr. being attacked there by the 18 of Kyle Busch let's listen in to the 19th with the power there yeah talk about the ng doesn't sound right that was his crew chief james paul who radioed back to just keep us up-to-date but he says he's wide open Marty and they're gonna fire left reading behind the wheel you earn and say it's just laying over like a dog they're gonna check and see if it's a plug wire that might have come off but again these are one of the things that would have been found in practice for the 19-teens Martin Truex Jr going backwards clearly an engine issue they'll see if it's something they can fix having the comp caution good news is you know you have a caution six more laps the bad news trying to diagnose this would be very difficult on pit road during the race Rick six laps a long time already out front Joey Logano ahead of Kurt Busch [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] NASCAR on NBC has brought to you--by diehard batteries now available at Advance Auto Farms credit one bank the official credit card of NASCAR perfect for race fans big machine hand sanitizer bottles and refills available at big machine and sanitizer calm and by Toyota [Music] Barty what are we hearing down there boy Rick the show to watch as Martin Truex Jr going backwards started six right now in 28th and maybe going to lose that spot another spot to Ricky Stenhouse jr. but they might be able to diagnose what's going on listen to the radio high-speed ECU Eric up your games small the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr does that at least give you somewhere to go to start diagnosing him before he comes down pit road and to lap was the crew chief it's going to tell me what to tell the two ng guy from TRD because I'm not sure I know what that error is but ECU is the electronic control unit for the engine there's a digital readout on the - marked Rex jr. just relaying that information unlike another series they can't see that on the pit box the only way they got to know in the pit box is what Marc tricks Junior is telling them but James small of sure is in communications with TRD with the engine producer for this vehicle and say hey this is what we're seeing this is what we're hearing and create a list of two dudes when they come down pit road under yellow Steve that's exactly why gas cars put these competition cautions in place with no practices so if you have some kind of a problem if you've missed something really big to set up the whole day is not ruined exactly why these things are there he has fallen already from 29th position though for Martin Truex Jr as we see chase Elliott in that nap and number nine they're gonna peaked at the 88 of Alex Bowman he just tried to look to the lifts and I might be about yeah I think I'm asking you but the 9 car is kind of stuck behind this 88 sloughed Blaney in the 12 to close in on this battle if I'm Alex Bowman the 88 I got you're faster buddy but we got a caution coming so I'm gonna give you the spot I like to keep this spot before we come to pit road we would expect that caution becoming a Thea very shortly because it was supposed to be on lap 12 currently on lap 13 and Harvick is on pit road now yeah so this might be a strategy call to pit before the yellow but I don't believe they can take fuel they must think they can either all go all 50 laps or maybe he has a tissue well I bought you in downtown Steve yeah was that a good call to come to pit road right now I don't understand it because I they can't take fuels so they're gonna put tires on this car there's no doubt this call Steve yeah they're gonna go with four Goodyear tires here I did not hear an issue at all with Kevin Harvick we'll follow the Rodney Childers pin again to your point they cannot take fuel here everyone else can they won this race last year Junior called it in the ratio by having short run speed and keeping track position that's how critical it is you'll take some crazy chances Rodney Childers coming before the cop caution so Rick you know I'm always a guy for gambling you hear Kevin Harvick instantly shut the engine off maybe they feel they could go 50 laps on fuel if he says enough that's way outside of the window I would have thought I can think they can only go 40 Steve the rule is though that they can't take fuel before the caution is thrown for that competition cause for this specific reason the 90 of a competition yellow as Jeff said is for teams to assess where they're at to make adjustments to perhaps you know overcome a mechanical issue this is Kevin Harvick I was thinking trying to get track position we got to see how this plays out yeah it may be a reaction from crew chief Rodney Childers who's really frustrated with the draw that they've been getting for their starting position knowing that they got a race winning car but getting such a poor draw this gets them that track position if this works out but he come in here and just douchey old state he still goes out still lose spots right yeah I mean uh yes yes he could come down to take fuel but he was running night and I don't see he could come on pit road last take fuel only and then rebut in nine so I don't think there's gonna be a net loss pit road is closed when the caution comes out initially so pit road still closed we take a look at the pit road at Indianapolis and very narrow right guys yeah the reason we want to pull this up is because all these cars are gonna come on pit road at the same time this is the most narrow pit road that there is on the rate on the on the circuit we see a lot of issues on pit road a lot of damage a lot of cars run into each other it's especially early in the race if all these cars are lead lap it gets very very dangerous see the field coming out of turn four and Allegan led by Joey Logano in the 22 that roads still closed so that's why they're not ducking onto pit road now so Dwayne Johnson brings Super Bowl champion Victor Cruz and Ninja Warrior jessie graff to take on all comers to become the next titan champion that's the titan games monday on NBC guessing justin allgaier I'd like to be a Titan [Music] a little bit of a tighten today subbing for Jimmy Johnson let's listen into the radio of 40:18 I took too long to pass a couple of those guys it'll be a timid no in the car yet and once I got clear them I felt like I was okay I know we still need to speed but did they get a little more comfortable there yeah sweat it all Ben whatsoever you did fine that's pretty smart of justin allgaier Steve what is that what is the feeling as a crew chief in a situation you know there's you're not racing for points what do you expect out of the driver in this situation I think the most important thing is you want to put a good show on for your fans for your sponsor and Ally and for Justin Allgaier you know he is his resume while I don't think he's auditioning for a cup ride you want to give him the best platform to go out there and do a good job or for anything for pride and for Jimmie Johnson remember Jimmy's at home watching this probably feeling awful he's not there for his team we all understand why it's not his fault but you want to go run well to take the pressure off your driver you want him to think you know one I hate you're not here buddy but we're doing the best we can without you let's get an update on the 40 party hey Rick checked in with Rodney Childers and Kevin Harvick riding on board he's under power right now but trying to save as much fuel as he can Rodney told me planned from the very beginning of the day to come on that lap take four fresh Goodyear tires and see they will not pit here on the caution to take fuel so tell you what that just shows you how important track position is Rodney Childers willing to roll the gamble early in the race here to get all the track position he can good roads open so they're getting ready to come at you telling n Marty and you'll see the leader there Joey Logano in that yellow 22 car he's going to come to pit road he said he's fired off he was just a little bit tight especially in 1 & 2 but late into that run he said the car fell off big time he said he was in a four-wheel drift there we talked about how narrow it was and look at this they're piled up at the end of pit road piled up there's like six cars UK to get by huge game into the 48-37 we've seen they're unbelievable the others that were up front not affected the one has an issue on his pit stop it is chaos on pit road and look at this the chaos back here Corey Lajoie in the 32 he's in at the 19 Martin trucks junior because of the issues he had on the track he's involved in this as well they pile up at the entrance to pit road [Music] [Music] [Music] as we were going to break you saw one of the crew members from the 12 team get pinched in between the 12 and another car you see the AMR safety team is right there on pit road attending to him Steve this is one of the reasons why all the crew members had to have helmets when they went over the wall a safety a big issue yeah years ago pit crew didn't have to wear fireproof suits that changed then it was helmets after an accident in Miami over a decade ago once again you see just how dangerous pit road can be this is every crew chiefs fear these pit crew members become like family you ask them to go out and do their job and so often we talk about the competition side how fast you can do their job but Jeff did a nice job of highlighting how narrow the pit road here is here in Indianapolis and it doesn't matter the speed of these cars they're 3,500 pounds a 3,500 pound vehicle when they start sliding around these crew members all very brave men and women who jump over pit wall weekend a week out so they're gonna they're attending to one of the crew members from the 12 team that's really scary obviously coming on pit road and they just all got stacked up right there one of them one car won't drive I just slowed up because of a guy turning into his pits and then they just all stacked up this is the narrowest pit road on the series yeah 24 feet and you know cars on the on their in their pit boxes taking up the majority of that some of that and when a car does get slowed down on you know it's a chain reaction a domino effect that starts way up here and then look at the cars there's nowhere for these guys to go because of how narrow that pit road is and affected so many cars we also saw a tire got hit there those things are 70 pounds that just got thrown in the air they're great to see a smile on his face so a thumbs up and a smile again that crew member for the 12 team those guys a warrior's go over the pit wall what kind of man think about the nerve that guy smiling after that we're gonna show you another look but again Steve mentioned 3,500 pound car pinched between two of them and the amazing thing is the crawled out of there and was getting out of the way the helmet had come off but yeah these guys really extremely brave that was another reason also for pit road speed they brought a pit road speed so that these cars weren't coming in at race speed trying to get as fast to their pits as they could but again things like this could happen because of this narrow pit road it looked like there was a driver who is looking for his stall or trying to get slowed down to turn into his stall and as he slows down the chain reaction is you two have pointed out Jeff and Dale you know once they kind of start banging in there not only is it narrow but it's not narrow to grass at a different track like perhaps Charlotte or other places where you could spin out into the grass because of you know the proximity of the front stretch the wall is required so there's nowhere even for the spinning cars to go they stay collected on pit road it's the second year in a row Martin Truex Jr has had problems on pit road early in the race there is a red flag out right now so you're gonna you're gonna see teams looking at cars they can't work on a car in a red flag condition so that's why the cars are parked on the backstretch but they're also stopped on pit road and teams cannot work on a car on pit road under a red flag so this was last year see Martin Truex junior back at the back of the screen and same thing all stacked up and he just you know it's nothing he could do you know the driver you're taught to be as close to the guy in front of you as you possibly can while you're coming down pit road if you're four feet behind that's the same as making a slower stop right you have to be stacked up to the guy in front of you to maximize your amount of time that you're on pit road Marty and Jeff this place you just never been kind to Martin Truex Jr as he was coming into a stall he told his crew chief Martin Truex Jr to James salt small he said I'm sorry this is just a disaster of a day remember they started the race they had the engine issue then they got caught in the wreck on pit road as you mentioned Jeff's second year in a row for the 19 team and all they're doing right now is evaluating what they can do to Rick's point they can't work on it right now under the red flag Blake Harris there and the Bass Pro Shops helmet leaning in he's the car chief they can do this they cannot touch the car though and do any repairs to the car so they're kind of evaluating now and see if you've done this before make a plan as best you can so as soon as that yellow flag comes back out let's get everything done why they have to have two plans now they have damage and they still have an engine issue without that engine issue you question if they would have ever been far enough back to get into this accident Rick it was chaotic on the entrance to pit road for the 19 of Martin Truex Junior changer under a red flag early at Indianapolis Motor Speedway you're watching the big machine hand sanitiser 400 at the Brickyard telecast presented by Advance Auto Parts the reason for the red flag an accident at the entrance to pit road and we have confirmation from the 12 team that it was Zach Price the rear tire changer that was pinched between two cars and he's being checked out now by the a.m. our safety crew so as we take this look right here that's Michael McDowell he's slowed down because he's pitting directly in front of the 12 so as he slows down you can see these stack up behind him just like on the interstate right Jeff when someone slows down no one's expecting it everybody checks up and obviously the chain reaction there started to be contacting just no room to avoid it yeah the visibility keep there to keep in mind see right here this is oh it's so scary keep in mind when you're driving that race when you drive a race car you can't see through the car that's in front of you so you know you don't know what's going on three cars in front of it they get stacked up it's very difficult for you to see it and get get slowed down in time especially single-file on pit road Kelly and when I talked to Kyle Busch's crew chief Adam Stevens and asked him what his biggest concern was going into this race he actually pointed to pit road he said that place is so narrow it's 55 miles per hour it's a pretty fast pit road and one other change this year they have two spotters here because the speedway is so big but they have changed locations they no longer have a speed spotter up on the pagoda instead they have their primary spotter down in turn one in the grandstands another one in turn three and Adam Stevens says it was going to be difficult for those spotters in turn one to help assist getting those drivers into their pit stalls on pit road now Adam Stevens himself does not participate in the 18 teams pit stops so that was going to be his job helping but not every team has that luxury a lot of these crew chiefs have actually taken on a role during these pit stops so they're all kind of pulling double-duty making it difficult but that was basically the exact scenario that had Adam Stevens concerned going into this one yeah Kelly you have basically four less crew members so the fruit sar taking part of the pitstop some of them are handy tires enter handing fuel in the other twist Rick is she mentioned Adam Stevens pit selection well that used to be off qualifying you fast cars would pick first well now they use last week's results is the order in which they pick pit stalls will remember the 18 of Kyle Busch was in an accident last week so he was way down the list picking stalls you saw right there the pre and post pandemic four less crew members I actually talked to Rodney Childers this morning say hey are you involved in the pit stop and how about this one the four car needs to complete full tanks of gas Rodney Childress has to get down off the pit box and hand a tank of gas over to his gas man so no one is on the pit box during the pit stop Wow and they're firing the engines back up that means that we have gone to a yellow flag condition so the caution now is an ALICE that means that those teams can go to work on the cars now that we're on pit road and analyzing what they needed to do so under the wheel well of the 48 these guys frantically going to work on the 19 trying to figure out what the engine issue was just you know a reminder in years past you would see body parts come out taped on and all these patches that's gone away NASCAR's got away with all that with the new crash rules that have been in effect now for a couple of years you can't add any pieces you could put all the tape on it you want and then you have to go out and find minimum speed if you can't do that you're going to be removed from the race there's only a certain amount of time it's called a crash clock and if you work on your car too long you'll be eliminated that's why they're frantically working on these cars now they will be on the clock if they were involved in the incident so pit road is open again as the cars rolling around we'll see if others will take to pit road a few of these cars chose not to come the first time wise decision these guys all would bent behind that stack up so they'll come to position come to pit road now get serviced these were cars towards the back of the field when the yellow came out and you can see who's in front that 22 car as they stayed on the racetrack Kevin Hart I'm telling you I keep working on my calculator here trying to figure out Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childress play and I understand they cycle to the front but without being able to put fuel in this car I don't see how they can make it to the lap 50 caution although if you listen it's an I hear an engine running Rick saving as much fuel as you can there is fire to back up again he'll catch up to the pace car we'll be back for the restart evidence [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the diehard batteries you know and trust are now at advanced unrivaled performance meets unrivaled expertise diehard batteries now at Advance Auto farms so Rick 17 laps in you see the damage from all the cars again stacked up well this is the one of Kurt Busch Oh they dropped the jack he goes to leave he runs over the air hose he has to back up this was our third-place runner before the yellow comes in third you see the disappointment the confusion are we changing left-side tires now he's all the way back at the 28th position so if you're keeping notes Rick you're gonna run out of ink because there's a lot of cars involved the issues in this first set of pit stops yeah not the way he wanted his 700th start to go it's been very disjointed to start obviously the Lightning backing things up as far as the green flag and then the issue on the competition caution with the bottleneck happened at the entrance to pit road you have to wonder if you know not have any practice not having any repetitions or any anything happening you show up jump the car go to race you gotta imagine I haven't seen a lot of negatives to that in the sport since since we've been doing it that way this year that might have played a big role in creating that issue on pit road the one also had a penalty for an uncontrolled tire 19 I think that too many men over pit wall which is an okay penalty while you're trying to do repair hey guys take a look at this 128 degrees right now inside that car that's Bubba and it's warm obviously this has been a racetrack where we've seen drivers get out of the car and just almost sit down and fall down up exhaustion and that's unique because yesterday we had a teenage inside of one Xfinity cars and it was roughly ten maybe fifteen degrees cooler than that and tells you these cars they have them down to the ground sealed off on this surfaces they go around the oval whereas the Xfinity cars are a little higher a little air underneath the car it doesn't trap all that heat but these these cup cars they got them sealed to the ground it traps a ton of heat in those cars they cook inside of there it's gonna be a tough day for those drivers it is a warm one Marty hey guys checked in with Rodney Childers and yes he does know Steve he cannot make it to the end of this stage but this was planned all along so Steve have you done your backwards math hitting off sequence all day long looks like Rodney Childers is willing to do it and you know the other thing that allows them to do that those three wind stickers behind Kevin Harvick's name they have three wins in the bank they know they're in the playoffs so hey why not roll the dice go for that fourth win hey Rick I always encourage gambling especially after winning races so good for Rodney Childers and Kevin Harvick what they need now those have a good restart they want to stay to the front they've got that track position now they need to keep it so there shows you the confidence they have in their speed right he's not worried about it getting out front leading the pack or getting far enough backward if he has to put on the green he's will go a lap down he's counting on the fact that he will have enough speed and you can pin here on the green and not go lap down season not going well for Martin Truex Jr as we see him out of the car he's done for the day that's so frustrating that's just so frustrating and now the field approaches the Geico restart zone Kevin Harvick Joey Logano making up roll on Jimmy chose the initial start this first restart for car on the outside with a teammate behind him contact three wide Brad Keselowski to the inside puts Bowman three wide to sandwich result moments slide out make a little contact there and Logano trying to steal away the lead for Kevin Harvick barbecues that outside lane carry that momentum down the back straightaway the Gardo trying to sidetrack that quarter battle pulling back here comes health member olih big push try to help his teammate they stay side by side through three Harvick down the short chute has the advantage he's going to close the door in the four another corporation early in a race shows you how important track position is those guys going at it right along joy the God or this coca-cola cam [Applause] all soprano means trying to keep that left front fender on the inside of Kevin Harvick to get air to it make downpours make the car drive as good as you can the only thing I'm curious about with the four new tires on Harvard's car but not adding fuel how would that affect the nose weight the car and the balance of the car of this short run here yeah you would think it would be tighter without the weight in the back swinging on corner entry the car might be a little tighter but you know what fixes a tight race car is fresh air on the nose all that front downforce as you see the 48 who was in that accident on pit road looks like a flat left front tire or a right friend it's got all kinds of damage Justin Allgaier that's behind the wheel again filling in for Jimmie Johnson who now is at home in quarantine because of the Cova 19 positive test and so not what he wanted to see either and I had to look really hard see if there's any debris on the racetrack I'm effort guys trying to get a big supper she's trying to get a big for that thing go show you the drugs off the to the Trump end of the day for Justin Allgaier at the forty eight back to the lead you receive the battle between the 2 of Brad Keselowski in the 9 of chase Elliott it's gonna be a cigarette you know there's a mix we that was so complicated during that hip sequence we the accident and the strategy of the four we have a handful of cars toward the front Logano Almirola Keselowski on two tires were chase Elliott on four fresh tires we'll see if those newer left-side tires help the speed in the nine car Steve you mentioned earlier about the strategy and the particulars of this racetrack 38 to 40 laps they can go on fuel so the only one that we don't believe can make it all the way is gonna be Kevin Harvick who didn't add fuel under that competition caution because he actually came a lap before the caution came out yeah the rest of these drivers I believe can make it to the end on fuel now it's just about continuing to communicate with your team early on the race as the track change is what you need your car to do differently to be better as the race wears on just want to let you know Corey Lajoie was involved in that incident at the entrance to pit road he is been checked and released from the infield care center she just replayed back from that restart how aggressive he got three wide get into turn one that's not going to work they knew it out stolen wisely he rolled out of the throttle got himself out of that situation but lost several spots at the ninth place man on the outside of that aric almirola sitting there in third place hoping to get his fifth top five in a row one of the hottest drivers in NASCAR right now Denny Hamlin and Hamlin currently running in the seventh position all over the back bumper of Matt DiBenedetto in that 21 so Denny was able to leave turn two lower than Maddie Dini caught that one let him pull up Masotti but just couldn't do it this racetrack a little bit of a bobble there yeah the 21 and then he's showing he look man I want this spot he knows that's gonna hurt his corner but he's hoping that if he keeps showing Maddie D that he wants that spot it would give it to him I think he's also trying to affect the balance of the 21 car put his car putting it 11 car as close as you can to the left rear quarter-panel try to get that 21 up off the bottom of the racetrack and out of the gas right behind the 11 of Denny Hamlin 24 of William Byron crew chief check and I was on top of the box former crew chief for Jimmie Johnson I talked to Chad this morning hard to believe he has yet to go to the shop since they loaded the cars for Atlanta in March from the pandemic meets months ago now Chad Knaus has not been to the shop and he said he's learning you know he's a he's a hands-on crew chief he's learning how to set this 24 car up from afar and how to prepare he believes that the no practice is hurting both him and his driver so far so good here today running inside the top 10 this is a great view to talk about this racetrack you know all four of these corners look the same but they are not the same they drive completely different drive it into turn one this this corner is very very tight on corner exit out of the throttle go back to the throttle really quickly then the car wants to go straight out to the wall right here it's very tight on corner exit then this corner turned to it's much tighter than turn four they look exactly the same but off a turn - if your car is loose you get way looser than you do off the floor and you get way to tighter if you're tight Marty hey Jeff Steve Benson the moment ago chase Elliott sitting in Hamlin sitting there in seventh they are on four fresh Goodyear tires and right in front of Denny Matt DiBenedetto on two so see how much are you watching this as a crew chief as Hamlin with those four fresh tires goes for that spot and gets it around Matt Edie yeah I'm trying to learn from everyone else's decisions and if you're a car that's farther back in traffic some of your results can be altered just by where you are in the field Rick so I walks guys towards the front to see a four tires really shows right now two tires are holding on everyone in the top three or four but we still have a long ways 24 laps to go to the end of the stage Steve you mentioned earlier when you saw those cars on pit road and they were working on than they were on the clock you had mentioned they had to meet a minimum speed while two cars that were involved in the incident the 15 of Brennan Poole in the 47 of Ricky Stenhouse jr. they were not able to meet that minimum speed when they went back out on the racetrack and some NASCAR has told them the day is over head back to the garage let's listen in on aric almirola Stadium [Applause] [Music] and cerebral aric almirola trying to dissect how was my car that tight cuz of the track tight because of potential damage is it two tires we talked to Eric this week and first year work with Mike mother average spent a crew chief swap at stewart-haas racing and Jeff I thought was fascinating you know Johnny Claus Meyer was the crew chief for air come early said you know we were both just very laid-back very calm we would have a bad day and we both would care but he didn't sound that way on the radio what mother brought was a little bit of fire and intensity this tank artists work in Dale that just mentioned four top fives in a row yeah he's completely different personalities between the driver and the crew chief and he thinks that really helps them but is there Stan also how you know that's a new team together they don't have any races together and they can't spend time together the only time they can spend time together is actually during the races and I think that's a disadvantage of new teams it's taking them a while to get going but they are running their best as of late just get that chemistry built just behind them the battle is heating up for fourth right now Keselowski has it but chase elegant has been closing the gap and here comes Denny Hamlin once again Brad's on the two tires nine car chase Elliott Denny Hamlin both on four fresh tires showing that speed look at that lemon car though get the run on chase Elliott down the back straightaway and dive in there look trying to get that car up off the bottom he does taking the air off the back of the 9 car that's how you get aggressive to try to put yourself in a position to make that pass and they've done a great job there Pamela takes fifth away from chase Elliott no one's been able to take the lead away from Kevin Harvick he's up front by two seconds over the Ghanim [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] just 18 laps to go in the big machine hand sanitizer 400 at the Brickyard for stage 1 this telecast presented by Advance Auto Parts we see the 10 coming off of pit road Marty what was going on he had a vibration and it got so bad he - radio mic bugger rabbits his crew chief who's down here evaluating the tires right now he said I can't stand I'm going to come in they are looking to see what it could have been there was contact on the left rear but they're pointing to the left front as if something might have been wrong with that tire but aric almirola who is running third and you guys which should be coming up four straight top-five finishes has to pit early here and right now he is gone as far as he and Rick falling to the field in 30th right now [Music] another driver involved in the incident at the back or at the entrance to pit road but back to field there was the 19 of Martin Truex Jr he has been and treated and released from the infield care center as well and Eric's gonna have to hustle he wants to get up there and if there's a caution of any kind get the trying to pass city cars that can did not catch Harvick could pass him he'd set back on the lead lap he's got their fun of Logano remember Harmons gonna have to pit so if all that were to work out Harvick didn't say you'd say green the whole way then Eric should end up back in the lead lap well hey and Harvick has 33 lap tires okay you know air combos are fresh I know track positions important but both of them in clean air right here you see the 4 of Kevin Harvick up there in the distance a couple cars in front of it 210 this is where it's important on top of the pit box to paint the accurate picture all right you're the free pass position but you need to stay close to that for tell your driver how hard he needs to push give them that information you know I was surprised for the 10 Jeff you and I were having a conversation this is a track where you can pit and not lose a lap but he was two or three seconds behind the leader but more portly yet at 16 in second pit stop you switch that to a 13 second pit stop and guess what he's in front of the four we talked about the small details that changed your entire day they're gonna look back and say oh it was the loose wheel well Rick if they get caught a lap down it wasn't as much loose feel as it was a slow pit stop with a loose wheel that got them a lap down to the four five hoping for a caution potentially to get that free pass and just moments ago Kelly caught up with Martin Truex Jr well first it was engine issues for Martin Truex Jr and then he got caught up on that incident on pit road I mean Martin how do you sum up a short-lived day like this terrible disappointing you know really all around one lap up to speed and then had the engine deal so just disappointed you know our auto-owners camera felt amazing I thought I thought we were gonna have a great day and you know we ran a lap and a half I guess and it was feeling really good and then the engine laid down so the deal with pit road you know I mean that kind of happened to us last year we I almost aborted I almost said I'm just gonna wait and come around the next lap but the guys really wanted to get under the hood and assess the engine and you know come to find out it was just a sparkplug problem so we could have easily fixed it and had a really good day I think but thanks to all two owners and Toyota and everybody that supports us we'll come back strong and hopefully get them next week that guy right there really does need to get back to running the way he's used to running only two top five this year home pace to only get about five this year where last year you had 15 top five so they're eager to turn things around way behind right now and what they had done back in 2019 also hearing xlviii if justin allgaier was evaluated and released from the infield care center just want to pass that along to you those drivers that are now out of the race right here this is basically a battle for the lead because heart is gonna have to come to pit road Logano front of Hamlin here Hamlin and his car looks so good no surprise it's been a dominant season for him but how he's able to drive into the corner behind people we talked about how Aero dependent those cars are and help how much the guy behind is suffering from this big spoiler but let's seem to be bothered at 11 cars bus today yeah watch Denny Hamlin watching Turner early it's gonna turn early here trying to get underneath that 22 car Joey Logano is not one of those drivers as go mrs. Martin he's gonna be on it the fact that they need can stay this close through the corner is so impressive to me because he's really at a disadvantage aerodynamically on the nose of that car this is it this is the end of the racetrack where he's put in and make those passes into turn three not close enough to Joey Logano he's got to get a big run off the tube close that gap in the three in the turn before him take that air off the spoiler keep Joey from getting to the bottom of the racetrack back to the gas a little sooner gains a little bit there kind of holds there there's a little bit off turn four down the front straightaway doesn't look like Joey Logano gets out of the gas very much yeah that turn four is probably the freest corner and they're all the racetrack so that's probably where they're going to be used up to draw the most listened-to turn one way off the gas you're not handling that's gonna be the corner where it's going to show up the most watch the throttle in this end of the corner see that right there [Applause] remember that turn to in turn four they look exactly the same when you look at this racetrack there's no difference so right watch the throttle when we get all around the racetrack to turn four how different it is example rollin going around this he doesn't need the free pass he has a teammate and what I like about this I'm not a hundred percent sure if Kevin Harvick's not helping a team man out I don't think so I just think it's the new tires aric Almirola is running some of the fastest laps in the entire field with the freshest tires that tells me that you know it's not just track position you got to have a good handling race car Harvick that last lap ran right under 52 seconds the second third at the 50 64 so that's a whole second slower for Harvick allowing that pass to happen back to the battle here for second place [Applause] the throttle again as they go down the backstretch we saw the speed closing in on 190 miles an hour as he gets here to turn three all right so he set it up a little bit ago and left to show the past that marolla watch turn four watch the throttle my rep might see was out of the throttle into they would carry much more throttle and for extended a racetrack [Applause] and look the same but I promise you they're not all got a car defense the six of Nick's smoking car for Ryan Newman as a lot of damage to the right side of that car and the caution has come out once again he's run an eighteen he had a vibration and Indiana kid Ryan Newman obviously disappointed what has happened here the right front tire down don't know if that happened prior to your rink we had a conversation about Ryan Newton this morning Jeff you and I his numbers on the legal Daytona 500 champ Brickyard 400 champs silver crown champion he just has been in the sport for so long six hundred and sixty eight starts I think sometimes we forget he had that spectacular crash at Daytona to start the year recovered from that it's great to see him back in a race car but not quite like this he wanted this one to run to the finish a lot of damage to the right side of the six its update for Roush pusher already had some troubles today on pit road out of the race 35th seems like this Mike in the day for new but just wait and see how much damage this it took for that hit to the outside now this is one of these tracks that as a crew chief I'm gonna have to really be sure this car is okay to go back out you're going so fast but take a look at it right here Oh looks like a flat right front to me well we talked about it guys you know this racetrack is the one of the most abrasive racetracks we go to a lot of times we unload race cars here and can't make six or seven laps that putting tires on it now you start in this race you just makes you wonder if it didn't wear through the tire they work on the six another driver who was out of this race early subbing for Jimmie Johnson Justin Allgaier with killing yeah and surely a disappointing returned to the Cup Series for Justin Allgaier who's just been released from the care center and we'll give you a replay but what was your vantage point Justin as you were coming down pit road kind of always has been in the past here and you know starting at the back trying to you know go forward you know obviously yeah right here you know the the 15 actually got the back of me I didn't know if I got the the gentlemen on the 12 or not it was you know once the once the wreck started happening in front of us and we all got bottled up there it just you know one car after another we're getting run into and just a shame I hate it for these guys on this ally 48 they've done such a great job they prepared so well for the circumstances obviously our hearts and our thoughts are with Jimmie right now and his family that's the most important piece of all this is getting him back to the racetrack soon and I wanted to do well for them today and it's just disappointing to to be staying here talking you unfortunately but we'll go on you know I don't know what I don't know what next week looks like yet but we'll go run the Xfinity Series race and go have a good good shot at it and yeah disappointed disappointed a way to end the Brickyard 400 what did it mean no to be the one to get the call to step in for a seven-time champion I told mr. H and I told Jimmy as well you know I just how honored I was to be this part that they they would ask me to be in this role it means a lot it means a lot as a driver it means a lot just everybody involved in my family and hopefully I get the opportunity again Thank You Marty Kelly on a day where track position means so much pit road open near nine to go in stage one Joey Logano has been up front with Denny Hamlin and also Kevin Harvick will see what Paul Wolfe can call here but for fresh Goodyear tires you saw how fast aric almirola was once he put those on for Kevin Harvick he could see Rodney Childers kind of slumped down when the caution happened this certainly throws a curve ball into their strategy but the pit crew can come through here and hold that track position car was a little bit tight he had to flip the fuel switch for the octillery fuel to kick in coming down pit road and then Denny Hamlin for fresh Goodyear tires for him he said no handling changes for him and a lot of guys taken to their rig in in some track position yeah two tire stop for ty Dillon won the race off of pit road he made up ten spots Harvick you see dropped one spot on that four-tire change we'll be back for the restart and the sprints the end of stage one [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] NASCAR and coca-cola have partnered with the USO to find military and first responders who have gone above and beyond to keep our community safe and healthy during kovat and this time of unrest earlier this week coca-cola racing family driver Austin Dillon caught up with Lieutenant Colonel temperature chief medical officer at Hope Army Air Field who has stepped into action hello Lieutenant Colonel temperature what is this pandemic meant to our military it's forced us to definitely come up with creative ways to achieve the mission I'm certainly honored to represent an entire team that's taking care of our members regardless of the risk we really appreciate your service to our country and our communities on behalf of the NASCAR salutes refreshed by coca-cola program I'm excited to tell you that we're going to continue your support of military families in our community and yours with the donation to USO family programs in North Carolina and Indianapolis thank you for your support it's truly appreciated as Austin said NASCAR and coca-cola are going to partner with the USO to donate to USO family programs in both North Carolina where Lieutenant Colonel Templar is stationed as well as in Indianapolis to help get through these challenging times [Music] they brought the 95 of Christopher Bell on to pit road NASCAR did because of a transponder issue that's how they're scored there's a transponder that's at the rear of every car and there was an issue with the 95 of Christopher Bell so they brought him to pit road so they can change that out Rutledge you know Rinku talked a lot this week about Roger Penske having the dream showing up here as a kid and what it meant to him but he wasn't the only young man that showed up at this track with a dream and one of them happened to be tied to a tow truck and that was because it was his job Tony Stewart before he was a team owner a three-time Cup champion or even an IRL champion he was here because he was a young man interested in racing growing up in Indiana running go-karts being into the Geist Bloor that was this track for so many Indiana natives something that we saw yesterday would chase Frisco why that win was so important to him but Tony used to sneak in he would use a tow truck get a good stand on the back of the rollback that's how he watched the Indy 500 in any way you cut it what this track means just so many different men and women is obviously very real in the racing community but I know Tony Stewart enjoys the views he gets today but I don't think he's that far from remembering what it looked like from the back of a tow truck guys yeah inspiring young drivers as we saw with chase Briscoe yesterday 95s going around he'll get his position back I believe for NASCAR again had to change the transponder in that 95 so Jeff who we talked about points you know the playoffs are coming this is a halfway through a little past halfway through the regular season so you see all the guys in yellow and have a win we'll go down to that red line Johnson who we know isn't in the race today but Dillon and Jones just above it the 24th William Byron is currently listed in ninth as a leader these are all the guys that stayed on the racetrack I say that because we're only about five or six laps away from the end of stage one and points are paved ten cars right so we have William fired Erik Jones and Austin Dillon all stayed on the racetrack and their thought has to be points right try to fill that points bucket to try to have a better opportunity to make the playoffs look at the last pit you have you know three guys out front that have been on pit row half man on pit road slap fifteen ty Dillon gambled with right-side tires and again the schedule a little bit disjointed as well because of what's going on next Sunday it's Kentucky Speedway that'll be Fox Sports 1 and that one is at 2:30 p.m. Eastern and then Wednesday so just three days later the all-star race will be at Bristol once again on Fox Sports 1 and that is at 8:30 p.m. Eastern so under the lights there at Bristol and Sunday July 19th will be back on NBCSN at Texas Motor Speedway at 3:00 p.m. Eastern and I just want to say what a great job we have seen out of Mike joy Jeff Gordon Larry McReynolds the whole crew on Fox such a difficult season that's been we we had a great Kentucky race they get it this year but that race last year how about the battle between the brothers won a battle between the Busch brothers the older Busch Kurt ends up getting the win to the line rumor was car left with airport rumor is you have a flight home after that one as a rare opportunity for Kurt to get one up both Kyle and Kurt show to get a lot of great emotion that's the first time that Kurt had beat his brother in a one two battles when they've had that finish a lot of time it was the first win for a lot of those guys on that team took a lot of pride in that so it's hard I'm thinking that that caution could not have come at a better time for Kevin Harvick they roll the dice early decided you know what we need some track position how we're gonna do it caution comes out there the first car that came out pit road first I don't know one that pitted so I don't know that could have made it happen any better for those guys field now going through the Geico restart zone as we get ready to go four laps to go in stage one nobody gets the advantage on the jump William Barrett Jones side-by-side at one moving up the 4 of Kevin Harvick trying to get by the 9 of chase Elliot Gillum brothers right in front of him [Music] case is going to have an 18 come up there and help him get a run by Kevin Harvick and no help for Harvick now is Chase is going to go by the 3 of Austin Dillon ty Dillon brother younger brother of Austin just in front of him in the 13 so close now right now if they can stay side by side to be in advantage but Elliott lost grip he wanted a little boy he thought if you have a little more grip him outside and turn for one there he's gonna side draft is for car down the front straightaway what a great illustration behind him look at the run Matt DiBenedetto has him to 21 Marvin's clear Dalyan so he silly tried the crossover almost there in the nine and they're still side by side side by side behind them as Kyle Busch tries to make the pass and will complete it on Matt DiBenedetto we embark Jones we talked about a Steve those points this this win right here to be huge to be the stage lead 18 out of the groove there opens up the spot for de pinna dead oh he takes it here comes the 11 as well oh look a hand coming up like Santa laps to go and look at how important points are taking the fight here pushes that freak are feeling down the front straightaway off into turn one trying to clear the four of Harvick and the big deal for chase that could look at the erase button boob right there I know it's early but track position - it is now the 11 pushing the 21 of DiBenedetto they go by tie doing yeah Maddog I was out of shape there I'll race it here coming into the stage coming up on the last lap of stage one out front it's still William Byron fun of Erik Jones then Austin Dillon has a mirror full of everybody and look at a fan-out as they go down the front stretch Rick we're going to talk about track position and how all these crew chiefs are battling for the drivers over here in the booth with us we're talking about you know how one position could matter William Byron is currently leading and perhaps gonna win this state he stayed out he has thirty lap older tires in the field and he's dead after the sixth position so you know this just proves if you can get a car out front in that clean air it improves the hailing to the point where that's the whole strategy for the crew chief to be the guy out front it's got to come down to who can manage the fuel the best but a great strategy call for William Byron Erik Jones gobbling up these points William Payne win good call wimp stage number one now those two came into this race 15th and 16th and points that is why they stayed out trying to get those hit stage points second win the second stage win of the year for William Byron he's still looking for his first Cup Series win an Xfinity Series champion and right now he's up front win state one [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a song is how they remember you by Rascal Flatts and this is big machine and sanitizer 400 at the Brickyard and this view this aerial coverage be brought to you by Geico Kelly so William Byron picks up the stage win which was clearly the objective their true chief Chad can now said man I hate we had to do that it's going to be a battle to get back up front the rest of the day there Williams said he's pretty good just gets a little bit loose as those tire pressures come up Austin Dillon in that number three car middle of the screen said he just doesn't have any straightaway speed but pretty good and clean there you see there they're gonna make it tracked the bar adjustment of your tires for the 330 Chris Gayle the crew chief for Erik Jones bottling your screen debated for a moment about staying out here running ten laps and making it to the end of the stage too but they into the day decided four fresh Goodyear tires to go here and fuel he said the pace out front might be different than it was back in the pack Trek because so many came before the end of the stage not very many come here at the end of the stage [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] NASCAR on NBC is brought to you by big machine hand sanitizer there's a big machine hand sanitizer calm now and help keep you and your loved ones safe the machine has been doing just that since March when the brand started using its distillery to produce hand sanitizer to support first responders earlier this week big machine was joined by 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan to donate thousands of bottles of sanitizer to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and let's go to the pagoda and check back in with Mike Tirico all right Rick back outside this crossover weekend with IndyCar and NASCAR socially distant still Jared still with us James Hinchcliffe from IndyCar Series as well to James in the second stage racing gives you immediate feedback and data what are you thinking what you saw at the end of stage one well you've seen those verified teams on the pandemic what is fact and what is fiction well it was just verified for these crew chiefs that clean air is way more important than new tires so get your driver in the right position towards the end of this race that's going to give you a better chance that you think you can do a pit road the headline from stage one was that bottleneck at the top of him you'll live this for indy500 we talk about it every year this narrow pit road and got the NASCAR guys as well again it's a very tight pants especially coming up a track like Pocono a lot of times you think you're dry as a driver your heart rates going to be highest on the race track sometimes it's actually higher in pit lane because of all the all the dangers there there's exposed personnel I've seen a lot of Indy 500s lost in pit lane and unfortunately for some of these guys are Brickyard 400 always went out of pit lane - is it cool for you to be here to watch the NASCAR Cup guys on the on the fame - at my level absolutely love it and at the end of that stage one is anything like the end of the race it's gotta be it's gonna be a good finish that's good I was giving him some grief because we're wearing suits he's wearing a t-shirt he said yeah I was a heck of a lot hotter in the car yesterday he fished in lemon through the Grand Prix brick back to you and the guys in Charlotte I was wondering if he didn't get the dress code the t-shirt there by the mayor of Hinch town take a look at the car comparison Steve well let's made this weekend so great is the e car and NASCAR together here's kind of a comparison a little bit more about 10 million more to run the NASCAR schedule but don't let that fool you when it comes to speed the Indy car 240 miles per hour to track like Indianapolis NASCAR about 200 obviously the Indy car much sleeker only 40 inches off the ground but I think the biggest difference is right here the total weight over 3,000 pounds for 1,700 pounds for an IndyCar Indy car now has that cool new Aero screen that hinge was talking about a kept him warm during the Grand Prix I think they're actually gonna be leaning on the stock car guys to figure out some of that helmet cooling that NASCAR has been used as we see some sort of issue with the 96 of Suarez like she's smoked well they also had a pitting issue they had somebody come over the walls early for Daniel Suarez so it looks like they may still have more issues with that car as he shakes it his own pit road a little while ago with Berta [Music] we'll see if he makes his way back on to pit road before the restart chase Elliott's leading this race right now guys his first time he's ever led chase elegant and Kevin Harvick now making up row number one as we get ready to start stage two push giving the chase Elliott letting clear Harvick little bobble there out of the floor of Harvick he catches it they stay side by side for a second Benedetto look at this my sister on Denny Hamlin gets where's he gonna go top lane he follows his buddy Matt DiBenedetto and he'll push him into second those guys gonna get by Harvick gets single-file going into turn three minute Dan oh man all the way up to second place a great show the Wood Brothers here today we mentioned earlier the Wood Brothers were invited to the Indy 500 highway back in 1965 to aid in the victory of the Indy 500 Oh amazing would it be to come back and win the Brickyard 400 with their own team benedetto was in a situation where lost his ride last year at least knowing what was going to happen in 2020 and right away Paul Menard who was driving for the Wood Brothers team in the 21 said I think Matt DiBenedetto should take over when I retire he's the guy that should go back behind the wheel of this Fame 21 Marty hey Rick when we are talking to Matt Edie earlier this week he said you know I've had to change my expectations here in the 21 car I was getting so frustrated early in the season because I was putting pressure on myself that I had to win I had to change my expectations to say you know what just go to the racetrack take what the car will give you last week at Pocono we showed we can win I'll tell you what Jeff he's showing right now running second at the Brickyard trying to get in his fourth win for the Wood Brothers yeah thought came this week and he said to me he feels like he's always racing for his life you know he's always racing to see what's going to happen next year what's his next opportunity these types of runs only help obviously big of this marquee events put the car up front that's big and who can forget that battle at Bristol last year he and Denny Hamlin going at it then he ended up getting that win but a lot of people will quietly pulling from a TV that night and one of the things I like about him is his car obviously does it I have the pace that Denny Hamlin has but he doesn't care he's going to race hard and try to get every position he can and try to go up there with this race he wins this race today that's the 100th Cup victory for the Wood Brothers he'd love to be the guy to do that should we be surprised that the two that are called the rear bumper the 11 to Denny Hamlin the 4 of Kevin Harvick and third fourth most respectfully so good last week at Pocono each one a rates each finished second to the other [Applause] such a great view this kind of shows the patience it takes the commitment to get down to that white line if you missed that white line you just lose so much time you guys talk about the vision remember we're all over the roof of the car and that allows us to see come out of the head down a little bit lower he definitely get blocked your vision of the cars and pregnant Jennie once again Peaks down below letting the driver in front of him no let him a TV know that he's there wants to get by open Maddy deal making the state kind of get in his head a little bit [Applause] good run out of the 11 here cool shy I won't lie guys I've been going to the Brickyard for a long time as a crew chief walking out on that front stretch is amazing threw gasoline alley but as I ride on board man I want to take a lap just once Rick I just want it's such a famous racetrack just what I don't have to go this fast it's 100 miles an hour just let me go around at what time to experience what it's like to have grandstands on both sides that tunnel look so amazing right side 14 the Clint Boyer just in front of the 95 Christopher Bell what an incredible rookie class this year as well the big three we call them from the Xfinity series back in 2019 have all graduated up to the Cup Series and all battling very well against each other and then you throw in John Hunter Nemechek another one of the rookies that's in the battle as well Christopher Bell has been coming coming in with some great runs here lately and this is impressive to me to see the damage on the nose of that car you would think that would be a negative aerodynamically and attract critical he's got damage to the right rear quarter panel as well hanging in there we want to take a look at the Toyota driver update as we were talking about Christopher Bell and that 95 currently running in the 8th position was as far back as 38 which we started in 35th position so a little bit a strategy has got him up here toward the front of the pack Kelly yeah and Dale jr. was referencing that good run that Christopher Bell has been on as of late with the exception of the last ways at Pocono Sunday that break from the pandemic actually gave the team a chance kind of evaluate the first handful of races of the season they gotta go over what went right what went wrong he said when we returned to Darlington it seemed like the team had done such a great job during that break that they had really turned the corner he feels like they are much better so actually a benefit to this rookie and this team to kind of figure out how they needed to move forward and they have the time to do that an opportunity during that break right now Christopher Guffey he's just a bit tight and turns three and four Kelly the other thing was had a chance to take a break and kind of orient himself to the length of these races he said that to me that was one of the most difficult things and Norman's lead in the Xfinity series and going to the Cup Series is adjusting to the length of the races it is a major change and then also the added pit stops you would think that's a great thing more opportunities to make your car better but it's also more opportunities to make a car worse understanding what these cars need and when they need them that's the orientation rookie is cooler more top 10 finishes already this year for Christopher Belle's we go NASCAR non-stop [Music] [Music] kids running six I think that's a story [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's a big machine hand sanitizer 400 at the Brickyard each telecast presented by Advance Auto Parts you catch the action from NASCAR EMSA American flat track more with track paths on NBC sports gold don't miss a green flag lot it's commercial free and on demand learn more at NBC sports.com slash Trackbacks still upfront it is chase Elliott let's get an update from Kelly again we just want to give you a quick update on that injured crew member from Ryan blinis team Zack price the rear tire changer we just learned that he is awake and alert but he has been transported to the hospital for further evaluation I also spoke to Corey Lajoie now you see the moment of impact there who has Saeki said he stopped in to check on him and Zack was able to give him the big thumbs up so that's good news but as I said the team's just told us that he has been transported to a local hospital for further evaluation it's now Curtis Thompson is the new rear tire changer for the 12th team in place of Bryce he comes from that's actually a team penske core as well so they had a backup they're ready to go so protocols further updates thinking about that young man these athletes you know we saw him get hit there Zack price we also saw the jack man did you see him jump up on top of the car he had it in his peripheral vision that car coming nice recovery by Bellini all the way back up it in 11th position looking at the damage it's actually probably if you're gonna get hit the door that's kind of how you want the damage to look looks like his talkback number quite yet quite a bit we've seen that be an advantage to guys over the past years back up here in second place depended eddo was still holding up this string of cars party though we got mad kids here had a great run today yeah having his best one in the 42 car earlier this week when we talked to him I said hey what do you think about how it's been to be back and he said you know what kind of bittersweet I love doing my job I'm having a lot of fun but I don't like where the finishes are but he said Indianapolis at times in my career with my best racetrack so I have a lot of hope coming there Kyle Larson setups have not worked out all for Matt Kenseth so they had to kind of reinvent the wheel here cally format and he's having a terrific run today just ahead of him Kyle Busch now into the top five and just a moment ago Kyle came up with the radio and said that he had a vibration now tell him he didn't have a huge sense of urgency in his voice and the team hasn't really spent a number of times complained about a vibration but again never came to pit road to adjust any issue is there is there anything about this place this tractive it could be causing these vibrations one thing I've found in my career is Indianapolis the facility the track is actually so smooth that a tire out of balance a tire where maybe a loose wheel that doesn't get worse can vibrate and stay consistent these drivers are experts at this unfortunately as long as the vibration doesn't increase or get worse normally they can ride them out but it's very difficult we've seen a lot of tire issues and a track like this so never want a vibration yeah remember this is the reigning Cup Series champion and Kyle Busch right now and he's witless this season we talked to his crew chief Adam Stevens said you know what the performance isn't there but he said this team normally gets better throughout the weekend well when the weekend starts when the green flag drops through the race it's a little difficult to get fed or IED away so they're missing out on the practice and attorney good and I don't doubt victory lane the big concern is to play off 425 a year ago at this point zero right now so this lack of performance early while I think they can recover and make the playoffs it will hurt as he moves through the playoffs and you see them go by a slower car the 21 of Maddie D has got these four cars kind of stacked up right here and I think that's the opportunity for Denny Hamlin and these guys behind Matt is this lap traffic look at the 18 had a little trouble there and losing the air Matt Kenseth takes a spot there Marty and I tell you that stack up has what has Denny Hamlin very frustrated there's 90 to go but he is frustrated that chase Elliott is growing smaller in his windshield and that's what's making a mad as he tries to get the pass around Matt easy there he goes finally Rick but he was getting mad just saying Kelly's getting away from us yes so we know math was getting tight and he's been clean air as soon as he gets the traffic he's going to get it really really tight and that's gonna allow Danny to make that pass which it just happened cuz they get around these lap traffic we see this time and time again at this racetrack lap traffic can really cost some guys momentum and we're seeing that 11 really hall around the racetrack here want to take a look at today's Xfinity fastest laps it's no surprise then that Denny Hamlin has the fastest lap of the race over a hundred and eighty 1.53 2 miles per hour that was on last 2007 remember that's the average said he's going around this two-and-a-half mile racetrack look at the gap he's put on Matt since he passed him look at that that's in one lap and he's already pulled away from him and so now Denny Hamlin doesn't have DiBenedetto in front of him and so let's see if he can reel in and chase Elliott who has a four and a half second lead we go NASCAR non-stop [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you saw it on non-stop Eric Jones hard into the wall we heard him on the radio just moments ago responding to his crew he said I'm alright but you could tell he was trying to catch his breath flames rolling out from the right front of that car secondly the replay without nasty nasty angle into turn three one of the fastest parts of the racetrack for these guys and you know it's just there's no practice it's a green racetrack it's incredibly abrasive we've seen this track just destroy tires throughout a tire test these tires even this far into the race are still not able to go through an entire run Steve you talked about it how this track has grooves in it and it's like cheese grater to these tires and takes quite a while for this place to work in there's been no laps on it drivers how scary is that when you see the flames rolling out from under the hood and you're strapped in my biggest concern isn't the fire it's it's that impact that impact is such a heart a difficult angle going so fast see Eric's out of the car he's taking a look at the right side we're so thankful for all the safety innovation over the last couple of decades when you see a crash like that that's as bad as it's gonna get for these guys he's not walking around pretty awesome we're gonna listen in this is the radio the communication from the team the 20 car right after that accident happened [Music] yeah catch your breath you know that's glad to see you walk out of there but there's playoff invitations to this as well you know he's right there on that bubble and now he's not bitter anymore points the rest of the day it just seems like this team every year it seems like they're always right on that bubble 15 16 17 trying to get into playoffs fortunately for the 20 he ran second in that first stage scored some points there but to your point Jeff it's gonna be really all the points he gets as you won't be able to continue today all the other crew chiefs and drivers are seeing this swell though we've heard a lot of radios about vibrations right front wearing we've heard some radio from the 18 about the right front let's hear what he had to say [Music] [Music] so he's saying we're not gonna make it he's worried about the right front tire he's already feeling a vibration he feels like he's wore out the inside edge of the right front tire by turning the steering wheel too much because he's tight this is a teammate to the 20 car just before the 20 cars accident yeah so listen as a crew chief what can I do air pressure maybe help a little bit you can't change the camber now I'm not sure that would help anyway the best thing you can do is keep your car turning it seems to me that not everyone is having this issue I don't know what the twenties balance was before the accident but Kyle Busch a veteran a champion seemed to be very confident Dale Wright that he was hurting the right fight he can feel it through the steering wheel he was gonna hurt that right front tire so if I was thinking I was gonna go one step I might know go two steps to the free side and let you know I gotta help you some I think cow was in fear of exactly what eventually happened to his teammate you could hear it in his voice I'm not we're not gonna make it this right front tires not gonna we're not gonna go any further and that is a crew chief as a four-track rig that we say track position you got to stay out you got to be the leader you got well guess what normally that's all about fuel right well how much fuel how long can I run welcome my strategy be well that only works if the right front tire can match your fuel load so pit road is open now as they work on that access road and the fluid that was put down by the 20 of Erik Jones after that hard contact with the outside wall and we're seeing quiet a few takers now that pit road is open looking for some fresh Goodyear tires Marty Rick chase Elliott led all 25 laps so that stage to a terrific run for that race team chasing the car got a little bit tight at the end of that run but he was very happy with it obviously that clean air means everything same thing from Matt DiBenedetto he said that car was tight and obviously junior mentioned that Denny Hamlin was able to make that pass they're going to take a small air pressure adjustment in the right front to free him up Denny Hamlin said in traffic my car is way too free said but when I'm sorry way too tight but when I'm out front the balance was perfect Gabe Martin says I'm going to free you up just a little bit to make it better in traffic in case we're back there for fresh Goodyear tires for all these guys and some to tire takers here make that will win the race off pit road the big stops for William Byron and Austin Dillon both making up 9 and 10 for her 10th positions respectively with a two-tire stop and under caution because of that Erik Jones hard into the wall here at Indy [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] close again on the halfway point of this race the big machine hand sanitizer 400 at the Brickyard telecast presented by Advance Auto Parts a year ago Darrell Wallace jr. Bubba and one of his best runs finished third here at the racetrack and recently of course this young man has taken quite a leadership role within the sports and he's been at the forefront of the social justice movement of a national scale as a matter of fact making change in NASCAR very recently when he suggested to the NASCAR officials and the powers would be to get rid of the confederate flag didn't think that it was inviting to everyone and so that happened and so he's making a change already and a lot of pressure and guys you know drivers the mayor and of course Dale jr. a 15-time fan favorite you guys have had the pressure of the sport on your shoulders and it seems like Bubba has taken that role now yeah Bubba's done a great job over the last couple of months I followed Bubba's career since he was in the KN series and he has a lot of passion he's great personality and we've seen what he can do in really good equipment on the racetrack in the Truck Series with Kyle Busch in the Xfinity series with Roush and we just haven't been able to see him in that type of equipment in the Cup Series he's so badly wants us exceeded this level but he teamed up with Richard Petty a team that was struggling and they worked together to really improve things the Chevrolets better this year we're seeing great runs out of all the Chevrolet teams Bubba included and he's driving with a lot of passion this year 26 years old trying to make his way in the world in this series and this is very very difficult and on top of that all the pressures you know he raised his hand and said I want to be a leader in social justice he also put that pressure on him so it's a lot on this young man as a driver as a crew chief making your way in this series is one of the most difficult things you ever do it is cutthroat it is pressure field from the time you get it the grace card to the time you leave the racetrack never leaves just 24/7 and it's just a lot of pressure on all these young drivers and we've seen that from bubble but he's stepped up he's a he's run his best over the last month month and a half it's been fun to watch him take that pressure and then do something with it he has stepped up Jeff his performance has improved with the pressure we mentioned how he's been vocal for change in NASCAR and I want to applaud NASCAR specifically Steve Phelps the president of NASCAR for listening for understanding and trying to take the sport in the right direction I think the change on the flag is welcoming to everyone and that's the goal is to have everyone welcomed to come to the races and I applaud Bubba's voice in that movement and it's great to see him he talked about not just for what he's doing off the track but bringing that performance on the track it's great to see here a third in this race a year ago Rick it's still early we've seen a lot of strategy calls there's no talent currently in the 16th position but you know we've seen these running order swap around very quickly the 43 could get cycled to the front yeah Bubba's friend I've seen him since he came into the Truck Series when he first started in racing and he was one of those guys who said you know what I want to be known as a racecar driver that just happens to be black but he's also making a change now in the world and in NASCAR [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's good to see Erik Jones emerged from the infield care center after a really hard hit one that looked like it took your breath away Erik what did you feel out of the car leading up to that moment I mean the Stanley Camry was pretty quick and kind of just trying to move to the front and get some track position and you know I guess we had a right front go down I felt it pop and then you know I was kind of along for the ride it was a pretty hard hit but it's a shame you know the Stanley Camry was fast I mean you know I think we just needed to get up towards the front a little more and we could have contended and you know it's a shame is kind of story of our season we just had a rough year and things just not going our way so hopefully we can just turn it around keep bringing fast cars and you don't have things turn around for us thank you yep 18 to go now in stage two William Byron in the 24 Austin Dillon trying a new tire stop and then has got them out in front of the field [Music] Oh was able to take that spot away about Williams would get on the right reporter battle but he wasn't able to it's gonna hurt William Gillette front tire tissue blew up the left front tire blows up on the 24 remember just too far out here rights to tires only on the last pit stop that Left Front had time on it I don't know if you ran out slat might have slid that left front into the pit stall or something great point great point I didn't see the pit stop but that would be what you would expect right damage it right away it explodes you see the disappointment at a Chad can mouse see right here this is only my handle the star on the front straightaway she's good right here I thought he had a great run let's go beyond a series of three car no contact at any point and I saw with the three in the left front of the 20 left arm right on top of the left front tire already on the ground little bit there boom right there blows the hood the fender off of it so the caution comes back again caution caution for that 24 Kelly and Rick I can tell you that a William Byron said something broke right there and then he said the left was dragging so that was something broke leading up to all of that william byron as you know had been on old tires as they only took two on that last stop I'm just speculating that he might have drugged that left front end of the stall it's already worn out so if he's pitting under with with four old tires and slides it even just a foot that could be enough to get it to the fabric Stephen yeah exactly you see the disappointment check and as I spoke with him this morning and you know he said I haven't been to the shop since March since we loaded to go to Atlanta way back in March this pandemic for a hands on crew chief Rick trying to figure out you know how to prepare for these races and you some family said I'm not good without any practice William doesn't have a lot of experience without any practice and from a guy that I was able to work with for over two decades a guy I saw win championship after championship after championship didn't sound like he had that Chad can now swagger like he had a little questions like what do I do to make this work better and run better he was having a good day great pit calls got points for the 24 but Kelly a flat left front tire is going to hurt that Dave the 24 car yeah obviously they had been strategizing to capitalize on as many points as they can because they've been kind of mired back in those owners points which affects their starting position by you talk about chat canals and the lack of practice young team he said I've met young engineers young mechanics my plan was to teach them and that was out being in the shop and having limited time at the track he really hasn't been able to develop this team the way that he had planned so they go to work on the 24 of William Byron is Chatman house looks on from on top of the pit box but not what Byron was hoping for on that restart [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] batter and yellow cake batter instead of whipping batter off the spoon now you can sip it delicious fudge blended with 100% real ice cream topped with a cherry only for a limited time at Sun the IndyCar Series rolls on next weekend from a road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin coverage Saturday on NBCSN and Sunday on NBC the whole of the Indy 500 stop Nixon State perfect but Rick you know one thing we definitely missed was that roar the crowd when Eric climbed out and so many times that's a real signature fans love to show their appreciation when they know their drivers okay but one fan that was cheering his outside Scott Collier we saw him outside this morning he's been at every Brickyard since they started in 94 he's also a huge Indy 500 fan but he always buys 10 tickets and he was sitting out there this morning he brought us TV he said I'm not gonna miss it I'm gonna be here to show my support however I can but we've also seen fans lining the streets all weekend long to really show that they want to be here that they appreciate the sport we can't wait to get him back inside here guys but these fans they make everything possible so we're gonna keep working hard at NBC to keep bringing the fans to the race all these different ways that we can't but everybody watching home we love you too appreciate you Scott Collier that Brownsville Indiana native actually had one of those tickets signed by Jeff Gordon for his Rick yard win in 1994 let's listen in to the 3 Radio Boston doing what I'm thinking I haven't seen anybody get biggest thing is the rubber is making me tight but leading this race on the hood there are 1,200 names and those are names of US military veterans they're all Dow employees and RCR employees and their family members so on this fourth of July weekend a patriotic show their of support from Austin Dillon in the 3 team Marty hey Rick 1 world a real quick point on the William Byron tires that let go chase Elliott his teammate was behind him before that restart and Steve he said the entire time the entire lap coming to green he saw the 24 dragging the left side of the entire car so what would that lead you to believe that was going on with the 24 well the left side is already very slow but or very low to the ground but not dragging that tells me must have had either a slow leak from running something over we look the pitstop Dale I liked your idea flat spawning it wasn't appeared that it had been flat spotted but a slow leak finally gets low enough Rick on air that the tire just fails either way result the same unfortunate for the 24 it's been a great opportunity though for the 95 farmers rebel who's been having some temperature issues a little warm on that car got a caution opportunity to that car Ian talk about which lane he was gonna pick kind of wanted the bottom it sounded like to me but kind of got talked into the top while it has to do with what the pusher is behind you let's see if Kurt Busch to pushing 30 laps to go here in stage 2 Austin Dillon Denny Hamlin making up roll 1 then again big enough shove into turn number one here comes Hamlin on the inside keep my hair frost and his system almost break even with you through this part of the corner and then he should be off the corner should have more momentum down the back straightaway and here comes the push from Harmon good Barbara's gonna go three wide almost all the way to the bottom of the racetrack and Harvick takes the lead at Indy and I thought he was gonna push him I flinched you have to take those runs you have to take every run to get especially gets Denny Hamlin who looks like he has the best car in the world goodness lane was running 12th we saw he got damaged on pit road earlier and fought back up to 12 right side tires are up for blading we need to fix it we can do anything here hey Betty leader has just got the page part one a lot of damage to the driver's side of that 12 he's got left rear damage but also the left front he's hit the wall consumers damage the towed suspension to the car yeah great heavy heavy damage flap flap up there and black piece of fabric part of the operations car spins around tries to keep it on to the ground it's probably let's see what happened here it's hard to tell see it Brad well you know that Brad Keselowski his teammate must have been some contact or something that got laid he turned around as planing was on the inside I've got Lucinda bread or what or if he had someone let's take a look at Madonna the 12 gets loose artists on i-55 he was in his left rear quarter panel another one you know this will be helpful there you see Blaney in a corner just got loose right and carries a spear there got loose brad keselowski great he must have saw him at his peripheral vision chased it up the track so the 12 wouldn't take him with him so they're working on the left side damage for Ryan Blaney he has brought the caution out there's been six cautions already today watch this again males pushing him right there see right there he shook a little bit I wonder if I wonder if I was just going a little bit quicker into three that he thought he was you know then he thought what he was he got a big shove loose is just so early we got loose up the racetrack it just stayed off the 2 of Brad Keselowski his teammate at Penske joy Logano on pit road now Kelly and then you see Joey Logano in that 22 come to pit road they have made some pretty significant adjustments for Joey they've been on pit road a number of times and some lengthy stops and you see right there the wrench go in so they're making yet another Tassie adjustment they're gonna give him four tires Marty 71 to go here in the race Kelly so easily you could split this in half a lot of debate between Brad Keselowski and Jeremy Mullins about whether to come to pit road he said I think you'll become getting four fresh Goodyear skier and fuel that helps us down the road so maybe a strategy play now Steve to make that second or that last stop a little bit quicker that's really the goal party at this point if you're five six eight ten cars you've kind of done a nice job managing the race you're worried now about just getting to the end of this stage but if you're towards the back Rick you got to keep calling the race find a way to gain an advantage there's still 71 laps to go here in Indianapolis [Music] [Music] under 10 laps to go on the second stage the big machine hand sanitiser 400 at the Brickyard he'll announce presented by advanced autoparts well a different day a different track but very similar drivers at the front of the field yeah last week at Pocono Harvick wins the first race but didn't Hamlin gets ahead of him late in the race and wins a second one to Harvick gets the run and he knows he has to take it an opportunity to get in front of this 11th car he can't pass that up that could have been a pass that wins the race watch Chris gave heart did he hand his crew chief he knows how important that one spot is that tells it right there I think if you let Denny hand on that front he's gone bang up a game heart fan I'd like to send that fire wreck that fire the emotion coming up on nine to go when they take the green flag here in the second stage great logs by kevin harvick it will clear the 11 before they even got into turn number one all thinking we're handling the push coming from behind again and relied then I'm gonna pull the same thing harder hit last restart and let's get madder and madder so is the screw Chief Chris gave heart Austin Dillon fighting go on the outside there in the three remember just right side tires the last time Austin Dillon came to pit road I haven't seen that outside work at all in turn for giving Danny a shot to get around in three car look at all the momentum loss and loss there comes back to metadata and the 21 as well I challenged that 3 of Austin Dillon though guys with the issues with Jones and fire and Dillon on that battle bubbling he needs to start being a little more conservative I think that's what you're seeing right wind challenged he kind of gives the spot up he knows finishing vital today at the Brickyard he's owned two tires also work well for Hill got track position but now he's lost that track position with two tires to see how that works out yeah the two tires are going to be tighter cars not gonna want to turn now he's behind cars and traffic that's gonna make that problem be worse then old Matt Kenseth sitting right there sixth place Matt Kenseth told me this week that he underestimated how difficult this would be and the lack of practice think about it he was out of the car for a long time didn't though anybody on this team didn't know these cars no practice got a jump in this car knowing nothing about it been a big challenge but today things are going well it's good to see it from that he said his goal jumping into this car was to stay within five to eight positions which Kyle Larson was finishing right around fifth to eighth so the first couple races he did that he was in the top ten top 12 but he said the performances just haven't been there these last few races have fun though he said he loves his team loves working with him forty-eight years old oldest driver in the field he hasn't lost his drive to win I can promise you he wouldn't be here if he didn't want to run at the 18 car Kyle Busch's we're at the moment singing up the race track in turn three losing a little bit of turn coming up on 6 to go now and out front it's Harvick he's already put 1.7 seconds between himself and chase Elliott now trying to hold off the 11 of Denny Hamlin guys this isn't a fourth battle right here because this is going to be the front row these drivers are I don't believe we're gonna pit at the end of this stage so Denny Hamlin's gonna really push on this nine to try to get in front of him I imagine Jeff you're gonna want to be on that front row for the next restart we've also seen the slingshot move if you work on the front row yet you're if you're side by side exiting turn two then the guy behind you the single file we've seen what kind of run he's gonna get and puts you three wide so if you're Hamlin do you just stay at third you concede and say I want to line up third on the next restart I don't know if you want to be on the inside it seems to not be working too well for eleventh car so far not much he can do I think if he finishes where he is on the inside he finished the second he's on the insect [Applause] it's not short for him so to your point see maybe lay back try some different the next restart as we watch this battle in the front this battle all over the racetrack name we haven't talked a lot about today eh - Tyler edit we're here he is right in front of the 38 John Hunter Nemechek two rookies look at the big wiggle out of John Hunter up the track Bubba Wallace in the 43 escapes but loses momentum he gets under attack by those two Penske Ford's of Brad Keselowski Joey Logano Tyler etic I mean as a rookie he I know he had a little bit of a tough go at Pocono kind of a mid pack today but manny has just showed up at all these different racetracks when you call him mr. exciting to Dale jr. with you he is the action driver for sure yeah we had conversation with his father the cloaca season started they all felt even in his camp before any race was run that they could make the playoffs [Music] looking like it's a good possibility and front row I'll be McDowell and seventy nemecheck eighteen that his team is just really impressed me this year how well they've read every single week they've approved at least ten positions this year now that time Dylan yeah kind of have a good day Bernie twelve cold custard another rookie he's at thirteen that had a lot to hang his hat on this year but I think it's important for everyone at stewart-haas racing it's just telling you know what have some confidence stick with the plan we believe in you we know you're not going to pick it up right away you see it right there just tucked in behind ty Dillon that thirteen cold custard with a quiet day ty Dillon in front of us in the 12th position it's a major step yes it's a major step and rarely do people just jump in but it's rare you gotta you hire rookie you have to be committed to about spot on pit road it's been a struggle day for the AEA left side tires great guys making the call here Steve three to go in the stage this is in the flame of the gun before the stage ends but I'm not sure that Alex is going to gain a ton out of this but again running back in the 20s for much of the day today well there's the key he can only take left-side tires because here is the leader Kevin Harvick you have time for grab Ives to take for now it's up to Alex Bowman to have a nice pit exit yes to use access lane though here in turn two I'm not sure if he's not at the Uggla stay in front of the four the four is going to be covered with a ton of speed always going to have to block can he stay in front of him for the last couple laps great call he does disaster he doesn't hit and run in 14 [Music] you're going to be able to stay in front of Harvick and have a left side tire stride yeah you know a lot of times you put right so you're pretty sure you know what it's going to do you put left zone sometimes that's a big gamble great corner by the 88 if it gets passed he still get the free pass but that's all his track position this Paul is purely to stay on the lead lap he was eight seconds behind when he pitted Greg Ives do with the homework dog pants will it work though Harvick to the inside trying to put him a lap down big guys on the dice right there snake eyes on the gamble telling you guys left-side tires under green I've had them drive so bad but rarely do left sides on the green if they work for me in the past now chase Elliott's like don't hold me up any handle behind me two more quarters come on old buddy let me go last couple corners here of stage two and it's going to be Kevin Harvick that will get the stage win also getting some stage points will be chase Elliott did he handle a checker Matt DiBenedetto Austin Dillon rounding out the top five vibration I don't know if that was before or after the pit stop we're gonna have to find out so the momentum continues for Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin after coming off a weekend where they split the Pocono double-header now was the big move by Kevin Harvick to get by the 11 and he gets the win stage two [Applause] [Music] he's saying is after okay [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] back in Indianapolis not only is it a doubleheader weekend for all the race teams here how about a shout out to our technical crew as well both in Charlotte and here in Indianapolis and we're especially thinking about Brian where one of our own today he was nicknamed snacks that's why we have the snacks strong sticker there you see because he loves snacks at the racetrack and we love Brian he's been battling an illness he's battling cancer right now back at home in High Point North Carolina and snacks we're thinking about you today buddy so many people doing so many great things for all of us making our jobs easier we want to thank everybody Ron and Russell and we got pitstops going on right now as well Kelly yeah there's the 3 of Austin Dillon who said his car is so good the best it's been all day he thinks he's as good as the leaders he just needs the track position again up there for tires because remember the last time they came down pit road they only took two so they were due for a full set of fresh Goodyear racing on from pit road away from the pagoda where Mike Tirico and DJ are hanging out been hanging out here all weekend this IndyCar NASCAR doubleheader great fourth of July celebration one last visit with the Hall of Famer here so the story of Poconos story of the restart has been Harvick and Hamlin and here they are again right into the front of the conversation yeah not surprised by that they show a lot of speed uff speed here two experienced drivers at this racetrack knew they were going to be a part of the conversation when it comes down to the end of this but they've still got to perform at a high level and their pit crews are going to be under the pressure to get it done under what will probably be a green flag pit stop Harvick won twice here handily looking for his first the other story of Pocono was trying to beat the sunset sunsets about 915 over our shoulders years we had a little time but not a heck of a lot of time what's been an odd day 44 20 percent of the field eight of the 40 cars out so significant attrition there's another driver up there and chase Elliott we talked about him in the pre-race and you're keeping an eye on him as he looks strong at the end of that second stage yeah sure is he's got a lot of speed in his car too uh but finding the right position getting himself in the right spot especially on restarts here is going to be of utmost importance to stay in the mix these three drivers have been the talk so far so who's going to come out of here with a win I tell you what one thing that gets me is this weekend hasn't disappointed with any of the races it's been everything it was built to be here this has been nothing but boring this Cup race has been exciting we've got the whole pagoda to ourselves so Rick we're gonna get settled in and watch you guys work your tails off here for this last day well if you've got any extra light make sure you shine it down on the racetrack so we see the Sun going behind the grandstands their points earned today that's very important as you're looking forward to the playoffs kevin harvick Rd 16 chase Elliott 16 today again you earn points if you finish in the top ten in each of the first two stages and so that's where those points have been earned already today all right Steve so it comes down once again is it going to be Denny Hamlin or is it going to be Kevin Harvick or will somebody come in and steal this one well I was wrong both races at Pocono I picked the wrong winner I had the right two guys but neither guy could win and I'm not sure here I'm not counting out chase Elliott yet I think that the 11 and the four are so consumed with each other it might be the type of opportunity for the nine to jump in we have seen a lot of action on pit road and remember we're going to see at least one more pit stop that might be what it comes down to not just the pit crews but on and off pit road if it's under green flag who can make the gamble on these restarts the action has been action-packed but I won't lie I'm a little jealous of Mike and DJ on top of the put go to great seats at Indianapolis well Tirico had mentioned he's got a Hall of Famer with him we've got a Hall of Famer with us let's talk to the drivers Jeff Burton and Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt jr. all right guys what are you expecting for the final stage well I think we're gonna see a tremendous amount of battle for that lead it's it's track position is so important we saw Kevin Harvick make that big aggressive move but if this thing goes to where you've hit on the green remember they didn't have practice no one's practice a pit stop under green who's gonna nail that who's gonna mess it up who's gonna get caught speeding on pit road that could determine who's gonna win this race I've been so impressed by the crew chiefs this year without any practice those guys are the real heroes putting these cars out on the racetrack so that they're competitive and their drivers trust to believe in them nobody has done a better job of that here lately than Rodney Childers and what he did today to come down pit road and take that gamble early before the comp him the track position to put themselves in position to win that he didn't he didn't expect it but it actually put him in position to win the first stage and his driver goes out there and when Stage two and they might win this race a huge point stake going into the playoffs he's also leading the regular season points or playoff points for that 14 but they can continue to compete the way they are continue to be strong is Kevin Harvick let's go to Rutledge wood you know Rick they couldn't call it the Brickyard without the bricks that used to line this entire track and now of course we just have the yarder bricks last year I was lucky enough to take Dale jr. over to the creek and go dig around for ourselves try to find one of the bricks that is shored up on the sides of the creek that runs through the Indy Brickyard crossing over there now Dale I'll be honest was a little bit of a hater for the first 40 minutes or so then we got serious he found some great ones I tried by luck on Friday and I'm gonna be honest without my wingman guys it was his real disappointment I found a couple good halves he's I plan to give this one to Hinch that I found in there and then Hinch informed me that now I have a real brick and it's a big one so I definitely noticed you can't leave your wingman bring water shoes if you're going to do it but on the plus side I did Drive my Tundra I got a couple so maybe I'm gonna find a couple fans to send them to this week I mean we've been using that NBC racing weekend hashtag Dale do you need a half a brick I thought you had to find those bricks now the finest how I find the good ones like they would double over in that Creek in piles and so if you find a pile of busted once you got a dig down about a foot put in half it's really soft and you'll find the full bricks man and they actually still have like rubber on them from from Fiat and you find the ones that were actually the service the racetrack and have actually a tire rubber worked into them it's really cool so were you just doing well I was wondering were you just holding on to Rutledge his legs as he went underwater to get these it's really okay I'm not a strong swimmer Rick that was a great question getting ready for the restart today's aerial coverage brought to you by Geico up in that front row it's kevin harvick and chase Elliott green flag back in the air they're at the front and 95 Christopher Bell the outside lane Harvick all lows clear but Denny Hamlin actually allowed the 9 car help the 9 car chase Elliott get back up there to the inside now Danny handle is in position if they can clear all contact mid contact there with the navigate by 95 gonna line up pushes 11 they're side by side up front the Elevens gonna have the run he's going to try it here comes Pamela to the inside and Hamlin will make the pass quarter banner look at that booth by Harvick that's aggressive didn't get to the bottom right there though it's gonna be okay that was an impressive power move by Kevin Harvick to keep that lead 1 & 2 once again Kevin Harvick Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin did everything right set up to be the leader in Kevin Harvick just wasn't gonna happen at some great racing back great racecar drivers put it all the line was still a long way to go 54 laps remaining in this one as Harvick out in front and how he threw it into turn three look at this fleet trust and your cars gonna stick and also the Denny Hamlin knows he's there see man they're working at steer will I think he just knows that you can't let that let a car get the lead second Pocono race when they pit cycled in the eleven cycle to the front and ended up winning the race Harvick thought he had an even better car in that second Pocono race frustrated he lost that doesn't want to allow that lever car get that track position position once again guys the rookie battle has moved throughout the pack we covered them when they were back here in 15 16 to 17 here you go Christopher Bell in 295 Tyler Ragan eight fourth and fifth by good strategy but not luck they're not they're backwards on tires are upset on fuel they are on the same strategy as the leaders running both of the top five Rick these two rookies Braddock really spent all year long but Christopher Bell I mean nothing win right early mechanical issues trying to iron out some details with a 95 car he seems like he's settling down get some confidence super excited for this rookie class and the years to come Kelley [Music] coming to the green here is the communication between Tyler Redick and his crew chief Randall Burnett saving it for isn't Street flying about to be another brand new anything they've seen a lot of special out of Tyler Redick when I asked Randall Burnett about him and making the move to the Cup Series he said look Tanglers just got it some breakers he's got it but he also works mainly [Music] here in the Cup Series yeah that's great information I spoke to ruin Randall this week picket transition band he said you know I believe in time I believe in what he can do we've been focusing on the full race we talked about how exciting and action-packed he is Rick and it he's gotten away with it I need his back-to-back invading champions we don't know this style but this is a tough series the field is deeper in the races her law firm and Randall said I don't tell him how to drive I just remind him the goal and the goal today is going to be 400 miles here he is in the later stages of a race up front showing maturity for a very young racecar driver only 24 years old you know the thing about those two is they had fun Jeff baby they have a great time laughs to carry all their just here having a good time no pressure just race all your buddies battle Radek said aggressive nature doesn't help him at time so he tries to calm it down a little bit real non-stop [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Harvick at Hamlin still won in two and junior what a great show lost speedway's coming up on peacock streaming services yeah I've been a passionate about abandon the racetracks all my life we go and lean into some of these racetracks and understand their history what made them great what they meant to the communities we actually go put our boots on the ground and discover what these tracks look like today it's a lot of fun I'll be sneaky and joined us for a show me and Matthew builder we had a blast filming this can't wait for folks to see it you have 15 whole peacock to be great a lot of excitement around the history of the sport is two guys that will surely be knocking on the Hall of Fame's door when they decide to step away but it's not going to be for a while actually Kevin Harvick made the comment earlier he said I think the way racing is now it's so much more mental even though all of us are staying as fit as we possibly can stay he said it's so much more mental I think you could race into your fifties and right now he's early forties party wicked outstanding battle on the race track between the two guys who have proven since the COBIT break they have been the best in the Cup Series getting in on the Kevin Harvick that's playing out on the race track it's also playing out on pit road Rodney Childers in pit stall number two Chris gay bar in pit stall him he makes a move Chris gave hug you can see it you can see how close they are they're looking each other straight in the eyes trying to decide who's going to win this Brickyard 400 and it could come down to that last stop that final window opens in about five lap Bravo to our cameramen that's what it's like a saddle men pit box I've battled the pit box next to me you look over and every once while you'll catch their eyes and you know you've respect one another you know where you're at but this is chess our drivers are moving the pieces and you and I get to decide who goes next Denny Hamlin doing a spectacular job of keeping Kevin Harvick in touch he would love to get by him Rick but he's not gonna abused his car just keep him out front a half a second out a half a second out don't let him run away that way you perhaps to beat him on a green flag cycle remember the race for the win doesn't have to be a pass on the racetrack a pass on pit road they give you that trophy too that's true but you just solved goodbye lap car Timmy Hill flat traffic that could play a role in this race if they do run down some lap traffic if we continue under green and they start getting into laughing race cars on a regular basis that could cause the momentum of that fourth quarter break and get Timmy the opportunities looking for Denny's faster right now Denny the last four or five wax has been faster see right here the distance please close that gap see that right there that traffic that's what Jr's talking about that what happened in the middle of the corner and what a really hurt Harvick big time they're coming up on some lap traffic here as they enter the turn where Kevin's got a time it just right so hard to do this one's gonna be pretty easy get out of the way and the reason we talk about this battle because even after they've paid for yellow comes out they're not coming back this pit stop under green will be their last pit stop of the day unless they have some sort of issue or accident how can these two be so much the class of the field they have already separated themselves by two and a half seconds from third place chase Elliott right now well Rick I don't think we should be surprised one of them is 141 times and Denny Hamlin and the other drivers 150 two-time 93 wins between the two of them so it's not a shock that these two are battling for the wins every year which seems to have two or three guys really set themselves apart address the field throughout the regular season the more confusing part is if you're a teammate to one of these cars do go home you say well man I know what they have for a setup and I can't keep up with a bless to think now without practice going out during the weekend their teammates can't really lean on each other like they used to and be able to get closer and improve their cars from Friday to Sunday now they just show up a race and hope for the best it's good thing is that other drivers can review the date on the drive is the driving data from last year right and really see how these guys driving race cars they can adapt to it knowing data and understand how somebody drives a car is great but that doesn't mean it feels right to you to see a driver were correct 180 mile straightaway watch just above the headrest look through that clear shield of Kevin Harvick he's gonna look up look forward and look up he's got to keep right there checking where Danny Hanlon is making sure he doesn't have it run in the beach straightaway just the glands in the beer making sure he knows who his adversary is how far back with this lap traffic right here and he's going to be afraid the Elevens gonna get a run I'm sure he's going to look in the mirror even more off this boy and he's been really getting closer and closer last couple of corners turn three and four he seemed to be quite a bit better we know the mood in he wants to make earlier in the race that's in this end of the racetrack get right to that rear bumper of the four car turn but before he does get your left sides below his left sides take the air off the inside of that car and will not let Kevin Harvick get to the bottom that's in strategy all right guys this time around it'd be 40 laps to go I believe the pit window has opened from here it'll be a little of a stretch but I think both these guys can make it now the question is Whitney you come if you're the 11 do you try to beat the floor to pit road if you're the four you try to come first or if you're the 11 you come with them can you say I'm going to chase you on the pit road Jeff is a driver you feel you can make that time come to pit road chasing someone I won't clean air if I'd rather pitch please I'd rather hit the end the leader then hitting with the forefoot hidden from me again second spot is that you can see better I can judge myself better the big difference is or the big deal is what is tire wear life right if the tires are falling off like we saw last week at Pocono the first guy on pit road will have an advantage because he's owned new tires sooner so who's gonna blink first the question is last week before came first and the Eleven used the clean air to run some of the fastest laps of the race low on fuel and kind of a Formula One style right he gapped of the four using that clean air but they were nowhere near this club yet you can't do that here because of the tire fall-off no it's 54 kids he's not gonna before they're left won't give the run faster laughs and then beating off pit road yeah Bob gave heart this week first yeah I want to be the first to pit road the only thing about that those Elevens faster than before the 11 had clean air right he would be able to go faster than he's going right now we just saw since they last pitted how many laps they've gone 44 now Steve is that a fear at all because of fuel we knew that the fuel in it was only about 30 to 40 ton of yellows in there we heard on the radio pit pit pit here here's the level right here Chris gave heart has hold the shoe first got a pit row the 11 of Denny Hamlin you see him at the top of your screen bland now and they need to be perfect count him into the pit stall long pit boxes Denny Hamlin has to hit his pit sign give his pit crew the best chance Marty and Chris Gabe Hart had called Denny Hamlin to pit road guess what Rodney Childers also called Kevin Harvick to pit road that message they have water so Chris gay Barnes Denny Hamlin gonna give a little bit of an advantage here kevin harvick will because of miscommunication and Rodney Childers contending we have to pit to Tim Fedewa his father with the car a little bit tight the Goodyear tires are on while Hussey Harvick down pit road next time that was a clean stop out of the 11 the four to pit road looked lead to me no tires locked up all right 11 check clean pit stop Rodney Childers Kevin Harvick your turn can you match the speed of the 11 on pit road Barty let's see where Kevin Harvick cycles back out again they wanted to pit lift in hand when they did not do that Harvick saying the car especially in the center of the corner that was his biggest concern it's toxic Riverside the Brickyard [Music] fresh Goodyear tires you're also going to see a wedge roots go in and make an adjustment trying to free up that car for the four car of Kevin Harvick and the Goodyear Tire we'll be a little bit slow on the left front there it is Kevin Harvick leading Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin is going to beat him no problem here on the blend lane the four down bottom Denny Hamlin in the picture checkmate leader Denny Hamlin in Indy by a ton it was not clean on the left side stop for Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick the left side were slow both the front and the rear now what could Kevin Harvick do can he catch up to Denny Hamlin or Willie check out if we go NASCAR non-stop [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you're watching the big machine hand sanitizer 400 at the Brickyard telecast presented by advanced model parts and live PGA Tour golf action continues this weekend Muirfield Village in Dublin Ohio for the first ever work day charity open at coverage Thursday 3:00 p.m. Eastern on the Golf Channel look at that golf course Rick LPGA plays there at the Brickyard crossings my friends at the Brickyard crossing said golf course is open tomorrow after the retton's talk about a fun trip erasing some golf this is actually the race leader 42 of Matt Kenseth we were covering the pit stop at the 11th floor because Fitness all cycles around that is going to be for the race win Kevin Harvick excuse me Matt Kenseth on the 42 Kyle Busch runs second in the 18 Joey Logano in the 22 they're out front they all need fuel to get to the finish how can they benefit could they go save 5 to 10 laps and then a caution comes out potentially and would would we see Kevin and Denny have to pit as well well now they would not have to pit the big advantage for Matt Kenseth right here is he was last month laughs 102 so he could come and maybe plastic just right sides and much less fuel than any Hamlin I don't think it'll be enough to offset the speed of the 11 in the four car but it will move him up the rankings Jeff and I'm against their best strategy of just yeah put themselves in position do something different about a steal a win they've run top ten all day long right now Hamlin and Harvick are about 30 seconds behind and as that's going old back there Harvick has been faster consistently faster than Denny Hamlin five laps in a row four laps in a row so he ran a quicker time he cut that gap still a long way to go he cut that deficit so up front is Matt Kenseth again he took over after the kovat 19 outbreak and now Larson was removed from the 42 she's leading to Kevin Harvick is closed yet on Hamlin Hamlin was much further ahead when that pit stop ended you know we haven't seen Harvick in a situation where he's been pushed to try to pass a car as quick as Denny's we've seen Denny racing around the topic passing fast race cars the interest see we see it before Barbara is running down and then put something together to get by Harvick that time for the fastest car on the racetrack Hamlin was the fourth fastest Harvick about attendant half quicker as Denny pushing as hard as it goes we're saving just a little bit 32 goes to Canton to the left side you speak of Kyle Busch Logano Keselowski cluster currently in Smith DiBenedetto McDowell as I mentioned all these guys Rick we're just on pit road around lap 100 run a little longer have a little shorter pit stop or to your point catch a caution while that may be not help them or these two it's unfortunate but in some point in every race you know maybe you're not calling the race to win you calling the race to get the best fish you can Kelly 22 of Joey Logano making his way down pit road they just have not gotten a handling right on the 22 and they can't get it soon wicked tight in traffic said look we just hit dirty air and then it's on this stop and it's been a difficult day for doing the gondola [Music] yeah they hit one early but since the break it has not gone well yeah two out of the first four races Joey Logano in this 22 team one to start the season and then the big long break because of the coronavirus no top 15 in the last four races probably another one outside the top 15 today there makes a big difference between a ride on mower joey logano go back to the racetrack those leaders of Kenseth Kyle Busch are running some great laps but they have to come to pit road and it just shows if you can get out front oh boy this is going to be a caution right here big hit again this time it's Alex Bowman in the 88 it looks a lot like Erik Jones is wreck he was running hate [Music] that's on pit road on lap 103 see the window net down that's the driver signaling to the safety crew when they come up that he's okay but he'll wait in the car until the a.m. our safety team gets to him so Alex Bowman into the wall heart and bringing out this the eighth caution and right side just flat we've seen some hard hits here with last year with this package for the first time remember a lot of hard wrecks in that race Landon Cassill really tough here here last year let's take a look at this it's like get down into turn one Wow again a really hard hit there looked like the right front went down I I don't even know how to describe what that feels like it's it your entire body goes through this incredible trauma yeah I tell you the hit is is tough but the moment before it when the tire goes and you're out of control you know you're going straight into that fence you have a moment to really understand just exactly how bad this is gonna be it's the most terrifying moment as a driver there's no question in your mind you're gonna you're gonna hit really hard the safer barriers that are put around all of these racetracks Andy was the first track to have them you know that's styrofoam those are styrofoam pretty much pyramids or triangles that are behind the the steel wall and that's supposed to absorb some of that initial contact Kelly and so now the guys who have yet to make their stop on pit road will make their way down now including the 18 of Kyle Busch and as pit stop cycle through he pits from the second position he says pretty happy with the balance he just been getting stuck in traffic but it turns well on restarts so didn't ask for any big changes for the since he's been back in the cup car Chad Johnson's gonna make the call for fresh Goodyear tires for him Jeremy Bolin's and Brad Keselowski had made the decision to run long caution now help them out a little bit here for fresh grippy tires for them most of those cars tight in traffic which a lot of guys are complaining about Denny Hamlin Kevin Harvick obviously staying out guys Denny Hamlin Kevin Harvick and Christopher Bell the rookie also stays out and looks like he will be third saw the race off pit road but caution coming out for that big hit [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] get a little bit later start because of a lightning strike before we got the green flag here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway you see sunset tonight 916 of p.m. Eastern those clouds may be sitting in front of the Sun as it sets here on Speedway Indiana will under this the eighth caution of the day at Indianapolis while we're under a break let's check in with Rutledge wood Rick we've talked so much about all the different improvements that have been made since Rick Roger Penske excuse me bought the track one of them was this lift right here for victory circle to be able to take the car and hold it up for all the fantasy almost a hat tip to North Wilkesboro on what that used to be like but it's amazing we've seen Scott Dixon and Jase Briscoe on this historic weekend but when you look at the joy it brought to the fans at North Wilkesboro hard not to love a place like this but the fans are they get back here are going to see the winner right up here like Olympus rising above the serengeti Rick we're seeing a lot of that North Wilkesboro footage they're pretty cool and by the way Rutledge my checkbook definitely could not have afforded the Indianapolis Motor Speedway I know as you tried to give that to me thank you getting ready for the restart once again it's Hamlin and Harvick and Christopher Bell stayed out another driver who stayed out and could make this interesting is Matt Kenseth he's going to line up fourth and has about ten lap pressure tires let's check in on four teams radio after that pit stop never heard and then we didn't have very good stop so we were wondering because Marnie reported to us that there was a lack of communication we were wondering how did kevin harvick not here you know the call to come to pit road well if two people key the radio up at once the driver hears nothing and that sounds like that may have been that simple little thing right there that you never think about that could be the difference between winning this race and not you see on the left hand side Hamlin Harvick Bell all with four fresh tires but they pit at lap 123 when Kenseth just came off pit road with four fresh tires dealing with a little Gable two tires Custer put himself in a great position Keselowski so as we talked about those guys running longer basically allowed them you know the chance to put fresh tires so you see the four standing on pit wall this is during the green flag pit stop so it just kind of backs up I think the team must have heard and they were close to the crew chief radio might have bled through on Jeff but sometimes when they get crossed over you can't hear to the car small things right yeah simple is communication we go back to last week races between the same two drivers Denny Hamlin pounding carving in that first Pocono Ray Barbic wins it but in the second one Denny Hamlin uses some great pit strategy back his crew chief able to cycle in front of Harvick and he's done it again today [Music] and then earlier here kevin harvick with a very aggressive move on a restart to take the lead [Music] Kevin it haven't taught Denny Hamlin what he needed to do and he did the same thing Kevin Harvick came to a battle back on the outside and keep the lead then both of these guys were running first second didn't Halen gets caught on pit road first Kevin Harvick gets caught on pit road and that a little bit of a slow stop then on top of that a little bit fresher tire on the 11 sooner Denny Hamlin gets out front for the numbers already for these two this season and those of misunderstanding on the radio with 14 get him the pit road when they needed him to get there but two weeks in a row the skate parks did a great job party and even when he told him they were gonna pit the crew kind of waited just a second junior kind of standing on the ground because as we mentioned Kevin Harvick's pit stall not very far away at all Rodney Childers just told Kevin Harvick hey I want you to pounce early in this run because the 11 has had some tire issues they really haven't had tire issues but he's telling Kevin Harvick that but Chris gay part did say the longest green flag run today so far 27 laps we have to go five laps further than that for the guys who pitted at lap 122 check out row two a rookie and in the oldest drivers race track back kids in both warn nose win when this race is badly at front road Christopher Bell he's the rookie in the 95 green flags back and look at a fan-out as they get ready to go into one Denny Hamlin has cleared Kevin already but here comes Matt Kenseth Oh Harvick a little bit loose under her Thunder back into the side of that 42 car now he's lost a few spots here Christopher Bale battling for second place see if Harvey's going to the same thing make it three wide down the back straightaway he pushes he pushes now he slides out tries to get to the inside of the 42 of Kenseth look at that mess behind him Barbic makes the move he's back up to second but can he run down Denny Hamlin he wasn't able to do it before the caution Christabel falling back now in that 95 see the 18 of Kyle Busch down to the bottom back there he had to pet a second time under the yellow because of a flat tire not sure what happened there trying to recover as the 21 of man he makes a big move three wide takes a position Matt DiBenedetto in the 21 that would brothers 21 famed the car here with 101 laps to go at Indy Hamlin Harvick Kenseth Cole Custer back up front it's tight right it looks like the wrath the wrath is coming off the right front Oh Ruth Hamblin it sure did he was coming fast on that 11 car running down quickly the contact with kids ik I think his on the restart causing the wrap on the for more maybe to cut loose do you feel that as a driver is there a vibration there I don't think it's hurting this car right now as always there's no real body damage from the contact he's faster than him he's ran Hamlin down let's see if he can running down again he jumped on the outside it's really strange how he's caught him so fast so we're on the backstretch live again but one lap ago look at this huh Denny Hamlin moves down anticipating the run you could see him looking in the mirror he's looking up in his helmet he sees the rut coming he says oh I know you're gonna come next to me but you're gonna be on the outside I am NOT giving you the bottles almost empty car ass that's how they race in the Indy 500 Rick just blocked the bottom of the racetrack at all cost I couldn't believe you even got that big of a run on Denny to get to his outside and that the nerve try the outside that's what I was surprised it's three car lengths now let's see if Kevin Harvick can close the gap up again looking fourth Cole Custer rookie check that out very running order you see Hamlin Harvick four wins three wins and behind him the next four drivers no wins Eric's done a great job working his way back into this race after some issues early had to come down pit road so look at this contact is restarted maybe not look too much contact but amazing isn't as much as Harvick got hung up on that restart how quickly he got back in second I thought he was done I wonder if Diddy is just running just hard enough trying to keep the turn in the car not hurting the right front up running so hard he knows what it's like to be stuck behind that 4 car he ran some 80 laps behind him maybe he understands really how difficult it is for for the four of Harvick to get that run to make the pass Marty kevin harvick that's how they won this race last year got the track position held everybody off will Denny Hamlin has flipped the script on that now he's out front trying to hold off Kevin Harvick Hamlin that's at the edge on a longer run 18 to go nothing to is we I believe that Harvick and his team really trim his car out and that's why baby he was able to in the early part of this restart with the newer tires people get such a huge run on dating down the straightaway is because it's more trimmed out able to get lifting drive up the back of this left bar now that's not going to last very long because he's not going to have that grip of the corners that he needs being trimmed down but would see that works out jr. explained trimmed up the truth the car is trimmed out as far as the downforce is peeled away you can see the 11 are driving away from him through turn one through turn two but down the straightaways he really can choose runs because his peeled of downforce away and chipped the car out to run maximum speed on the straightaways so on new tires is his best shot to get that lead back as we go longer into this run the grip goes away from that four car the garage area talks about looking at pitchers looking at videos or at four-car how they're able to run that car trim down where most drivers can't do it they can't drive the car I can't make enough grip the I'm Jerry talks about that how Kevin how good Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childress are at trimming that thing out and making it so even with that Kevin Harvick you drive so scandal the radio so the car is too tight guys to explain that Steve basically too tight the front tires aren't working like he wants he can't carry the speed because the front tires will leave the white line let's listen in to what the leader has to say that lemon of Denny Hamlin all right that's exactly what Jeff was talking about so trim down or Dale jr. less downforce means more straightaway speed harder to drive through the corner it's not as simple as that that's Chris Gabe are telling Denny Hamlin everything you see in your mirror is the speed down the straightaway as the tires aged that should hopefully go away as he struggles through the corner with 50 laps to go though Kevin Harvick is doing a really nice job staying close guys Matt Kenseth yeah he stayed close as well neurologist past custard that stewart-haas racing three cars in the top five counts and holding on I mean Matt Kenseth is going to come out of retirement Rick John 42 car win the Brickyard 400 is he he possibly could he's looking good right now matt kenseth best finish at this racetrack is second he's done it three times Denny Hamlin has won some of the biggest races matter fact he's trying right now to duplicate what only three others have ever done in the history of running at Daytona as well as running at the Brickyard and that's win them in the same season Denny Hamlin probably one of the best drivers you throw him into the same category as Mark Martin as far as best drivers who haven't won a championship he's never won this race so in the latter part of his career he's checking all the boxes can he check this box today think about the experience in this shot right here Vinnie and Kevin Harvick Matt Kenseth think of the number of race wins these experiences they've had I'll try to do the math how'd I do Rick I had numbers together that's it so right there lap traffic that is what Harvick is hoping they see more of that is the only thing I believe that can help him get around this 11 carved in Hamlin is Virginia catch lap traffic in a bad place in the middle of corner that's also the same thing that Matt Kenseth is hoping not a lot of lap traffic but before the 42 can keep it close as we get late into this race then mix in the last half deal we'll have will elapse there will be lap traffic to play out party and jr. I agree with Burton consistently for the last five laps Matt Kenseth has been the fastest car on the racetrack never took the four fresh tires that are going to be about 12 laps fresher than what Denny Hamlin have and 11 laps pressure then what Kevin Harvick has it's been a frustrating return for Matt Kenseth finish top 10 his first race at Darlington but since then they just have not been able to put together finishes for that what he says is one of his best race tracks that kids with having his best run back in the cups here remember what Kurt Busch said earlier he said well Chip Ganassi won the Indy car race yesterday I'd like to help him get to sweep well maybe it's going to be Matt Kenseth that helps him get to sweep another thing about the Brickyard you keep in mind nine times the winner of the Brickyard 400 is going to win the championship I'd argue these are our two championship favorites at the moment right what kind of momentum can this race carry we don't know with 12 laps to go but guys as we look deeper through the field we have Custer running fifth a great run for the rookie Christopher Bell not allowing him to get anywhere away from him he's running six two or if he's in the top six at the Brickyard spectacular great runs how about Michael McDowell in 11 I mean this team is outperforming time and time and time again in Bubba Wallace in 12 it's a really mixed up field I think that's that lack of practice I still believe it this lack of practice on the weekends I feel gives the smaller teams each Dale jr. if you get these 15 and our practice they're gonna get better I think the smaller teams have a better chance without practice absolutely back in 19th Ross Chastain the last car on the lead lap at the number 77 having a great day for that organization as well in the top 20 you know Bubba Wallace you mentioned his name he's running 12th right now he got the free pass back on lap 135 and now he's running up inside the top 15 what a wonderful job in that car ride along with him world wide technology giving us this camera angle yes enough time to lift the visor up as he goes down the front stretch our kebab our switch to Celsius and out switched to man which just won't read me more it's gotten dark enough where he's got that visor up because we look at it it's a shield the shield is dark he puts that visor down and may not be able to see through it I think bad it is I learned this at Homestead typically in a race starts in afternoon but ends dis late you might new at Errol's but the drivers are responsible for their helmets their visors all those things oh yeah I can't do the tear off set it up and all that good stuff never was dirt dirt dirt racers so make fun of me all you all party hey junior moment ago Jeff was talking about Denny Hamlin checking off boxes you guys mentioned trying to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year well this is one of the two crown jewels that Denny Hamlin is not won if he can check in today that would only lead the coca-cola 600 for him to win when I talked to him earlier this week he said I am absolutely sick but going to Indianapolis running in the top putting that race police nine laps away from checking another crown jewel box and leaving only one more to check if you see a couple of those shots I'm looking for that traffic that's all Danny is worried about people love to just run this race with another the clean air so look way out in front of him not much lap traffic there's a handful of cars right there if Harvick can keep it closed that's his only opportunity to win this race him to get into lap traffic and somehow did it gets you know stumbled up there Danny must have a big smile and he saw that straightaway that you and I see our camera right nobody out there at least is straightaway over front there's still eight laps to go go there's your lap traffic right there I expect Timmy Hill to lay over not be much of a challenge in in getting these guys away and they feed their way but you just never know how you're gonna catch up the corners and again let's not count out that 42 of Matt Kenseth at 48 years old if Matt Kenseth would win this race he would be the oldest to win ever at Indy Allen sir won at 47 years 360 days that's the oldest winner ever Kenseth would be older [Music] [Applause] we look back off of Kevin Harvick's bush light onboard camera and Rick let's remember you know we saw a restart in the craziness but the control of this race changed on that green the lead again we see a right side right front failure and handle it hard into the water catch your breath [Music] that's or just catch your breath but they're there with you now [Music] we mentioned it with Erik Jones slammed into the wall one of the hardest hits and then we see it duplicated by Denny Hamlin there great to see him climb out of the car not only the the physical pain of hitting the wall like that but the emotional pain knowing so close to winning Brickyard 400 he said 2017 it was biggest heartbreak of his career to lose that race he came so close to winning it that day it's got me feeling that same heartbreak just a part the crew chief let's take another look off into turn 1 and the right front goes [Music] it's a big attack in attacks today such a big hit it's so surprising to me too because we've just been talking about it for the last several laps about the clean air that he's enjoyed and one thing you wonder jr. is you know with the cooler temperatures right it's gotten the more speed yeah this cotton it's probably faster than it was clean air just carrying so much speed you just wonder if that you know that it's extra extra pressure on the tires and you have to acknowledge that his teammate Jones had an issue yep the 18 Kyle Busch talked about having a vibration just before Jones had his accident I really wish we could show you what this racetrack surface looks like and how those grooves are cut into it they kind of run parallel with the racecar very sharp yeah 26 laps on that right front tire you have to ask yourself as you look through the rest of the field what does everybody else do now with only five laps to go you would definitely want to stay out we're hearing a lot of buzz about some other possible vibrations in the top five or ten and as a driver you come by and you see this or is a crew chief you see this and now you have to perhaps change your opinion or your mind on how you gonna manage this race Chris gave Hartford ooh grad just up the road I knew it meant the world to him to try to come here and try to win this race let's hear what Kevin Harvick running in the second position had to say but the accident okay hope he's alright now Sammy he's down he looks fine you know he's good the respect yeah he wanted to beat him but you didn't want to see that and listen the view when somebody blows a right front tire in front of you it looks it is so massively destructive and violent what it looks like it it scares you for that driver you know what it feels like you've been through it you can see it from that angle and it's it is violent you could easily be you see that respect yeah total respect there between those two teams they were battling it out for the win and you saw the crew there the fist bumps and kind of the pat on the back there for Chris gave heart and that's what you want you want the two best guys battling it out for the win and that's what these teams we're seeing right there so now think about this situation so it's Kevin Harvick this is what's unique about race car drivers he is saw that violent impact he knows other people blown tires he knows what could happen but he's got to go back to work right he's gonna put that behind him and start thinking about okay how do I make this restart work Matt Kenseth he's doing the same thing aric amirola is doing the same thing they're all they saw it but they put it behind him they're like that's not what happened to me I'm gonna win this race and they immediately switched gears and it's it's what's baked it and that's what makes race car drivers different than the average person is they can watch that they can experience it and then put it out go somewhere else it with your brain it just focus on winning this race well Jeff we're gonna restart probably with two or three laps to go so you know the question now Kevin Harvick has a lot of experience on the front row if he chooses to I assume he's gonna choose the snail kids are open let's see who comes before we start talking about how they're gonna restart let's confirm we know how they're gonna restart I assume the leader will stay on the racetrack is this is he faking this is Matt Kenseth coming is the field gonna come yeah Matt Kenseth moved back out Chris rebelle I'm hearing has a vibration we just saw another Toyota go into the wall Chris Rubel says nope not today to petrol chase Elliott remember we have green white checkers you don't know how long this race is going to be Kelly yeah just as you said Christopher Bell reiterating to his crew chief Jason Ratcliffe a couple of times that he had a bad vibration so obviously what they just saw happened to their toyota teammate they have decided to bring him in with just a couple laps ago to get four tires Marty yeah Alan Gustafson coming in here for some fresh tires as well trying to differentiate himself this was a car that was in the top three for much of the day for chase Elliott not going to be the finish that they want though so I was saying before they wrote open Jeff you know Kevin Harvick has had a lot of experience today restarting on the front row Matt Kenseth the tan of al Barolo the 41 of customer not so much but we have seen that three wide down the back stretch a couple times what does Harvick need to do well Harvick he's just got to get a great launch we've seen if he starts from the outside and can clear Matt Kenseth that's gonna be his biggest advantage of being in clearing and and just use that outside line he's got a teammate aric Almirola it's gonna restart third that might well is actually got a teammate and fourth as well but listen I'm about I want to go to Matt Kenseth right so Matt Kenseth he's been sit on the sidelines he has not been in the heat of the battle for as many times recently as Kevin Harvick as with Jeff he retired let's go that's right he retired a year ago out of the car and so he's only run 12 races since then and this is really the first time that he has to go win a race so he's kind of revert back to all that experience he's had in the go back and pull that out he doesn't have recent experience Cellino he's got to go lean on that stuff that want him races and won championships in the past yeah I think it's gonna come down to that throw to the best pusher we're on old tires getting a good launch do you trust the experienced the veteran aric almirola where do you go in the outside line which has been the traditional line and the leader has chosen with the rookie of Cole Custer and hope that he can do the job and get you out in front and to turn one and it's such an amazing story for Kenseth to actually be back in the car the reason he's there Kyle Larson started the first four races in this car when the pandemic hit the drivers moved over and did I racing and it just so happened that a racial slur was set by Kyle Larson during one of those events he was removed from the car and Matt Kenseth was put into this 42 and that's why Matt Kenseth came out of retirement it wasn't because he said I'm gonna go racing again it was because he was called to do this job and now he is fulfilling this job and potentially could complete the crown jewels this is the only one Matt Kenseth doesn't have and really interested it was a cop a long conversation over several days that Matt and his wife Katie had he Matt didn't makes his decision by himself he leaned on Kate he's with wood what do you think you know they talked about it they discussed it and they made the decision it was the right thing to do and that was exciting about it Katie was excited about it and now here he is Indy Brickyard 400 chance to win this race front row on the restart it looks like it's gonna be over time presented by a credit one bank the scheduled distance was 160 laps they're not going to be able to do that before everything is cleaned up let's listen in to aric almirola srei do I feel like we're sitting in a pretty good spot here yeah good restart you might have yourself a trophy a teammate on the front row you may be in a position where he's you know expected to give him some help on a restart but when do you stop when do when is enough help enough for you to go out on your own and do your own thing so I think it's been proven that it's his role to get him into turn one because I don't see a move three wide into one working for anybody but when you come off turn two if you have a run listen Eric Almirola has his own race team his own sponsors his own family his own career if I was his crew chief and he didn't take a run down the backstretch we would have to have a sit-down on Monday and ask what the what all this work is we're doing you're trying to win the Brickyard 400 it is going to be overtime so what I want to remind you of the overtime rules they will take the green flag the next flag will be the white flag if they don't get back to the white flag if the leader doesn't cross the start/finish line when the left white flag is displayed a caution comes out before that they'll restart and go again they'll do that until the white flag is taken by the race leader once they do that the next flag that comes out will end the race all right now we see he's taking that outside line man that puts the pressure on Cole Custer I don't know if he realizes it or not but Harvick is gonna depend on him to get him down and determine one so that's that you know if he doesn't do a good enough job I'm sure they'll talk about it this week and aric amirola stood there on the inside lane and one thing we've learned is it may be good for him to get a big push into one but then back up a little bit on that short shoot to try and hope that the 42 and the four side-by-side and then he can sling by both of them down the back straightaway we've seen that work for Hamlin we've seen it work for Harvick and if I know anything about the driver of the two Almirola better have one eye in the mirror because I don't believe rat conciseness is gonna hang out in line and heading down the backstretch you guys what a race it's been already and it potentially could end up being for stewart-haas racing I mean remember Tony Stewart team owner here three cars in the top four Marty and Kevin Harvick has coached Cole Custer who is leaned on Kevin Harvick over the years for information he said I want him to hit me in the bumper when he hit me in the bumper that's when we're gonna go keep in mind Kevin Harvick is only oldest tires he has ten lap older tires drama glad you're not is that's not the pep talk forgiving them the best set of the new tires back there in 13th chase L he's a first car with four tires looking for that left hand real good put you off out the window will he waive the 41 up all right it's over time presented by credit one bank Kevin Harvick Matt Kenseth side-by-side getting ready for the maybe final restart you can see the push from behind of kitchen Austin Dillon also in there giving the shove to that outside line Kenny clearly does before they get to one all right I'd say Custer did a great job they're helping his teammate get outrun that speedy Drive Ins on the racetrack it was blowing up that we saw the poor go through now it's Jensen running second trying to get a draft battle for third teammates aric almirola Cole Custer Harvick has been shot out of a cannon wanting to restart in a mess back here for everyone else through the short chute and into four again if they get the white flag the next flag will in the race contact every 2241 Cole Custer and kezelowski says he takes fourth place [Music] but you're trying to hang on to the top five here white flag is out more time around Kevin Harvick a huge lead over Matt Kenseth down the backstretch for the final time [Music] Harvick Denny Hamlin they've been the dominant two cars all 2020 Hamlin crashes out as they were battling for the lead now Harvick trying to go back-to-back at the most fade famous racetrack in the world coming out of turn four Kevin Harvick is going to see the checkered flag he wins again at the Brickyard [Applause] a couple cars in the grass here Benedetto and Austin Dylan and remember Dylan was right up there [Music] he was up front helping push Harvick at the restart they were running 14th and 15th those two cars as a celebration for the bush Lite team that four team will begin old guys ruled she'll oldest guys in the field finished first second I said heck as I'm oh by the way that's the 53rd career win for Kevin Harvick he's now just one win away from tying Lee petty for 11th all-time and wins [Music] what a season Kevin Harvick is having this checkered flag moment brought to you by Advance Auto Parts let's take a look at this wreck and see what happened with Austin Dillon a couple these other guys involved Oh Matthew tries to get down inside Boston and they both end up in the fence Oh another aggressive move there watch here just doesn't give him the room and Matt kind of dose bomb been there and that 34 that came through Michael McDowell ended up in seventh so that position they were racing for was gonna be well inside the top ten yeah now that McDowell in seven Redick ecology continually Redick finished in eighth Bubba Wallace at night grunts for those teams great run for this guy yeah Matt Kenseth in that 42 not really had anything to smile about since he's come back but this is gonna definitely a smile on his face we get to talk to him can't wait to hear what he says at first race back at Darlington it was he was really good and then it just from there kind of went downhill but solid day-to-day buddy Kevin Harvick is now a three-time Brickyard 400 winner his hero Rick Mears one here four times in the Indianapolis 500 he's approaching that record but what a performance from this team and since we have come back from the break that is now four wins for Rodney Childers Kevin Harvick in the stewart-haas racing team gets the helmet off in Kevin boy I tell you what a battle with Denny Hamlin had he not had his issue did you think he maybe catch him well we knew he had some he was gonna be really close on tires and Rodney told me on the radio he said just make sure you keep the pressure on him and that was all the pressure I could give so you know those guys do a really good job just got to thank everybody on my Bush light Ford Mustang everybody from Mobil 1 Haas Automation home brothers pizza Jimmy John's everybody who is a part of this program and just keeps bringing good race cars to the racetrack from the beginning this was a battle of track position how tough was that battle to try and stay out front you made one daring move Kevin where you went almost to the grass to go get the lead yeah I didn't have anymore I didn't have any more room that was for sure but it's Brickyard man this is this is what I grew up wanting to do as a kid went at the Brickyard and to be able to come here and you know have one for the third time is is something that I could have never dreamed I'd want to say hi to my family at home I know Keeton will be jacked up Piper's probably asleep if not ho but just really really proud of all these guys on this team he joins Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch is the only driver to win back-to-back Brickyard 400 Kevin Harvick wins it for a third time Kelly well Marty really good to see Denny Hamlin outside of the infield care center after a really hard hit but I don't know what hurts more the impact with the wall or losing one of the crown jewels especially that way what do you think in Denny yeah just uh it's tough I I hate it for the FedEx team and just yeah we didn't do what we needed to do just didn't work out for us today and had a fast car obviously and was we're stretching out there but I wasn't pushing right front at all just you know it's kind of roulette you know if we do get one that's gonna stay together or not and mine didn't and you saw the end result so that stinks but probably the whole FedEx you know Toyota team we're just been so good here lately and I hate that you know I feel like I'm doing well I can't I just you know these these big races and just a lot of things like this just don't don't go my way all the time and yeah but we're still gonna go next week and try to win the next one so do all we can really enjoyed Denny the battles between you and Kevin Harvick over these last several weeks you both have been so successful since the return what has it been like for you kind of having this this rivalry in these great battles on track yeah it's been a great battle and I mean you know those guys were great competitors and you know the last few weeks it's been you know kind of a head-to-head with - with me and him so you know I there's probably not another guide rather about a with each and every week so congrats to their them in their team they did a great job obviously we had two very very close to an equal cars but they got today Rick thanks Kelly you heard the respect there and obviously we heard the respect from Kevin when he went by Denny Hamlin he right away was ouch get out of the car Wilshire it up Kevin Harvick now a three-time Brickyard 400 winner and he celebrates that big win here at the Brickyard
